With the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan this summer, the paper of record appears to believe that America is no longer at war.
“Biden Marks First Veterans Day in Two Decades Without a War Underway,” said a New York Times headline attached to a piece reporting on President Biden’s commemoration of today’s holiday at Arlington National Cemetery.
But of course, the United States is still engaged in many wars throughout the region: Iraq, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen. The Times itself noted this back in September after Biden withdrew U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
Sloppy headline writing aside, the article itself wasn’t much better, asserting that Biden had “ended the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan this summer.” But of course he did no such thing. A conflict in Afghanistan is still ongoing. The president just ended the U.S. military’s involvement in it.
The piece also ran through a myriad of criticisms of Biden on the withdrawal, but failed to mention not only broad public support for the U.S. exit, but also national organizations, and veterans groups from across the ideological spectrum.
It’s inaccurate, and American-centric reporting like this that makes the disconnect between the American people and U.S. foreign policy that much greater. The Times does a disservice to its readers by not providing the full context of the so-called “war on terror,” and aids in the perception that the endless wars the U.S. military are currently engaged in are out of sight and out of mind, and free for U.S. leaders to engage in without accountability.
