Eli Lake, Columnist

Biden Offers False Hope to Sell His Afghanistan Surrender

Sanctions and a Pakistan-based counterterrorism strategy won’t defeat the Taliban.

April 14, 2021 at 1:06 AM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

If Biden has his way, they’ll be home in five months.
Photographer: WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP

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President Joe Biden has chosen to finish what his predecessor started in Afghanistan and surrender to the Taliban. Unlike former President Donald Trump, however, Biden may not even have the so-called peace process in Afghanistan to point to as an excuse for abandoning an elected Afghan government made possible by American blood and treasure.

A day before word of Biden’s decision to withdraw by Sept. 11 leaked to the press, the Taliban announced it will not participate in peace talks in Turkey. That means the U.S. will be leaving Afghanistan’s government to fend for itself in the midst of a civil war.