Honorable Mr. (ex) President of the US:

Thank you very much for this exceptional piece on your approach towards making the toughest decisions.

Referring to one of your points regarding VP Joe Biden's stance on waiting to have a clear strategy, let me write a few points.

Unfortunately, the US government (especially during the reign of President Donald Trump) not only didn’t have a clear strategy but also had (still has) a distorted understanding of the realities on the ground.

Now that H.E. Joe Biden takes the lead of the country, he must have a clear strategy for ending one of the longest wars in history.

They say that a change at a macro level brings about a lot of changes at micro levels. I hope President Biden is now clear (of course with your guidance and mentorship) about ending this war so that it contributes to thousands of other changes in that country and around the world. That’s because President Donald Trump has made haphazard decisions on these lines that has given the Taliban a significant boost. Although their position was asymmetric in terms of any power sharing potentials with the Afghan government, now it’s more of a symmetric one. The Taliban continue to infiltrate in crosscutting areas and levels throughout Afghanistan. The 5000 Taliban prisoners who were released a few months ago have made the life of Afghans across the country even worst.

President George W. Bush coined the word “War on Terror.” Your administration didn’t pursue the goals he set, for it was changed to “Global Contingency Operations.” President Trump’s Administration sidelined all the above and didn’t have any clear strategy in Afghanistan either — although they started peace talks with the Taliban a few months ago, with no focus on analysis long-term its long-term implications.

I hope President Biden has a clear strategy not only on troop deployment or withdrawal but also on ending the war. But the decision to end this war would be the toughest decisions of his first few days in the Oval Office. I hope you’re guiding him on this so that he puts an end to this war in such a way that we do not witness the reemergence of Terrorism from that region. Otherwise, he or the next President of the US might come up with “War or Terror II.”

I believe President Biden along with Vice President Mrs. Kamala Harris (through your guidance and mentorship) would be able to make this toughest decision soon — as Afghans have been suffering from wars and tragedies for more than 40 years.

Were Shakespeare alive now, he would advise President Biden as below:

“To deploy more troops, or not to deploy more troops, that’s not the question. No need for any question. To end this war, that is the answer.”

Best regards,

Massúod