Written by Will Seykora
Last week we talked about the U.S. giving Afghanistan the keys to one of the most important airforce bases in the middle east. We discussed the fact that many military officials and even the Afghan government wanted to slow down the withdrawal of troops to help deal with any terrorists attempted to capitalize on the situation. However, it looks like Biden didn’t listen to anyone, and has continued the swift removal of U.S. presence in the Taliban-ridden country.
The U.S. Central Command announced on Tuesday that troop withdrawal from Afghanistan was over 90% complete. Following this exodus from the country by U.S. troops, Afghanistan’s national security chief said the country was having “teething problems’ with the Taliban making strides in claiming territory. He says this is due to the sudden lack of U.S.-led troops in key strategic locations in the country.
Since the first announcement of the withdrawal, the Taliban has more than doubled the number of districts they control in Afghanistan. Holding now more than 195 districts, keep in mind, Afghanistan is made up of 421 districts total, meaning the Taliban has control of nearly half the country due to Biden’s rushed agenda.
Many Afghan soldiers have even been fleeing into Tajikistan, roughly 1,600 soldiers took refuge in the foreign country to escape the Taliban. This led to the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, to mobilize 20,000 military reservists towards the Afghan border.
In February of 2020, President Trump signed a peace deal with the Taliban to allow for this withdrawal without the fear of Taliban attacks. President Trump also was a key factor in getting the Taliban to talk about peace with the Afghan government. However since Biden has taken office it appears that he has no interest in ensuring the Taliban is peaceful, instead, putting his own political clout above the lives of millions of Afghan citizens. Taliban spokesperson said that the terrorist cell “is ready and determined to move the peace process forward but the other side is unwilling to do so.”
With over 3 million Afghan refugees now living in Pakistan, the Pakistani government says that if things continue to get worse it will stop accepting refugees altogether.
Biden wants to claim this withdrawal as his own victory when in reality it was started by President Trump. We can also be certain that if the Taliban successfully conquers enough territory and holds enough power, they will attempt to seize control of U.S. bases in neighboring countries.
