Jonathan Schroden on the State of the Afghanistan Withdrawal
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 27 July 2021
⏱️ 53 minutes
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Summary
The United States is just over a month out from completing its full military withdrawal from Afghanistan, but as U.S. troops have moved on, the situation on the ground has only gotten more challenging, with the Taliban claiming control of a growing portion of the country. In recent days, the United States even reentered the arena with airstrikes on the Taliban intended to reinforce U.S. support for Afghan security forces and dissuade a major Taliban offensive on Kandahar, Afghanistan's second largest city. Whether this will be enough to stave off a broader Afghan civil war, however, remains to be seen.
To get a better sense of the state of things, Scott R. Anderson sat down with Dr. Jonathan Schroden, director of the Countering Threats and Challenges Program at the nonprofit research and analysis organization, CNA. They discussed how the withdrawal has gone so far, the impact it is having on the ground and what it all means for the future of Afghanistan.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising to access an ad-free version of the LawFair |
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| 0:25.6 | no bull and the aftermath. |
| 0:34.0 | They are advancing a narrative of Taliban inevitability, right? |
| 0:38.9 | All of their messaging is effectively, it's only a matter of time before we take over |
| 0:44.3 | the country. |
| 0:45.8 | And so you should side with us now if you are, you know, an Afghan on the ground. |
| 0:50.9 | So they're steadily advancing that narrative both nationally and locally. |
| 0:55.8 | And in conjunction with that, they are sitting in Doha, continuing to meet with government |
| 1:00.4 | representatives, not offering any concessions, but making it clear that they are there if |
| 1:06.1 | and when the government is willing to come talk to them and to effectively surrender. |
| 1:10.9 | And so that's the strategy that we've seen the Taliban put into practice again as the |
| 1:16.5 | US has taken its thumb off the scale and began to withdraw. |
| 1:20.8 | I'm Scott Ar Anderson and this is the LawFair podcast for July 27th, 2021. |
| 1:26.9 | The United States is just over a month out from completing its full military withdrawal |
| 1:31.8 | from Afghanistan. |
| 1:33.8 | But as US troops have moved on, the situation on the ground has only gotten more challenging |
| 1:38.5 | with the Taliban claiming control over growing portion of the country. |
| 1:42.6 | In recent days, the United States even re-entered the arena with airstrikes on the Taliban, |
| 1:47.0 | intended to reinforce US support for Afghan security forces, and dissuade a major Taliban |
... |
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