US troops alongside are seen loading right into a C-130 Hercules cargo airplane at Ahead Working Base Salerno, Khost province, Afghanistan.
Division of Protection picture
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration acknowledged on Thursday the two-year anniversary of Afghanistan’s fall to the Taliban, a somber milestone following a 20-year U.S.-led conflict within the nation.
The Taliban returned to energy in Afghanistan following a surprising string of battlefield reversals because the U.S., NATO and accomplice nations started a months-long precipitous withdrawal.
“We bow our heads at this time in reminiscence of the two,461 U.S. service members who by no means made it dwelling, together with the 13 brave troops taken from us within the assault at Abbey Gate within the remaining hours of the conflict,” Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin wrote in a press release referencing the ultimate U.S. servicemembers killed throughout a humanitarian evacuation mission close to the gates of Kabul’s airport.
“We additionally bear in mind the lots of of service members from allied and accomplice nations who misplaced their lives throughout this 20-year conflict. And we honor the greater than 20,000 People who had been injured waging conflict in Afghanistan, together with many who nonetheless bear wounds that aren’t seen,” Austin wrote, with out mentioning the Taliban’s return to energy.
The inception of America’s conflict in Afghanistan, dubbed “Operation Enduring Freedom,” by then-President George W. Bush, started within the weeks following the assaults of Sept. 11, 2001.
On the time, the Taliban offered sanctuary to al-Qaeda, the group that deliberate and carried out the devastating terrorist assaults on the World Commerce Middle in New York Metropolis and the Pentagon. The battle, which spanned over 4 administrations, claimed the lives of almost 2,500 U.S. service members and greater than 100,000 Afghan troops, police personnel and civilians.
In April 2021, Biden ordered the total withdrawal of roughly 3,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 of that yr. He later gave an up to date timeline saying the U.S. army mission would finish by Aug. 31, 2021.
Within the remaining weeks of a deliberate exodus of international forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban seized provincial capitals earlier than capturing the prized Bagram Air Base, a sprawling and once-stalwart U.S. army set up that was transferred to the Afghan Nationwide Safety and Protection Drive solely two months prior.
In 2012, at its peak, Bagram noticed greater than 100,000 U.S. troops go via, making it the most important U.S. army set up in Afghanistan.
Taliban forces stand guard in entrance of Hamid Karzai Worldwide Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 2, 2021.
Stringer | Reuters
Because the Taliban moved nearer to the capital, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the nation and Western nations rushed to evacuate embassies amid a deteriorating safety scenario. Regardless of being vastly outnumbered by the Afghan army, which had lengthy acquired help by Western coalition forces, the Taliban marched into the presidential palace on Aug. 15.
In the meantime, 1000’s of individuals swarmed the gates and tarmac on the airport in Kabul in a determined try to flee life beneath the Taliban.
For 2 weeks, U.S. troops carried out the most important airlift in American army historical past, evacuating greater than 120,000 U.S. residents, residents of allied nations and Afghan allies from Taliban rule. In the meantime, Secretary of State Antony Blinken suspended America’s diplomatic presence in Kabul and transferred the remaining operations to Doha, Qatar.
Evacuees crowd the inside of a U.S. Air Drive C-17 Globemaster III transport plane, carrying some 640 Afghans to Qatar from Kabul, Afghanistan August 15, 2021.
Courtesy of Protection One | Handout through Reuters
A day after Afghanistan collapsed to the Taliban, Biden defended his choice to go away the nation saying, “there was by no means a great time to withdraw U.S. forces.”
Learn extra: ‘Intelligence failure of the very best order’ — How Afghanistan fell to the Taliban so shortly
“I stay eternally grateful to the army members, diplomats, intelligence professionals and growth specialists who not solely labored collectively to advance the US’ Afghan mission for 20 years — however who additionally performed our withdrawal with the identical resolve and bravado that outlined U.S. service in Afghanistan,” Biden wrote in a press release.
“We’ve got demonstrated that we don’t want a everlasting troop presence on the bottom in hurt’s solution to take motion in opposition to terrorists and people who want to do us hurt,” he added.
