NATO member states claim their troops will remain in Afghanistan regardless of whether President Biden honors the U.S.-Taliban agreement to withdraw all U.S. troops by May 1.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby warned that unless the Taliban reduces violence, it is “hard to see a specific way forward” on fulfilling the deal’s stipulation for a full U.S. troop withdrawal. A new report from the Afghanistan Study Group, commissioned by Congress, also recommends postponing the U.S. withdrawal. These statements ignore a painful truth: NATO’s nearly 20-year effort in Afghanistan has proven that this war is unwinnable, at least at a cost the alliance is willing to pay. Continuing to fight is thus illogical, unwise, and immoral.