Offshore balancing empirically failed – Afghanistan proves
Anthony Celso, Professor of Security Studies @ Angelo State University, "The Afghanistan Withdrawal Debacle: The “Forever” Wars Fallacy and Other Realist Delusions Come Tumbling Down in the “Post-Post-War on Terror Era”", TRENDS Middle East Research Center , 9-7-2021. https://trendsresearch.org/insight/the-afghanistan-withdrawal-debacle-the-forever-wars-fallacy-and-other-realist-delusions-come-tumbling-down-in-the-post-post-war-on-terror-era/. Accessed 6-27-2023 by NT-JJ
Offshore balancing is yet another realist trope whose failure is seen in the inability to stem the rapidity of the Taliban advance once American forces left. Failures in counterterrorism from afar were seen before 9-11 where the U.S. failed to stem the rise of a Al Qaeda terror sanctuary. With the U.S. withdraw from Afghanistan, the country has lost an invaluable intelligence network and informants.