Biden Fumbles Afghan Withdrawal as Taliban Encircles Kabul
Posted on 08/14/2021
For the U.S. military, after more than 20 years in Afghanistan, the Taliban quickly regained control of most of the country. Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani held urgent talks with local leaders and international partners as the emboldened Taliban pushed closer to Kabul. The Taliban recently captured a town, south of Kabul, that is one of the gateways to the city. The Taliban recently took control of the city of Herat, west of Kabul. The Taliban captured all of Logar province, just south of Kabul, and detained local officials. The Taliban also captured the capital of Paktika, bordering Pakistan. The Pakistan government is expecting an influx of Afghan refugees in the coming years which could further destabilize the economically-troubled Pakistan.
Al Qaeda were the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks on the United States. U.S. President George W. Bush who was greatly influenced by neoconservative elements of his party at the time, who used the U.S. military to invade Afghanistan and take out the Taliban, dreamed of spreading “democracy” in Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. ran into trouble when the went into “nation-building” mode in Afghanistan. The war and occupation ensued under U.S. President Barack Obama and his VP Biden. After his presidential inauguration, Biden quickly revised Trump’s timetable and phased withdrawal conditions on Afghanistan back in early 2021 to have it be the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001. This gave the Taliban time to prepare for its offensive. President Biden on August 13, 2021 traveled to Camp David in western Maryland to spend the weekend. He did not speak to reporters en route.
Afghanistan was America’s longest war and many ordinary Americans have forgotten about it. The Afghanistan war also received far less congressional oversight versus the Vietnam War.
