Move on from Afghan ‘trauma’ and address rising threat, says US study

WASHINGTON: The United States must move on from the “trauma” of two decades of war and step up counterterrorism efforts to face growing threats from Afghanistan, a study said on Tuesday.

The study group, led by former senior US policymakers, made clear it was not advocating a return to America´s longest war which ended when President Joe Biden pulled troops from Afghanistan in 2021 and the Taliban regained control.

But it said that, after the overwhelming focus on counterterrorism following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the pendulum “appears to have swung in the opposite direction” as the United States focuses on competition with China, Russia´s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel/Hamas war.

“Both decision-makers and many who have labored within the national security agencies show signs of something like collective trauma resulting from a 20-year-long counterterrorism effort,” said the study group, convened in 2022 under the US Institute of Peace.

“The tragic end of US involvement in Afghanistan has also made it a toxic issue, reinforcing inclinations to keep the region off the policy agenda and the public´s radar,” it said.