Why were the U.S. troops withdrawn from Afghanistan?
While Trump was in office in 2019, he worked out the Doha agreement with the Taliban. The Doha agreement was negotiated with the U.S. and Taliban which did not include the Afghan government. The Taliban would guarantee the territory they controlled would not become “a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals” in exchange for peace talks with the Taliban and Afghan government.
In 2020 the Taliban and the Trump administration reached an agreement for the US troops to withdraw by May 1 2021, but that didn't go through and troops started leaving in late August of 2021, in exchange for stopping attacks against US forces and cutting ties with al-Qaeda. As part of the Doha Agreement, the Trump administration agreed to an initial reduction of US forces from 13,000 to 8,600 troops by July 2020, followed by a complete withdrawal by 1 May 2021. By the time it was Trump's final days in office there were around 2,500 troops still in afghanistan.
In 2021 Biden was elected president. He said he will continue with Trump’s withdrawal agreement, but pushes back the deadline. He says all US troops will be out of Afghanistan by September 11, 2021 (the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.) Two days after US forces leave the Bagram Airfield, which is the largest military installation in Afghanistan, Biden announces that US troops will completely withdraw from Afghanistan by August 31. Within 24 hour the US forces leaving the Bagram Airfield the Taliban enter with no resistance as the President of Afghanistan flees the country leaving his people and his country.
The speed of the fall of the Afghan government upends even the least optimistic assessments from WCI, and sends countries scrambling to evacuate citizens and vulnerable Afghans through the Kabul airport, which is under US military control. As the evacuation efforts continue, ISIS-K attacks the Kabul airport in a bombing that kills nearly 200 Afghans and 13 members of the US military. So in retaliation the US drone raid kills several civilians, including children, in Kabul.
With the last plane taking off before midnight August 30 ahead of the deadline August 31. At least 100 US citizens remain in Afghanistan, as well as an untold number of Afghans who worked for the US government. The Taliban seized Kabul airport, which has not been operational since, as the US moves its Afghanistan diplomatic team to Doha, Qatar.
Do you think it was fair for the Trump Administration and Taliban to talk about the withdrawal of US troops without the Afghan government?
Do you think that the withdrawal of the US troops could have gone differently or better?
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_of_United_States_troops_from_Afghanistan_(2020%E2%80%932021)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/6/timeline-how-september-11-2001-led-to-us-longest-war
Replies
Well done overall, Rilee! Your summary is more of a summary of the Afghan pullout instead of your thoughts and opinons. The other issue is that we talked about most of what you discussed in class when I was going over the war. Finally, be sure to reply back to students on three different days instead of just one. Your replies were very good though!
I think that the withdrawl of troops in Afganistan was not handled correctly and was sloppy. I think there were a lot of mistakes made and a lot of unecessary rushing of troops which caused a lot of complications. I think that we should have waited longer and just did a better job of actually rescuing people and doing what we said we would 20 years ago. However I do think it was ok for the Trump Administration to meet with the Taliban because it was in the benefit of the Afgan government and just would have made the withdrawl of the Unites States better.
I agree that the withdrawal was sloppy and it definitely could have been done better with a longer timeline to allow for not only the Afghan government to gain more control but also allow for a safe and complete withdrawal of US civilians and Allies before the troops left. I also think it was ok for Trump to talk with the Talaban and try to establish a deal with them to become US allies and run the country because he didn't feel that the government could.
I think that it was ok for the Trump Administration of make deals with the Taliban to withdrawal from Afghanistan so that the Afghan government could start to be more independent and less reliant on the US military. I think that the withdrawal could have gone smoother and should've been taken with more care so that the casualties we experienced in the Kabul bombing might not have happened.
I feel that the Afghanistan government should have been involved with talking about withdrawing the troops so they knew that they needed to be more independent and help themself more. I do agree that the withdrawal could have gone smoother and if it had gone smoother that the bombing might not have happened.
I think that it was important that as the US troops left Afghanistan, that they protect the people of the US. The troops' job is to protect the people and help them get out. As the bombings began in the airport, it would have been dangerous for the troops to stay because even more people could have been killed. I think that they had some good reasons for leaving but it's important they still look our for the people still stuck in Afghanistan who want out.
Part of protecting it by their presence in Afghanistan is to protect the US citizens by deterring the Taliban and ISIS with the US Military Presents. It would have also ensured the safe evacuation of all US citizens and allies. It would have also given the Afghan Government a better chance at being successful in running their country.
I think that it is ok for America to talk about the withdraw of US toops because it wasint up to afganastan wether we want to leave or not. I also think that the afganastan withdraw was not done right because the military left before the civilians left wich puts civilians in a bad position. I belive that the military should have left after the civilians left.
i agree with what you said even if the afghan government wanted us to stay or leave we would do what we want and what would keep people alive. i do agree that the US troops leaving first was not the best idea but i think that putting the troops and the civilians on the planes at the same time would have done better for the US and the afghan civilians.
I don't think it was alright for him to meet without the government because even thought the Taliban have a lot of power in the country the government is the one ruling the country, i think it was a good idea of the U.S troops to remove from Afghanistan because as the Taliban were taking power back the lives of U.S troops would be more in danger.
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