When 78-year-old President Joe Biden met with 68-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Geneva for a summit June 16, the two discussed the U.S. troop withdrawal in Afghanistan. Biden made good on a 75-year-old former President Trump agreement to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by May 31. While Biden delayed the pullout by only a few months, the U.S. withdrawal was nearly complete by June 30, well ahead of Biden’s end date of Aug. 31. Putin expressed concerns about fallout from refugees fleeing Afghanistan when the Taliban takes over more territory, in what looks like an inevitable takeover of Kabul. Biden told Putin that the U.S.-backed government of 72-year-old Asraf Ghani has plenty of training and military hardware to defend the Kabul government from the Taliban. Putin was skeptical that Ghani’s government would survive the Taliban onslaught.
Putin had been hearing about Pentagon plans to contract for possible military bases in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, all of which are home to Russian military bases from their days as Soviet satellites before the Dec. 26, 1991 end to the Soviet Union. Putin understands the terrorist threat well after witnessing a Soviet-Afghan War that lasted nearly 10 years, resulting 14,443 deaths and 53,753 wounded, a heavy toll for the former Soviet Union. Putin also knew that the U.S. funded Osama bin Laden’s mujahedeen terrorists to topple the Soviet-backed Kabul government, until it eventually collapsed Feb. 15, 1989. It took seven more years of civil war before the Taliban took over Kabul Sept. 27, 1996. Taliban stayed in power instituting strict Sunni Sharia law until Oct. 7, 2001 Operation Enduring Freedom ousted the Taliban Nov. 14, 2001, only three months after Sept. 11, 2001.
To offset the U.S. attempts to contract with former Soviet satellites in former Soviet satellites, Putin offered Bide use of Russian military bases from which to create intel posts necessary to keeping the Taliban at bay. But with the Taliban already taking over some 80% of Afghanistan rural territory, a Taliban takeover of Kabul is already within sight. Putin made it clear to Biden he doesn’t want to litigate another war in Afghanstan. Biden expressed similar feelings about Afghanistan as Trump that the 20-year U.S. War must end, regardless of what happens in Afghanistan. U.S. concerns are about stopping another potential Sept. 11, not deciding what type of government the Afghan people choose. Pentagon officials are working with the State Department to handle the flow of refugees already seeking asylum in the U.S., fearing a bloodbath once the Taliban takes over.
Putin’s offer to Biden is by no means altruistic but a selfish attempt to keep the U.S. from contracting with the former Soviet satellites to establish military bases. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was unacceptable for the U.S. to set up bases in former Soviet territory, something echoed by Putin in his Geneva summit with Biden. Allowing the U.S. to use bases in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan would do little to stop the Taliban’s plans to topple Ghani’s Kabul government. Despite the call July 17 for a three-month ceasefire, the Taliban has one goal in mind of ruling from Kabul. Former President George W. Bush expressed “sadness” for the “women and girls” of Aghanistan with an imminent U.S. withdrawal. Bush forgets the original reason for the U.S. invasion Oct. 7, 2001, to find and neutralize Osama bin Laden for his role in masterminding and planning Sept. 11.
Spending nearly 20 years nation-building in Afghanistan was not the original U.S. mission. Bush and other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee opposes Biden’s Afghan withdrawal, fearing the escalation of terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS]. With Osama bin Laden and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dead, al-Qaeda and ISIS no longer have the foreign terrorist planning capacity, seeing a reduction in foreign terrorist attacks since al-Baghdadi’s death Oct. 27, 2019. So whatever concerns exist about possible foreign terrorist attacks, there’s no concern at the moment, something the CIA and Pentagon Defense Intelligence can track from listening posts all over the world. When the Taliban becomes the ruling force in Afghanistan, they will not tolerate foreign Sunni terrorist groups basing themselves in Afghan territory. If al-Qaeda or ISIS does appear, the U.S. can respond.
Putin’s talk with Biden in Geneva about using Russian military bases in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan sought to keep the U.S. from setting up bases in the area. Pentagon planners don’t need bases in former Soviet satellites to monitor terrorist activity in Afghanistan. Putin wants to play a part of helping warring factions make peace in Afghanstan to prevent the kind of humanitarian crisis that spills over into Russian-controlled territory in South Asia. Putin has no interest in letting terrorists run wild in Afghanistan, knowing, at some point, they can create terrorist attacks on Russian soil. Putin made clear to Biden he’s well aware of the consequences to a U.S. and coalition troop withdrawal in Afghanistan. So far, there’s no plan to set up U.N. advisers in Afghanistan, knowing they’d be easy targets for the Taliban. Monitoring terrorist activity is the best safeguard for the future.
