Joe Biden joined in the unanimous Senate vote authorizing the invasion of Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks. During the early period of the occupation, he was aggressive about the role of the United States in reshaping Afghan society and clear about using military force as a tool for statecraft. On a 2002 fact-finding mission to Kabul, Biden called for a long-term international security force to be deployed to the country in order to prevent a return to civil war. “I’m not talking about international peacekeepers. I’m not talking about U.N. blue helmets. I’m talking about people who shoot and kill people,” Biden said. “I’m talking about people who are a bunch of badasses who will come in here with guns and understand that they don’t have to check with anybody before they return fire.”
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