The War in Afghanistan Has Not Ended If “Over the Horizon” Operations Continue

Jordan CohenSecretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee and said that despite not having U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the difficulty of “over the horizon operations” can be overcome by using intelligence from “a variety of sources. ” These types of operations rely on intelligence and the ability to station U.S. soldiers in partner countries. In return, the U.S. is technically still fighting, though without directly risking American lives. If this continues, it means that the U.S. is not withdrawing from Afghanistan, instead choosing to continue fighting a losing war from afar.Over the horizon operations are being conducted out of three countries:Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. Partner countries receive military aid in exchange for hosting U.S. troops and providing intelligence on U.S. adversaries. While appearing to be a low ‐​cost form of engagement, operations based out of these countries all come with the risk of effectively allowing the Afghanistan war to continue indefinitely, not to mention that it further entangles the U.S. in dangerous alliances.Take the fact that Qatar ’s Al Udeid base is where the U.S. will run most of the “over the horizon” air missions. Washington is using it forstationing troops,drone strikes, andnegotiations. Knowing this, over the last two decades, policymakers in Doha have used this reliance to get more U.S. weapons.For example, the U.S. currently has a...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - October 13, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Jordan Cohen Source Type: blogs