GET OUT OF AFGHANISTAN.

• Author: Doherty, Brian
• Position: U.S. President Joe Biden's policy on Afghanistan

IN BOTH 2011 and 2013, the Obama administration announced its intention to get all our conventional forces out of Afghanistan, where they did little but prop up corruption, provide targets for insurgents, and waste taxpayers' money. As vice president, Biden tweeted that we would be out of Afghanistan in 2014. He failed to come through then, but he can make up for it now.

Washington currently finds itself, by realpolitik necessity, negotiating with the same force--the Taliban--that it sent troops to Afghanistan to overthrow. We stayed long enough, caused enough death and chaos, and funded enough bad governance for the wheels of history to transform a war that looked like a U.S. victory into an occupation that looks sadly pointless. The best thing we can take away from the experience is the wisdom not to pretend we can pacify or transform a troubled nation half a world away and the prudence not to stay in a war long after its futility has become clear.

Waiting until the Taliban stop misbehaving, or the contending sides in their internal conflicts have settled their differences, guarantees Afghanistan will be a forever war--one that Biden declared last year that "it is past time to end." Ending it requires presidential resolve, not leaving foreign policy decisions in the hands of Afghanistan's feuding factions or waiting...