On August 15, 2021—just two weeks before the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan—the Taliban swiftly seized control of Kabul, encountering minimal resistance as they reasserted their power. The Afghan government collapsed, President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, and countless desperate Afghan civilians were left abandoned.
This chaotic withdrawal marked the conclusion of a two-decade-long war that began in 2001 following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The initial mission was to dismantle Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization responsible for the attacks, and to remove the Taliban from power for their refusal to surrender Osama bin Laden to the U.S. On August 16, facing widespread criticism, President Biden attempted to justify the withdrawal, labeling the Afghanistan mission as “America’s Longest War.”
“I cannot and I will not ask our troops to fight on endlessly in another country’s civil war, taking casualties, suffering life-shattering injuries, leaving families broken by grief and loss,” Biden stated. “This is not in our national security interest. It is not what the American people want. It is not what our troops, who have sacrificed so much over the last two decades, deserve.”
The Afghanistan conflict claimed the lives of 2,448 American military personnel, 3,846 U.S. contractors, and over 100,000 Afghans.
The decision to leave Afghanistan, culminating in the disastrous withdrawal, involved both the Trump and Biden administrations. While both presidents expressed a desire to end the war, the Biden administration’s execution of the withdrawal was a complete and total disaster. Biden’s non-threatening nature and horrific diplomacy led to unnecessary conflict that killed Americans. The Trump administration negotiated an agreement with the Taliban, setting a May 1, 2021, withdrawal deadline, and reducing U.S. troop numbers from approximately 13,000 to 2,500. However, Biden extended this deadline to August 31.
During this period, the Taliban blatantly violated the agreement by continuing to attack Afghan government forces. Despite this, U.S. intelligence failed to foresee the rapid collapse of the Afghan government to Taliban forces.
In June 2021, U.S. officials predicted that Kabul could fall within six to twelve months, yet the city capitulated within hours, shocking many and leaving them woefully unprepared. In the aftermath, the Taliban dismantled or defaced billboards featuring women, and Afghan flags were swiftly removed.
Anthony H. Cordesman, a former consultant to the State and Defense departments on Afghanistan, remarked to The Washington Post that the chaotic exodus from Kabul resulted from a widespread state of denial until the final days of the collapse.
Images and videos from the time captured the pandemonium in Afghanistan, showing the Taliban celebrating their return to power with gunfire, and desperate Afghans chasing and clinging to departing American military planes at Kabul airport.
Less than two weeks later, nearly 200 people—including 13 remaining U.S. service members—were killed in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport perimeter. The Islamic State-Khorasan claimed responsibility for the attack on August 26. The tragic loss of life and the chaotic exit have underscored the profound failures in the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal.
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