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Home (/) / The transition of leadership will not change US-Afghan withdrawal plan

The transition of
leadership will not change
US-Afghan withdrawal
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 Short Url https://arab.news/gakpx
Opinion (/Opinion)
With the imminent victory of Joe Biden, America is
(/taxonomy/term/61451)
set to have a new man in the White House. It has
ZAHID HUSSAIN
indeed been the most momentous election in the Naila Mahsud
country’s history and impacts the world’s most
(/TAXONOMY/TERM/61451) (/taxonomy/term/324766)
powerful nation-- and beyond. The transition of Biden’s Afghanistan
November 07, 2020 leadership is likely to bring a profound change in policy will upset a (/taxonomy/term/324
17:34
America –from populism to a more institutional largely Taliban-centric
functioning of the state. peace process
(/node/1760576)
Trump’s nonconformist style of governance has

left the United States more divided and polarised.
 But the e ect of Trump’s presidency has been Sahar Zareen Bandial

equally consequential for the world. (/taxonomy/term/312001)


Perhaps, the most controversial American The Arzoo Raja case:
forced conversions (/taxonomy/term/3120
 president in recent history, Trump has disrupted and under-age
the existing world order. Rejecting marriage in Pakistan
 multilateralism, he pursued a policy of (/node/1760546)
Follow
unilateralism and American exclusiveness. He
pulled America out from various international
treaties and multilateral agencies, and intensi ed Faisal Faeq

international con icts. (/taxonomy/term/280221)

Saudi Arabia’s
Trump may not have involved America militarily economic clout makes (/taxonomy/term/280
in any new war, but he tried to bully countries into it key global player
submission. He particularly alienated his Western (/node/1760366)
allies, causing disruption in the existing world
order. Victory for his democratic rival will
certainly change the course of American foreign Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib
policy and its return to multilateralism. The fall of (/taxonomy/term/325436)
Trump would at least restore some order in Biden and the Iran
America’s relations with other countries and nuclear deal
particularly, with its allies. conundrum (/taxonomy/term/325
(/node/1760301)
But the change of leadership in Washington will
not a ect the US plan to withdraw its troops from
Afghanistan. This is the only policy area where Dr. Azeem Ibrahim
there is no di erence of views between the two (/taxonomy/term/291226)
rivals. Biden is on record saying he fully
Myanmar is more like
supported President Trump’s policy to end US a managed democracy (/taxonomy/term/291
military involvement in Afghanistan. (/node/1760201)
Joe Biden as Vice President in the Obama
MORE IN OPINION (/OPINION)
administration (2008-2016) had strongly
advocated for pulling out of the Afghan war. His
views were not very di erent from the strategy
that has been pursued by President Trump.  The
number of US troops in Afghanistan has already
been reduced to 4,800 after the Trump
administration signed a historic peace agreement
with the Taliban in February this year, raising the Latest Updates
prospects for ending America’s longest war.

President Trump has recently announced that all UN agency for

American soldiers would return home by Palestinians may defer
salaries for workers
Christmas this year. The announcement was (/node/1760636/middle- (/node/1760636/middle-
contrary to his administration's plan linking the east)
east)
complete withdrawal of residual forces to an
agreement between the Taliban and the Afghan
Austria police raid
government on a political setup. dozens of ‘extremist-
 linked’ targets (/node/1760631/world)

"
(/node/1760631/world)
The change of leadership in
Washington will not a ect the US UK PM Johnson’s
plan to withdraw its troops from treaty-breaking
Afghanistan. This is the only policy Brexit laws face
defeat in parliament (/node/1760621/world)
area where there is no di erence of (/node/1760621/world)
views between the two rivals. Biden
is on record saying he fully P zer says COVID-19
supported President Trump’s policy vaccine is looking
to end US military involvement in 90% e ective

"
(/node/1760611/world) (/node/1760611/world)
Afghanistan.
Zahid Hussain
Pakistan allocates $50
million to ght
malnutrition, stunted
growth in children (/node/1760596/pakista
While Joe Biden has publicly supported Trump's (/node/1760596/pakistan)
Afghan withdrawal plan, he has also called for a
clear strategy to deal with Daesh. He also wants to
reduce the number of US ground troops in
Afghanistan to between 1,500 and 2,000 and focus
their mission only on special operations against
Daesh, and other militant threats.

In fact, Biden had gone even further than

President Trump when in September he declared
that America bore “zero responsibility’’ if the
Taliban came back to power. 

“The responsibility I have is to protect America’s

national interest and not put our women and men
in harm's way… that’s what I’d do as President,’’
Biden said in an interview with CBS.

Biden’s statement was a note of warning to those

Afghan leaders who had put their stake in his
victory in the hopes that the former vice president
might reverse President Trump’s peace
agreement with the Taliban and keep American
forces in Afghanistan. There is a concern in
Afghanistan that America’s pull out could give the
Taliban a huge boost and ease pressure on the
insurgents to reach a political settlement with the
Afghan government.

Intra-Afghan talks that started in Doha on Sept. 10

have so far failed to make any breakthrough.
There is still no agreement even on the
framework for structured negotiations. The gap
between the two sides is too wide to bridge.

A major hurdle in any progress in the talks that

are shrouded in secrecy, is Taliban’s refusal to
agree on the reduction of violence, much less a
cease re. In fact, the ghting has intensi ed with
no sign of the insurgents halting their o ensive.

Meanwhile, the surge in Daesh attacks mostly

targeting the civilian population has further
complicated the situation in Afghanistan. The
main objective of the militant group that has its
origins in the Middle East seems to be to sabotage
the Afghan peace process. The latest attack on
Kabul University that has left a number of
students dead indicates the increasing capacity of
the group to launch a coordinated attack in the
capital.

There is a growing worry that a hasty American

exit from Afghanistan without an agreement
between the Taliban and the Afghan government
on a transition setup could trigger a new and
bloodier civil war in the country. There is a clear
indication that the new president will maintain a
counter-insurgency presence in Afghanistan to
ght militancy.

– Zahid Hussain is an award-winning journalist

and author. He is a former scholar at Woodrow
Wilson International Centre for Scholar, USA, and
a visiting fellow at Wolfson College, University of
Cambridge, and at the Stimson Center in
Washington DC. He is the author of Frontline
Pakistan: The struggle with militant Islam
(Columbia university press) and The Scorpion’s
tail: The relentless rise of Islamic militants in
Pakistan (Simon and Schuster, NY). Frontline
Pakistan was the book of the year (2007) by the
WSJ.
Twitter: @hidhussain 

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this

section are their own and do not necessarily
re ect Arab News' point-of-view
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