America Shouldn’t Turn Its Back on Afghan Civilians

Jerrod A. Laber

Security, Middle East

Washington is right to withdraw forces, but it needs to also let in Afghan refugees.

Light is finally appearing at the end of an eighteen-year-long tunnel, as there are reports that the Afghanistan war, or at least the United States’ involvement in it, could soon come to an end. U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has said that a peace deal has been agreed to in principle between America and the Taliban. In exchange for a full pullout of American troops, the Taliban has pledged to not allow Afghanistan to become a safe haven for terrorist operators. But any peace process is long and cumbersome and could fall apart for a myriad of reasons. This one is no different.

The United States is insistent that any finalized deal include face-to-face talks between the Taliban and the current Afghan government, which the Taliban has thus far refused to do. If these talks fail, America should still proceed with an exit plan. President Donald Trump is reportedly ordering the Pentagon to move ahead with a 50 percent troop reduction, as the first step of an eventual full withdrawal. This is the right decision—America hasn’t been able to fix Afghanistan in seventeen years, and there’s no reason to believe that will change. But there are significant concerns about an Afghanistan without U.S. support that can’t be swept under the rug: the fate of civilian Afghans, particularly women, under a new era of possible Taliban rule. The answer is to let them come to America.

There is plenty of reason to be skeptical of this new round of negotiations between the United States and the Taliban. Leaked reports indicate that America is pushing for an interim government that includes representation for the Taliban, but Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has repeatedly rejected that idea. “Afghans do not accept an interim government—not today, not tomorrow, not in a hundred years,” he said.