United States Withdrawal from Afghanistan

As the decades-long conflict in Afghanistan comes to a close, the Taliban has taken control of the country in a matter of weeks. This is in light of the departure of United States troops from the region. The United States has spent the past years training and funding the Afghanistan Security Force for the inevitable combat with the terrorist group. The Afghanistan Security Force has failed to hold primary towns and cities within the country after United States troops withdrew, allowing for a massive insurgent takeover.

Going back over three decades ago, the Taliban had control of massive portions of Afghanistan. After the attack on the world trade center on September 11, 2001, United States Troops and their allies began an invasion of the Middle Eastern nation. The United States has wanted out of this conflict for many years now, as a result, the Trump Administration planned to have the troops removed after signing a deal with the Taliban. President Biden upheld this arrangement and planned to have United States forces leave the nation by August. The recent departure of United States troops led to the destabilization of the region’s government, giving way to the Taliban taking over.

The reason for such a quick Taliban resurgence is the insufficient response of the Afghanistan Security Force. The failure of the Afghanistan Security forces can be blamed on its major officials taking advantage of funding and materials for their own purposes. At times, this led to soldiers in the field lacking the required materials needed for them to succeed in conflict with the Taliban. The planned departure of United States troops only exacerbated these problems.

As a response to the revival of Taliban control over the nation, many Afghanistan civilians sought to flee the country by means of the Kabul airport. This resulted in the deaths of Afghanistan civilians and led to the horrific images of these civilians grasping onto military airliners as they departed. The President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, chose to flee the country to avoid the incoming violence.

In tragic and recent events, a bombing at the Kabul airport killed 13 United States troops and over 60 Afghanistan civilians with over 100 Afghanistan civilians being wounded. Responsibility for the bombing was taken by ISIS on the terrorist group’s media affiliate. The attack did not come as a surprise to Afghanistan and United States Officials at the Kabul airport, as a warning came hours before it took place.

The airlift of Americans and civilians out of the country is one of the biggest in history. Despite the over 100,000 individuals that departed the country via American aircraft, some American and Afghan civilians were left in the Taliban-controlled nation. The Biden administration has begun planning to remove the remaining American citizens and Afghan civilians who wish to leave the nation. Despite harsh judgment and opinions from Republican and Democratic politicians alike, President Biden defends his decision to withdraw United States troops from Afghanistan, effectively ending a decades-long war.