Afghanistan: One Year Later

Afghanistan: One Year Later

The consequences of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan — direct and indirect — can still be felt one year later.

August 18, 2022
Afghanistan: One Year Later

A year ago, the Taliban seized Kabul, thousands of Americans and our allies were left behind enemy lines, and 13 American service members lost their lives. Joe Biden’s failures in Afghanistan infuriated allies and emboldened America’s adversaries, including al Qaeda and Vladimir Putin.

Fox News: “There was a complete lack and failure to plan,” McCaul, a ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan. “There was no plan and there was no plan executed. . .”

Biden’s pullout of U.S. troops in Afghanistan faced widespread global backlash after Taliban insurgents retook the country in a matter of days on Aug. 15, 2021, essentially winning the war 20 years after their ouster by U.S.-led forces. Just a month earlier, Biden had told Americans that the likelihood of a Taliban takeover was “highly unlikely.”

On Aug. 26, 2021, during the U.S. military’s mass evacuation at the Kabul airport, suicide bombers killed at least 183 people, including 13 U.S. service members. The evacuation required significant cooperation from the Taliban to complete and ended a day ahead of the deadline on Aug. 30, leaving behind thousands of U.S. citizens and tens of thousands of Afghan allies, despite Biden’s promise days earlier to “get them all out.”

The Taliban’s resurgence has had brutal consequences for the Afghan people. Girls have been banned from attending school, and an economic crisis is leading to starvation.

Additionally, al Qaeda reestablished itself in Kabul and Vladimir Putin seized on the global disorder and perceived weakness to invade Ukraine.

Washington Post: The analysts said Putin calculated that any Western response to an attempt to reclaim Ukraine by force would be big on outrage but limited in actual punishment. The Russian leader, they said, believed that the Biden administration was chastened by the humiliating U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and wanted to avoid new wars.

Bottom Line: The consequences of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan — direct and indirect — can still be felt one year later.