The Afghanistan Withdrawal Can’t Be Whatever You Want It To Be

Both parties have constructed their own interpretations of how the war ended. Neither version is accurate.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley during a September 2021 Senate hearing on the end of military operations in Afghanistan. Photo credit: Associated Press

One of the least talked about elements of the longest war in American history is that its conclusion has been co-opted by partisan opportunists at both ends of the political spectrum.

If what you need is a president who agonized over whether to continue the war and ultimately chose not to, you’ll find what you need amidst the sea of misleading headlines published during the spring and summer of 2021. If what you’re looking for instead is a president who abandoned a worthwhile mission and endangered American security, there’s a version of the US military’s exit from Kabul that can accommodate that talking point as well.  

Neither side is correct but neither side seems to care. How our final months in Afghanistan actually unfolded doesn’t appear to be nearly as important as the political plot lines those last days have produced. It was inevitable that this issue would reemerge at election time. Now that that’s happened, it is useful to recall the complete timeline of how the war actually ended.