Back in August, when the Taliban overran Kabul, marking an end to a multitrillion-dollar war spanning nearly twenty years in Afghanistan, President Biden was universally condemned by Republicans in Congress for "botching" America's withdrawal. But now, as Biden wrestles with yet another crisis abroad – Russian brinkmanship over Ukraine – Republicans are displaying a much less united front, with intra-party disagreements about how, when, and why the U.S. should engage in the conflict.
Over the past two weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has coordinated a massive military buildup of about 100,000 troops and weaponry along Ukraine's eastern border. The standoff comes on the heels of ongoing tension between Russia and Ukraine starting back in 2014, when Russia began annexing large swaths of Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Since then, Putin has become increasingly married to the notion that Ukraine fundamentally belongs to Russia, even though Ukraine has openly expressed its desire to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – a move that would solidify the country's independence from Russia.
