Async/await matters in Rust specifically because the borrow checker makes writing code without it difficult, inefficient, and unergonomic: http://aturon.github.io/tech/2018/04/24/async-borrowing/ (note that some of the details have changed here, but the thrust of it is very much the same.)
That said, if you can get your job done without this stuff, that's fine too, but the reasons it was pursued specifically involve the above.
That said, if you can get your job done without this stuff, that's fine too, but the reasons it was pursued specifically involve the above.