James Carafano: How will leaving Afghanistan help?

Published August 2, 2010 4:00am ET



It’s 2021 — 10 years on, the Kabul Declaration of 2011 isn’t looking so good.

Despite warnings from many quarters that “conditions on the ground” made it doubtful the U.S.-backed government could maintain national sovereignty and domestic security, then-President Obama elected to withdraw U.S. forces from the war-torn nation. With vague assurances from Pakistan that Islamabad would press the Taliban to reconcile with the government in Kabul, Obama declared it was time for the United States to go and for the Afghans to determine their own destiny.

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