Waltham Reacts To Biden's Troop Withdraw Plan

WALTHAM, MA — President Joe Biden said last week he will withdraw remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan, after more than two decades of troops there.

Waltham natives who spent time in the military in Afghanistan said they felt it was a good idea.

"US troops have been in Afghanistan since OCT 2001-present, 20 years," said Waltham native and retired Army Captain Brien Durkee. "It's about time we pull out of Afghanistan."

Durkee, who is the brother of Waltham City Councilor Sean Durkee, was deployed during the 2010 surge in Afghanistan for about a year, commanding a military police unit.

The number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan rose to 100,000 under President Barack Obama in 2010, when he began to withdraw following the capture of Osama Bin Laden. Obama planned to withdraw completely but then changed his mind in 2015, in an effort to help stabilize what he characterized as a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. By the time he left office, about 8,400 U.S. troops stayed in the country.

President Donald Trump also planned to withdraw troops. According to the Washington Post, there are about 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, officially. And some 7,000 coalition NATO troops, too.

During the summer U.S. Sen. Ed Markey said the money the U.S. has spent on war could be better utilized.

"We have spent $6.4 trillion dollars on the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere since 2001," he said. "Every dollar spent on war is one fewer available to fight poverty."

Biden's drawdown would begin rather than conclude by May 1, which has been the deadline for full withdrawal under a peace agreement the Trump administration reached with the Taliban last year. Since that peace agreement, the Taliban has refused to come to the table to talk about next steps.

And this, and a sense that history repeats itself, has caused experts to worry that Afghanistan will collapse into worsening chaos once the Americans are gone.

"My only fear is that the Taliban, who is currently in a power-sharing agreement with the Afghan Government, will take back power once we leave," Durkee said.

Rep. Stephen Lynch, the chairman of the subcommittee on national security, said that's a very real possibility.

“Multiple credible witnesses, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford, former Senator Kelly Ayotte, and Special Inspector General John Sopko, have recently testified before our Subcommittee and warned that the complete withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan by the Trump Administration’s May 1st deadline was likely to have disastrous consequences for our national security, as well as the future stability of Afghanistan and the nascent rights of women and girls in that country," Lynch said in a statement.