Aspects of Afghan Withdrawal, with Mena Ayazi, Kate Kizer, and Fatemeh Aman
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Apr 23, 2021 • 1HR 40M
Aspects of Afghan Withdrawal, with Mena Ayazi, Kate Kizer, and Fatemeh Aman
Appears in this episode
Derek Davison
Kate Kizer
Foreign Exchanges is a newsletter and podcast that helps you stay on top of important stories happening around the world. Derek Davison interviews scholars, journalists, and other experts to make sense of international affairs and US foreign policy.
Episode details
4 comments
We're marking the end of America's longest war with what may be the longest episode of this podcast to date, featuring not one but two interviews. I'm first joined by Mena Ayazi of Search for Common Ground and Kate Kizer of Win Without War (and Foreign Exchanges) to talk about Joe Biden's planned withdrawal from Afghanistan and how the United States could provide actual assistance to the Afghan people in lieu of endless war. Then I'm joined by Fatemeh Aman of the Middle East Institute to talk about the effect the withdrawal is likely to have in Afghanistan and throughout its geopolitical neighborhood.
Aspects of Afghan Withdrawal, with Mena Ayazi, Kate Kizer, and Fatemeh Aman
Fascinating episode—thank you all very much for such a nuanced discussion of a complex situation. I look forward to future coverage of these events.
Enjoyed the conversation! One question, a lot was mentioned about the need to establish a peace process with all sorts of invested groups and what strategy US could use here. According to Washington Post, the withdrawal has a leave-behind element consisting of "a shadow combination of clandestine Special Operations forecs, Pentagon contractors, and covert intelligence operatives to find and attack the most dangerous Qaeda or Islamic State threats, current and former American officials said". Doesn't this give some sort of implication about what their post-withdrawal plan might be? I ask because i am unaware if there's a history of the US doing this and not doing a force-based approach to "peace"