Democracy Dies in Darkness

As Biden touts an end to America’s ‘forever’ wars, conflicts drag on out of sight

By
September 22, 2021 at 10:37 p.m. EDT
U.S. soldiers on patrol in Manbij, Syria, in 2018. (Spec. Zoe Garbarino/Army/AP)

NEW YORK — When President Biden told global leaders this week that he had ended America's era of insurgent war, his assertion appeared to contrast sharply with the prolonged military missions that have locked the United States in low-level conflicts in Africa and the Middle East.

Speaking before the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Biden vowed to launch a new period of “relentless diplomacy” after the war in Afghanistan and turn toward Asia after two decades of counterterrorism campaigns set in motion by the 9/11 attacks.