(WASHINGTON), The United States has completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan on Monday. This marks the end of America's longest conflict and closes a chapter in American military history that will be remembered for the colossal failures and unfulfilled promises. It also ends a chapter likely to be remembered as a chapter filled with frantic exits that cost more than 180 Afghans their lives and 13 U.S. soldiers, many of whom were barely older than the war.
Air Force transport planes transported a contingent of U.S. troops from Kabul airport hours ahead of President Joe Biden's Tuesday deadline. Two weeks of agony for thousands of troops protecting the airlift of Afghans, Americans, and others fleeing a country once more controlled by Taliban militants was a difficult two weeks.
Announcement of the end of the war effort and evacuation. General Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command said that the last planes left Kabul airport at 3 :29 p.m. Washington Time, one minute before midnight in Kabul. He stated that some Americans, probably in the hundreds, were left behind and that they believe they will still be allowed to leave the country.
Antony Blinken, Secretary of State, stated that the number of Americans still residing in the United States was less than 200 and likely closer to 100. He also said that the State Department would continue to work to help them get out. He called the military-led evacuation heroic and historic, and stated that the U.S. diplomatic presence will shift to Doha in Qatar.
Biden stated that all military commanders supported ending the airlift and not extending it. Biden said that he had asked Blinken for coordination with international partners to hold the Taliban to their promise to allow Americans and other people to leave the country in the days ahead.
The U.S. had made the airport an American-controlled island as a last stand against a war that lasted 20 years and claimed more than 2,400 American casualties.
Amazing drama was evident in the final hours of evacuation. The final evacuation was a daunting task for American troops. They had to get the last evacuees on planes and also get their equipment and themselves out. All this while they remained vigilant for threats and even two attacks by Islamic State affiliates in Afghanistan. On Aug. 26, 13 American servicemen were killed and 169 Afghans were injured in a suicide bombing.
Biden's promise to end the "forever war" that began after the Sept. 11 attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives in New York, Washington, and rural Pennsylvania, was fulfilled by his final pullout. The April announcement of his decision reflected the national fatigue from the Afghanistan conflict. He is now facing criticism from both home and abroad for not only ending the war but also for his handling of the final evacuation, which was chaotic and raised doubts about U.S. credibility.
Sometimes, the U.S. war effort seemed to go on without an endgame. There was little hope of victory and very little care from Congress about how tens of trillions of dollars were spent over two decades. Tens of thousands of Americans were also killed and injured as a result of the human cost.
According to Brown University's Costs of War project, more than 1,100 soldiers from the coalition countries and more that 100,000 civilians and forces in Afghanistan died.
Bidens believe that the war could have been ended 10 years ago by the U.S. killing Osama Bin Laden. His al-Qaida extremist network, which planned and executed 9/11 from an Afghanistan sanctuary, was in Biden's view. Al-Qaida's threat to the United States has been greatly diminished.
The public hearings will be held by the Congressional committees that have lost interest over the years in the war. They will discuss what went wrong during the last months of U.S. withdrawal. For example, why didn't the administration begin to evacuate American citizens and Afghans who helped the U.S war effort and were vulnerable to being retributed by the Taliban earlier?
This was not the intended outcome. After declaring its intention of withdrawing all combat troops from Afghanistan, the administration planned to keep Kabul's U.S. Embassy open. This was protected by about 650 U.S. soldiers, which included a contingent that would protect the airport and other partner countries. Washington intended to give the now defunct Afghan government billions to support its army.
Biden is now being questioned about his plans to stop al-Qaida regenerating in Afghanistan, and to suppress threats posed from other extremist groups like the Islamic State groups Afghanistan affiliate. Although the Taliban are enemies of Islamic State, they still have links to al-Qaida.
The U.S. pulled out its diplomats as the final exit. However, the State Department left open the possibility that some diplomacy could be resumed with the Taliban depending upon how they behave in setting up a government and complying with international requests for protection of human rights.
The Biden administration was shocked at the speed that the Taliban took Kabul on August 15. The U.S. was forced to evacuate its embassy, and frantically speed up an evacuation effort. This included an extraordinary airlift that was largely carried out by the U.S. Air Force with American ground troops protecting the airfield. The airlift was so chaotic that many Afghans were killed, including one who tried to hold onto the C-17 transport plane's airframe as it flew down the runway.
Nearly 100,000 people, mostly Afghans had been evacuated by the time of the evacuations. Last week, a suicide bomber attacked an airport gate and brought into sharp focus the dangers involved in such a mission.
Biden maintained his belief that the end of the war was the best move, speaking shortly after the attack. Biden stated that it was too late for the United States of America to concentrate on threats from other parts of the world.
He said that it was time for a 20-year conflict to be ended.
Three days after hijacked planes crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, President George W. Bush spoke out about the wars starting.
These people will soon hear us all! He declared through a bullhorn.
Bush declared war on the Taliban less than a month later on October 7. In a matter of weeks, the Taliban forces fell on Kabul. Hamid Karzai, an American-installed government, took control and bin Laden and his al Qaida cohort fled across the border to Pakistan.
Initial plans were to extinguish bin Laden's al-Qaida. They had used Afghanistan as a base for their attack on the United States. The larger goal was to wage a Global War on Terrorism, based on the belief in military force being able to defeat Islamic extremism. Afghanistan was only the first round in that war. Bush made Iraq his next target, invaded Iraq in 2003, and got mired in a more deadly conflict. Afghanistan was then a secondary priority until Barack Obama took office in 2009, and decided to escalate the war in Afghanistan.
Obama increased troop levels by the United States to 100,000 but the war continued despite bin Laden's death in Pakistan in 2011.
Donald Trump was adamant that he would withdraw from Afghanistan when he entered the White House in 2017. However, despite being persuaded to stay, he decided to increase the attacks against the Taliban and add several thousand U.S. soldiers. His administration was still looking for a deal to end the war with the Taliban two years later. In February 2020, the two sides signed an agreement calling for the complete U.S. withdrawal before May 2021. The Taliban also made several promises, including a promise not to attack U.S. soldiers.
Biden considered the advice of his national security team members who advocated for the retention of the 2,500 troops in Afghanistan at the time he assumed office in January. He announced his decision to withdraw fully in April.
In early August, the Taliban launched an offensive to overthrow key cities including provincial capitals. The Afghan army collapsed, sometimes giving up, but not surrendering. President Ashraf Ghani fled Kabul shortly after, and the Taliban invaded Kabul to take control.
Some areas of Afghanistan were modernized by the U.S. during the war years. Life for many Afghans, particularly women and girls, was improved in many ways. Afghanistan is still a disaster, with its population fearing the return to the violence of 1996-2001 when the Taliban ruled.
Numerous U.S. failures are evident. Despite spending $83 billion to train and equip the Army, it failed to create an Afghan military capable of resisting the insurgents.
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