Foreign Affairs - 11.2019 - 12.2019

Richard Fontaine

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applying to a withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden has said that he

would bring U.S. combat troops home during his rst term but that

he remains open to a “residual presence” to conduct counterterrorism

operations—roughly the same approach as Trump’s. Senator Cory

Booker o… New Jersey has promised that as president he would imme-

diately begin a “process” to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, while

somehow ensuring that the country does not again become a safe

haven for terrorists. Pete Buttigieg, the mayor oΠSouth Bend, Indi-

ana, who served as a naval o‘cer in Afghanistan, has agreed that “it’s

time to end this endless war,” and yet he envisions a peace agreement

that keeps U.S. special operations forces and intelligence operatives

there. Such concessions, responsible policy though they are, stop well

short oŒ terminating the United States’ longest war.

Even the most committed anti-interventionists continue to come up

with exceptions. The foreign policy manifesto oΠSenator Bernie Sanders

o” Vermont, published in Foreign Aairs in June, is titled “Ending

America’s Endless War,” and yet he has acknowledged that “military

force is sometimes necessary, but always—always—as the last resort.”

His foreign policy adviser has emphasized Sanders’ commitment to

collective defense among ™ allies and has said that genocide and mass

atrocities would “weigh heavily” on Sanders when contemplating mili-

tary action. Advocates oŒ ošshore balancing, such as the scholar John

Mearsheimer, favor using force iΠa regional balance oΠpower is breaking

down, and Mearsheimer has written that his approach would not preclude

operations to halt genocides like the one that befell Rwanda in 1994.

Even at a rhetorical and intellectual level, then, the end oΠinterven-

tion is not nearly as clear-cut as today’s politicians suggest. The reality

o” being commander in chieŒ complicates things further: on the cam-

paign trail, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Trump

each pledged to engage in fewer foreign military adventures and redi-

rect resources toward needs at home. In o‘ce, each reluctantly pro-

ceeded to not only continue existing wars but also launch new ošensives.

The result is that, according to a Congressional Research Service

estimate, the United States has employed military force over 200

times since the end oΠthe Cold War. Many oΠthese operations have

taken place in or around the Middle East, including in Afghanistan,

Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. But other, less frequently

recalled interventions have occurred elsewhere, as in Bosnia, Colom-

bia, Haiti, Kosovo, Liberia, and the Philippines. What’s more, the

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