On August 12, 2021 President Biden announced the departure of U.S troops from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years. Twenty years ago, al-Qaeda launched the September 11th attacks that led the U.S to invading Afghanistan in 2001.
The U.S went to Afghanistan in 2001 to remove the Taliban Government that was providing help for al-Qaeda. With the Taliban government forcing the U.S departure, there will be many costs to the citizens. Teresa Vann, a Civics, Sociology, and Geography teacher at Elkhorn North High School has kept up to date with the happenings in Afghanistan since the start. The first thing she thought when she heard the U.S was leaving Afghanistan was that this will not be good for the women and girls. According to businessinsider.com/taliban-rules-for-women-during-last-afghanistan-takeover-2021-8, Women have to wear coverings from head to toe, they cannot work, they are not allowed education, women are restricted from healthcare, and the list goes on and on. If these rules are broken, women could be punished by death or rape.
The last of the U.S troops in Afghanistan had left August 30th. Just five days prior, a suicide bomb exploded at the Kabul airport killing 13 U.S troops. ISIS was said to be behind this attack. Vann said, “I think a lot of people have mixed emotions about it, including President Biden, actually. He’s been trying to get us out since he was Vice President under Obama. He argued to get us out of there, but we knew it would be a catastrophe.”
Biden addressed Afghanistan the other day at the white house. “And by the time I came to office, the Taliban was in its strongest military position since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country,” Biden said. The Taliban Government said that they would not attack any American forces if they leave by the deadline put in place by the Trump Administration.
With the bombings, the U.S has already launched two strikes on the Taliban. It is uncertain what will happen next. The U.S was able to remove 120,000 people to safety by the last airlift on August 30th. This included 100,000 Afghans. Though this is a higher number than what amount of people would be able to leave, the Taliban government is in more control than ever.
To many this is a controversial topic with no right answer. The Trump administration had previously created this agreement to remove troops from Afghanistan. If the U.S. did not follow through it was very likely that the war would escalate even more, causing the U.S to have to send thousands of more troops down for not leaving. But, to many, there were better ways of leaving.
For someone who is not educated on this, Vann described it in a simple way as, “I think that most people would say we went over there after 9/11 as a reaction to the Taliban allowing a training ground for al-Qaeda. But we have been there for 20 years and the mission has switched from getting the guy that attacked us (al-Qaeda) to taking down a whole democracy, and it hasn’t worked.” Many are afraid of what will happen when the U.S is completely gone, not only to the U.S but to those living in Afghanistan.
