In the midst of the crisis in Afghanistan, it’s hard to believe that the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom ended just 11 years ago with our current president serving as vice president to Barack Obama.
President Obama left some 50,000 troops behind that day in 2010 to effectively maintain order and a strong American presence. Interestingly, Obama pledged an end to the combat mission in Iraq on the same day that Biden pledged to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan: August 31.
Today, Iraq still has around 2,500 American troops on rotation. Biden’s critics say he ignored precedents set and lessons learned from the partial withdrawal in Iraq.
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