Biden’s Afghanistan Withdrawal Is Part of a Better Strategy The American withdrawal from Afghanistan does not mean the end of power projection or support for local allies who are better positioned to suppress radical movements and who are also valuable allies in facing the larger challenges in a contentious world. I appreciate James L. Creighton’s long career in military service including his many years in Afghanistan. I can understand his concern for the fate of the local people he worked with should the Taliban make substantial gains in the wake of the planned U.S. military pullout in September. Though I did not serve in uniform, during my decades working on defense and foreign policy issues in Washington I also met with many Afghans whose futures worry me as well. In particular, I think of the members of the Northern Alliance who had fought both the Soviets and the Taliban, and who had rallied to the United States when it first intervened to retaliate for the 9/11 terrorist attacks launched from Afghanistan. Yet, I favor withdrawal this year, as I have in past years, because the costly occupation of the country for twenty years was a mistake in strategy from the start.