New Atlanticist
May 1, 2020
How to make a bad situation much worse: Run from Afghanistan because of the virus
By
James B Cunningham, Hugo Llorens, Richard Olson, Ronald E. Neumann, and Earl Anthony Wayne
Recent news reports suggest that US President Donald J. Trump is seriously considering withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan because of concerns relating to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). There are arguments for the United States to stay and to go, but this is a bad one on every count. Our troops will be exposed to COVID-19 wherever they are. In Afghanistan, our military presence is key to the strategy the Trump administration has been laboring to implement to foment peace.