A brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division recently flew 4,600 miles nonstop, from North Carolina to Estonia. Over Estonia, the paratroopers jumped to simulate a defense action against Russian invasion.
The 82nd Airborne’s versatile skill deserves our attention following the Pentagon press briefing on Wednesday, which clarified the almost impossible task facing the U.S. military in Afghanistan.
The military must extract upward of 10,000 American and Afghan citizens from Kabul International Airport. And it must do so by President Joe Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline. Accomplishing this mission is likely impossible. So, to ensure that all those eligible are actually evacuated, Biden should extend his deadline and commit to defending the airport against attack.
The fundamental issue is quite simple. While the Taliban appear to be allowing Americans to access the airport, the group is refusing to facilitate all evacuation-eligible Afghans. It’s thus almost certain that some allied Afghans, and potentially even some Americans, will be left behind. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin appeared to confirm as much when he said that evacuations would continue only until the “clock runs out.”
The question follows: Will Biden extend the clock?
The answer should be equally simple: Abandoning brothers in arms to a fanatical enemy is not an option. But that raises another question: What if the Taliban refuse an evacuation timetable extension?
That circumstance is a distinct possibility. While the Taliban have been relatively conciliatory since their seizure of power, they retain a deep ideological hatred for America and its Afghan allies. The Taliban are allowing some evacuation operations not because they are kind, but rather because they are focused on consolidating power. If, however, the Taliban believe they can consolidate power while also harming U.S. evacuation efforts, they will do so.
Recognizing as much, U.S. military commanders are concerned that the longer the evacuation process continues, the likelier a Taliban attack (or Taliban proxy attack) becomes. The fear is that such an attack might come in the form of a localized sniper or mortar assault, for example, which is designed to give the Taliban some pretense of deniability.
That brings us back to Biden.
Abandoning his buck-stops-nowhere strategy, Biden must deter the Taliban. The president should clarify that he will hold the Taliban responsible for any attack on the airport. He should also declare that if the Taliban continue to obstruct eligible evacuees, America will unilaterally extend the Aug. 31 deadline. At the Washington Post, Josh Rogin emphasizes that the onus is on the Taliban here: they can open routes to the airport, or they can see American forces stay into September.
What if the Taliban fights?
It would be messy and high-risk, but the U.S. could effect a defensive extraction operation from Kabul. True, it would be utterly impractical for the U.S. military to relocate Afghans from other areas of Kabul to the airport (doing so would entail U.S. forces being isolated and annihilated by the Taliban). But a defense of the airport is possible.
That takes us back to the 82nd Airborne. Now the lead ground combat element of the evacuation effort, the division isn’t simply capable of forcible entry operations. The unit, one of the Army’s very best (I must admit some bias: my grandfather was a platoon leader in the Division’s 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment) is also trained in airfield defense. That bears note, because the U.S. retains air supremacy in Afghanistan and could provide persistent air cover to ground forces. British special forces on the ground can also contribute air controller capabilities. But now that the Taliban have established formal control in Kabul, they have provided the U.S. with a new range of possible targets. Biden should reinforce the deterrent utility these forces afford him.
The top line is a joined moral-strategic one. Biden can evacuate those who need evacuating, thus restoring some sense of honor to this debacle. Alternatively, Biden can abandon Americans and allies to the Taliban.
American power and honor afford the president a responsibility to choose the former option.
