Beltway Confidential

In defense of forever wars

By Michael Rubin
Published August 13, 2021 10:00am ET
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In defense of forever wars
FILE - In this Wednesday, March 12, 2014 file photo, A NATO AWACS plane takes off the NATO Airbase in Geilenkirchen, Germany. Russia's readiness to use military force in Ukraine has been a wake-up call for many European countries, which since the Iron Curtain crumbled have slashed defense spending. Some shifted their priorities toward international missions in Afghanistan and elsewhere rather than deterring potential aggression from the East. Now, a serious recalibration is underway, particularly in countries with memories of Soviet tanks rumbling across their borders. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File) | Frank Augstein

“It is past time to end the forever wars,” then-candidate Joe Biden argued in March 2020. “We should bring the vast majority of our troops home from the wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East and narrowly define our mission as defeating al Qaeda and the Islamic State.”

It was a catchy slogan and polled well. In his Interim National Security Strategic Guidance, President Biden repeated that “the United States should not, and will not, engage in ‘forever wars'” and pledged to end the war in Afghanistan.

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