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‘Funds needed to help Afghans.’ ‘Human rights invaded, hundreds of people homeless.’ Have you seen these awareness posts on social media? Probably. What exactly is happening in Afghanistan, and why is the U.S. involved?
On 11 September 2001, the devastating 9/11 attacks took place in the U.S. The Executioner of the attack, Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist group al-Qaeda, hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the U.S. To avenge their citizens, the Bush government announced a war on terror, which was to be imposed immediately. However, Taliban controlled Afghanistan then. Bin Laden manipulated and used the Taliban as a weapon to plan the attacks and defend oppressed Afghan Muslims. When the Taliban refused to hand over Bin Laden, the U.S. intervened with their armies in Afghanistan to remove the Taliban forces. In November 2001, the Taliban began to retreat. Bin Laden escaped to Pakistan in December 2001.
In April 2001, President Bush called for the reconstruction of Afghanistan and appropriated over $38 billion and 8,000 troops in reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2009. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) assumed control of international security forces in Afghanistan in August 2003, and was originally tasked with securing Kabul and its surrounding areas.
After this, the Afghans decided to form an interim government. In October 2004, elections were held and Hamid Karzai was chosen to be their first President. The Afghan president signed a declaration with the US, which agreed to “strengthen the US-Afghan ties and help ensure Afghanistan’s security, democracy, and prosperity.” As of January 2009, there were a total of 37,000 troops in Afghanistan, of the US-NATO forces.
On 17 February 2009, the new US president, Obama, planned to send in an addition of 17,000 troops in the war zone. In April 2009, NATO also agreed to send 5,000 troops to train the Afghan military and police. For the same reason as NATO, the US president sent in 36,000 troops and promised a drawdown in July 2011.
As planned, Obama announced a drawdown of 33,000 soldiers from Afghanistan by the summer of 2012. From June 2013, NATO started withdrawing its control over Afghanistan, but didn’t hand over the complete state to the Afghan militia. On 7 May 2014, President Obama announced a timetable for withdrawing most US forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2016.
On February 29, 2020, US envoys and the Taliban’s Baradar signed an agreement that guided a significant drawdown of US troops in Afghanistan and included guarantees from the Taliban that the country will not be used for terrorism. On 14 April 2021, President Biden released a full withdrawal plan to be completed by September 11, 2021.
On 15 August 2021, the Taliban took over the President’s office as President Ghani fled. They vowed to form an “open, inclusive Islamic government.” The military and other security forces of Afghanistan avoided a fight against the Taliban and agreed to a negotiated surrender. President Biden claimed that his decision to not interfere in Afghanistan anymore was correct and blamed the Afghan security forces for not being able to counter the Taliban. However, President Biden helped the Afghans, who worked with the United States, to flee and find a refugee in the US. However, the citizens who didn’t fall under that category remain vulnerable.
Afghanistan has been under turmoil from the very beginning. It has been lacking peace since the birth of the Taliban. The Afghan citizens were never asked for a concise opinion regarding matters of their own country. Today, thousands of Afghans are desperately trying to flee and take shelter as refugees in other countries, following the Taliban’s hostile takeover of their homeland. Countries like India, UK, Canada and Germany are establishing the act of humanity, unlike Taliban, by creating refuge spaces in their country. When will this come to an end?
