The content below comes from the newsletter This Week in War Powers News, provided by the Committee for Responsible Foreign Policy.
Ro Khanna Says Ending Yemen War Should be a Priority for Biden
When Congressman Ro Khanna introduced a resolution to end US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen without the backing of congressional leaders in September 2017, it appeared more like a statement against the violence with a minimal chance of passing.
In April 2019, after Democrats took control of the House and amid growing anger against Riyadh after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the bill passed with bipartisan support. The measure invoked, for the first time ever, the War Powers Resolution, which allows Congress to halt US military action taken without congressional approval.
President Donald Trump vetoed the resolution. But with that last obstacle soon to be gone and a new administration led by President-elect Joe Biden committing to halting America’s role in the conflict, Khanna is renewing his call to end the war. READ MORE
Joint Chiefs Chair Gives Honest Assessment of Afghanistan War
Army Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chair, just gave an honest yet brutal assessment of America’s decades-long war in Afghanistan.
Asked at a Washington, DC, think tank virtual event about the planned drawdown to 2,500 US troops in the country by January 15, President Donald Trump’s top military adviser tried to assure the audience that the US had somewhat completed its mission.
“We went to Afghanistan … to ensure that Afghanistan never again became a platform for terrorists to strike the United States,” he told the Brookings Institution’s Michael O’Hanlon on Wednesday morning. “We believe that now after 20 years — two decades of consistent effort there — we’ve achieved a modicum of success.” READ MORE
Biden Said He’d ‘End Forever Wars,’ But Will He?
President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to “end forever wars,” a proposal that’s politically palatable to a majority of Americans after roughly 20 years of continuous foreign conflict. But human rights groups are concerned about the lack of specifics behind Biden’s vague promise and his relative silence on issues such as drone and air strikes.
“My primary concern is that while he, like other candidates, suggested he wanted to wind down the ‘endless wars’ … most of the discussion has been about withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan, Somalia, and elsewhere,” Daphne Eviatar, Amnesty International USA’s director of Security With Human Rights, told Insider.
“But withdrawing troops in itself does not end those wars, or US involvement in them, if the US continues to conduct air strikes, whether by drones or by piloted aircraft,” Eviatar added. “It’s not at all clear from Biden’s statements … whether the new administration plans to end or reduce air strikes, or to make more of an effort to protect civilians from being killed or injured by them, if they continue.” READ MORE
