Ajay Singh

On 11 September 2001, the planes crashed into the twin towers. On 26 September--just fifteen days later--a team of CIA operatives dropped into the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan. They were the first troops of the US military operation that would eventually go on for the next two decades in America’s longest and most expensive war, which saw over 120,000 US troops deployed at its peak (plus an additional 25,000 NATO troops), cost over USD2 Trillion, and claimed over 7,000 lives--not counting 1,57,000 Afghan civilians who perished in the violence.

Now, President Joe Biden has finally called quits on what he calls, ‘The Forever War’. He has promised to get all US troops back by 9/11/21--a symbolic date. This means that the 2,500 US troops presently there will move back. The NATO force of around 8,000 will leave as well. So will the gunships and aircraft that provided much-needed fire support to the Afghan security forces. 18,000 contractors, who provide logistics and maintenance services will also depart. Remaining would be some intelligence personnel, a platoon or so to guard their embassy and a handful of drones to assist the Afghan security forces. The departure was anticipated, but it will leave a void that will create even further instability in Afghanistan and leave it ripe for the picking by an increasingly assertive Taliban.

1
The US Withdrawal

President Biden had inherited a Peace Deal which Trump had made with the Taliban which agreed to a complete US withdrawal by May 1. The withdrawal was conditional to the Taliban entering talks with the Afghan government ‘for a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire,’ and promising not to allow al Qaeda or any other group from sheltering in Afghanistan. Biden’s announcement has no such conditionalities. It merely claims that the objectives for the initial invasion have been met and the troops are now required to counter emerging threats elsewhere--especially in the Indo-Pacific. In other words, they have declared victory and scooted.

Yet, this withdrawal is nothing more than a defeat. It is an acknowledgment that