A runway is seen at Bagram air base, July 5, 2021. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail
Paul D. Shinkman, US News and World Report: No Do-Overs in Afghanistan: The U.S. Cannot Re-Enter Once It Leaves
Unlike Iraq, the U.S. cannot reenter if the security situation collapses in Afghanistan – and President Joe Biden now owns the precarious and alarming situation there.
As President Joe Biden nears the August deadline he set to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, one critical feature of the drawdown has become clear: he now owns the precarious situation there, and there's no turning back.
This defining moment for Biden's legacy has been met with growing speculation that the U.S. may have to return to its longest war zone as the Taliban continues to take ground, execute America's local allies and, many fear, position itself to overrun the U.S.-backed government in Kabul.
But the situation on the ground, along with the domestic appetite for furthering U.S. conflicts abroad, make that impossible.
Political and logistical realities have shifted dramatically in and around the country, and other powers in the region, namely Russia and China, are actively working to prevent the U.S. from ever re-entering.
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WNU Editor: There is little if any U.S. political or public will to re-enter Afghanistan. Even if the country falls to the Taliban.
