![]() Throughout this period, Biden refused to reexamine his policy. Afghan government forces stood down because they saw no chance of winning without U.S. Meanwhile, the Taliban saw Biden’s unconditional withdrawal as an invitation to ramp up their offensive. They begged the Biden administration for help-and members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, echoed their pleas to start evacuating U.S. personnel for years, feared that the Taliban would take over and kill them once U.S. In May 2021, USA Today reported that Afghan translators, who had worked alongside U.S. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie Jr., told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he was concerned about the “ability of the Afghan military to hold the ground that they’re on now without the support that they have been used to for many years.” He also acknowledged that counterterrorism strikes would be much harder without a U.S. ![]() service members sacrificed to build.Įight days after Biden’s announcement, the commander of U.S. The only thing that has been “decimated” in Afghanistan, to borrow Biden’s term, is everything that U.S. 11 of that year, whether or not the Taliban had met its commitments under the 2020 agreement. forces would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by Sept. ![]() On April 14, 2021, he reversed the Trump administration’s conditions-based drawdown policy and announced that all U.S. Defense Department numbers) by the time he left office-a sufficient presence for supporting the Afghan government’s security efforts and ensuring that the Taliban kept their end of the bargain.Īfter taking office, Biden undertook a superficial review of our Afghanistan policy-one that totally ignored the advice of his top military advisor and his commanders on the ground. force posture, reducing troop levels from roughly 12,000 service members in February 2020 to 2,500 service members (according to U.S. In the interim, Trump right-sized the U.S. troops from Afghanistan on the Taliban’s implementation of wide-ranging counterterrorism commitments. President Donald Trump’s February 2020 agreement with the Taliban, which conditioned the withdrawal of U.S. Nobody wanted a “forever war” in Afghanistan-I certainly didn’t. Yet the U.S.-led effort also helped sustain an Afghan government that, for all of its many shortcomings, prevented the Taliban’s resurgence, countered al Qaeda and the Islamic State, and afforded Afghans unprecedented freedoms for nearly two decades. service members were killed and 20,752 service members were wounded during the war. The two-decade war was costly, not least to our men and women in uniform: 2,448 U.S. The United States went to war in Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks for two main reasons: to punish those responsible and to prevent any future attacks from being planned and organized from Afghan soil. ![]() Here’s what they should know: Almost everyone who paid any attention to Afghanistan saw it coming-everyone, that is, except Biden and his insular circle of advisors. citizens had been left behind to fend for themselves under the Taliban’s brutal rule.įuture historians will ask how a global superpower like the United States seemed so unprepared for Afghanistan’s unraveling. ![]() service members had been killed and hundreds or more U.S. When the crisis ended two weeks later, 13 U.S. President Joe Biden ordered a hasty and chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan. One year ago, the Taliban seized Kabul, the Afghan government collapsed, and U.S. ![]()
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