Last troops exit Afghanistan, ending America’s longest war

WASHINGTON — The United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan precocious Monday, ending America’s longest warfare and closing a section successful subject past apt to beryllium remembered for colossal failures, unfulfilled promises and a frantic last exit that outgo the lives of much than 180 Afghans and 13 U.S. work members, immoderate hardly older than the war.

Hours up of President Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline for shutting down a last airlift, and frankincense ending the U.S. war, Air Force transport planes carried a remaining contingent of troops from Kabul airport. Thousands of troops had spent a harrowing 2 weeks protecting a hurried and risky airlift of tens of thousands of Afghans, Americans and others seeking to flight a state erstwhile again ruled by Taliban militants.

In announcing the completion of the evacuation and warfare effort. Gen. Frank McKenzie, caput of U.S. Central Command, said the past planes took disconnected from Kabul airdrome astatine 3:29 p.m. Washington time, oregon 1 infinitesimal earlier midnight successful Kabul.

The airdrome had go a U.S.-controlled island, a past basal successful a 20-year warfare that claimed much than 2,400 American lives.

The closing hours of the evacuation were marked by bonzer drama. American troops faced the daunting task of getting last evacuees onto planes portion besides getting themselves and immoderate of their instrumentality out, adjacent arsenic they monitored repeated threats — and astatine slightest 2 existent attacks — by the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate. A termination bombing connected Aug. 26 killed 13 American work members and immoderate 169 Afghans.

The last pullout fulfilled Biden’s pledge to extremity what helium called a “forever war” that began successful effect to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that killed astir 3,000 radical successful New York, Washington and agrarian Pennsylvania. His decision, announced successful April, reflected a nationalist weariness of the Afghanistan conflict. Now helium faces condemnation astatine location and abroad, not truthful overmuch for ending the warfare arsenic for his handling of a last evacuation that unfolded successful chaos and raised doubts astir U.S. credibility.

The U.S. warfare effort astatine times seemed to grind connected with nary endgame successful mind, small anticipation for triumph and minimal attraction by Congress for the mode tens of billions of dollars were spent for 2 decades. The quality outgo piled up — tens of thousands of Americans injured successful summation to the dead, and untold numbers suffering intelligence wounds they unrecorded with oregon person not yet recognized they volition unrecorded with.

More than 1,100 troops from conjugation countries and much than 100,000 Afghan forces and civilians died, according to Brown University’s Costs of War project.

In Biden’s presumption the warfare could person ended 10 years agone with the U.S. sidesplitting of Osama bin Laden, whose al-Qaida extremist web planned and executed the 9/11 crippled from an Afghanistan sanctuary. Al-Qaida has been vastly diminished, preventing it frankincense acold from again attacking the United States.

Congressional committees, whose involvement successful the warfare waned implicit the years, are expected to clasp nationalist hearings connected what went incorrect successful the last months of the U.S. withdrawal. Why, for example, did the medication not statesman earlier the evacuation of American citizens arsenic good arsenic Afghans who had helped the U.S. warfare effort and felt susceptible to retribution by the Taliban? It wasn’t wide whether immoderate American citizens who wanted to get retired were near behind, but untold thousands of at-risk Afghans were.

It was not expected to extremity this way. The administration’s plan, aft declaring its volition to retreat each combat troops, was to support the U.S. Embassy successful Kabul open, protected by a unit of astir 650 U.S. troops, including a contingent that would unafraid the airdrome on with spouse countries. Washington planned to springiness the now-defunct Afghan authorities billions much to prop up its army.

Biden present faces doubts astir his program to forestall al-Qaida from regenerating successful Afghanistan and of suppressing threats posed by different extremist groups specified arsenic the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate. The Taliban are enemies of the Islamic State radical but clasp links to a diminished al-Qaida.

The last U.S. exit included the withdrawal of its diplomats, though the State Department has near unfastened the anticipation of resuming immoderate level of diplomacy with the Taliban depending connected however they behaviour themselves successful establishing a authorities and adhering to planetary pleas for the extortion of quality rights.

The velocity with which the Taliban captured Kabul connected Aug. 15 caught the Biden medication by surprise. It forced the U.S. to bare its embassy and frantically accelerate an evacuation effort that featured an bonzer airlift executed chiefly by the U.S. Air Force, with American crushed forces protecting the airfield. The airlift began successful specified chaos that a fig of Afghans died connected the airfield, including astatine slightest 1 who attempted to cling to the airframe of a C-17 transport level arsenic it sped down the runway.

By the evacuation’s conclusion, good implicit 100,000 people, mostly Afghans, had been flown to safety. The dangers of carrying retired specified a ngo portion surrounded by the recently victorious Taliban and faced with attacks by the Islamic State came into tragic absorption connected Aug. 26 erstwhile an IS termination bomber detonated himself astatine an airdrome gate, sidesplitting astatine slightest 169 Afghans and 13 Americans.

Speaking soon aft that attack, Biden stuck to his presumption that ending the warfare was the close move. He said it was past clip for the United States to absorption connected threats emanating from elsewhere successful the world.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” helium said, “It was clip to extremity a 20-year war.”

The war’s commencement was an echo of a committedness President George W. Bush made portion lasting atop of the rubble successful New York City 3 days aft hijacked airliners slammed into the duplicate towers of the World Trade Center.

“The radical who knocked these buildings down volition perceive each of america soon!” helium declared done a bullhorn.

Less than a period later, connected Oct. 7, Bush launched the war. The Taliban’s forces were overwhelmed and Kabul fell successful a substance of weeks. A U.S.-installed authorities led by Hamid Karzai took implicit and bin Laden and his al-Qaida cohort escaped crossed the borderline into Pakistan. The signifier was acceptable for an yet futile U.S. effort to physique a unchangeable Afghanistan that could spouse with the United States to forestall different 9/11.

The archetypal program was to extinguish bin Laden’s al-Qaida, which had utilized Afghanistan arsenic a staging basal for its onslaught connected the United States. The grander ambition was to combat a “Global War connected Terrorism” based connected the content that subject unit could someway decision Islamic extremism. Afghanistan was but the archetypal circular of that fight. Bush chose to marque Iraq the next, invading successful 2003 and getting mired successful an adjacent deadlier struggle that made Afghanistan a secondary precedence until Barack Obama assumed the White House successful 2009 and aboriginal that twelvemonth decided to escalate successful Afghanistan.

Obama pushed U.S. unit levels to 100,000, but the warfare dragged connected portion the Taliban utilized Pakistan arsenic a sanctuary.

When Donald Trump entered the White House successful 2017 helium wanted to retreat from Afghanistan but was persuaded not lone to enactment but to adhd respective 1000 U.S. troops and escalate attacks connected the Taliban. Two years aboriginal his medication was looking for a woody with the Taliban, and successful February 2020 the 2 sides signed an statement that called for a implicit U.S. withdrawal by May 2021. In exchange, the Taliban made a fig of promises including a pledge not to onslaught U.S. troops.

Biden weighed proposal from members of his nationalist information squad who argued for retaining the 2,500 troops who were successful Afghanistan by the clip helium took bureau successful January. But successful mid-April helium announced his determination to afloat retreat and initially acceptable September arsenic a deadline for getting out.

The Taliban past pushed an violative that by aboriginal August toppled cardinal cities, including provincial capitals. The Afghan service mostly collapsed, sometimes surrendering alternatively than taking a last stand, and soon aft President Ashraf Ghani fled the capital, the Taliban rolled into Kabul and assumed power connected Aug. 15.

Some parts of their state modernized during the U.S. warfare years, but Afghanistan remains a tragedy, poor, unstable and with galore of its radical fearing a instrumentality to the brutality the state — particularly women and girls — endured erstwhile the Taliban ruled from 1996 to 2001.

The U.S. failures were numerous. It degraded but ne'er defeated the Taliban and yet failed to physique an Afghan service that could clasp disconnected the insurgents, contempt $83 cardinal successful U.S. spending to bid and equip the army. Among the unfulfilled promises: an enduring concern with a U.S.-friendly Afghan authorities that could guarantee the state would not again go a breeding crushed for extremists bent connected attacking the United States.