The war in Afghanistan is over. The foreign-policy debate is not.
![President Biden and George W. Bush.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/f93cDPF45EnV2czwDCz7Hm-415-80.jpg)
After 20 years, the war in Afghanistan is finally over — and the foreign-policy debate remains frozen in 2001.
To vast swathes of the national security elite and numerous elected officials, a largely Taliban-run Afghanistan is as likely to serve as the homebase for terrorist attacks against the United States and its allies as when we invaded in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks nearly two decades ago.
There is as much consternation about an "over the horizon" approach to counterterrorism, as some argue it repeats the past failures of airstrikes and drones to truly defeat threats even as they continue to generate collateral damage that plays an important role in stirring up anti-Western radicalism. In Washington, there still remains no consensus on whether the real problem was interventionism run amuck in the 2000s and 2010s or neglect of terrorism in the 1990s.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Even before the last troops left Afghanistan, there was talk that there is no such thing as a forever war — or that such wars can never really be ended. Some people essentially said both things.
It may yet be that all the king's horses and all the king's men will discover that not even skipping town can put Humpty-Dumpty back together again. From Vietnam to Iraq, we have seen dead-enders argue that more time, money, and bodies could have made the difference, that these wars failed because we lost our will to fight. These debates carry on until this day, even though the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan proved far more costly to their Cold War ambitions than America's messy departure from Vietnam.
But the war in Afghanistan was related to an attack on America as direct as any since the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. It is different.
And yet the fact that so little else is should give us pause about attempting a nation-building exercise of that scale, in such an underdeveloped country, ever again.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
W. James Antle III is the politics editor of the Washington Examiner, the former editor of The American Conservative, and author of Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.
-
Big Tech's answer for AI-driven job loss: universal basic income
In The Spotlight A new study reveals the strengths and limitations
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'I will not be silent' on Gaza, says Kamala Harris
Speed Read In a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Harris supported Israel's right to defend itself while expressing a desire to end Palestinian suffering
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
'How long can TikTok dominate as a social network?'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
How Biden's enablers may have delayed his bowing out
Talking Points Joe Biden's inner circle faces calls for a reckoning for allegedly shielding the president — and the public — from questions of aging and electoral viability
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
The Democrats 'resigned to a second Trump presidency'
Talking Points Did the assassination attempt end Biden's election chances?
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Are down-ticket Democrats doomed?
Talking Points President Joe Biden's refusal to step back from his reelection campaign has some local Democrats wondering if their own races are in trouble — but not everyone is worried
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Why Project 2025 is creating headaches for the Trump campaign
Talking Points Democrats want to make Trump 'own' the controversial plan
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Biden flopped, but did Trump really 'win' the debate?
Talking Points The president struggled to articulate a clear vision for the country, but Trump's cavalcade of aggressive falsehoods might not do the Republican candidate any favors in the long run
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Why the Hunter Biden verdict isn't the slam dunk Republicans have been calling for
Talking Points After years of targeting the President's family amidst claims of a rigged justice system, some conservatives still aren't satisfied with the younger Biden's three felony convictions.
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published