Afghans Reflect on Biden’s Announcement to End War

FEATURING DR. HAKEEM NAIM AND FAHIMA GAHEEZ – President Joe Biden in mid-April announced a withdrawing of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, bringing to an ostensible end the longest official war in modern history. He said in a speech from the White House that the war’s objectives were won once Osama bin Laden was assassinated.  But...

FEATURING DR. HAKEEM NAIM AND FAHIMA GAHEEZ – President Joe Biden in mid-April announced a withdrawing of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, bringing to an ostensible end the longest official war in modern history. He said in a speech from the White House that the war’s objectives were won once Osama bin Laden was assassinated. 

But immediately reports emerged that the U.S. would continue the war from afar using drone strikes against one of the world’s poorest nations. The New York Times reported a day after Biden’s speech, “Attack planes aboard aircraft carriers and long-range bombers flying from land bases along the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean and even in the United States could strike insurgent fighters spotted by armed surveillance drones.”

For more information visit www.afghanwomensfund.org.

Dr. Hakeem Naim is a Lecturer in the Department of History at UC Berkeley. He grew up in Afghanistan and lived in multiple countries as a refugee and immigrant before moving to the U.S. And Fahima Gaheez, Director of the Afghan Women’s Fund. She has visited Afghanistan to open new schools for girls and literacy classes for women, create income-generating projects for widows to help them become self-sufficient, distribute warm clothing and school supplies to refugees and guide numerous other humanitarian and educational projects.