The Afghanistan Debacle

• We went there back in 2001 after 9-11 because that is where Usama Bin Laden, leader of Al Qaeda was spending most of his time training terrorists.
  • We wanted to capture or kill Bin Laden
  • We wanted to deny Al Qaeda the use of Afghanistan as a base of operations.
  • We deposed the Taliban
• US and Coalition forces supported a newly created Afghan government
• President Trump promised to pull our troops out of Afghanistan
  • Troop presence was reduced to approximately 2500 US servicemen, plus several thousand of our NATO allies.
  • The original plan was to leave by May 1, 2021, before the fighting season began (roughly May-October)
  • When President Biden was elected, he changed to target date to depart to Sep 11^th for the symbolism of it.
  • The new date became August 31st at the height of the fighting season, when Taliban fighter strength would be at its max.
• On July 1, 2021, the US abandoned Bagram Airbase, the major airbase in Afghanistan (a move later to prove foolish)
  • Further reference: Why did the United States Abandon Bagram Airfield? National Review, 8/18/21
• Soon after we abandoned Bagram, the Taliban started a major push to retake the country.
• By Aug 14^th, the Taliban had taken over the country, precipitating a crisis of Americans, Afghan allies, and others struggling to flee the country from the airport in Kabul, where the last vestige of US and allied forces remain
• The Taliban have warned those fleeing the country to be out by the Aug 31^st deadline.
• There are thousands of Americans currently stuck in Afghanistan.   

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Thanks.

JP Mac