Twenty Years after 9/11, Taliban Retakes Afghanistan

By: Stacy M. Brown We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools — let me emphasize: all the tools, training, and equipment of any modern military,” the President declared in July. Even as President Joe Biden announced earlier this year that the United States would entirely withdraw from Afghanistan, Taliban fighters made their presence felt. Reports and videos appeared to show the Taliban coercing Afghan government forces’ surrender and summarily executing the unarmed military members in front of large crowds of civilians. After President Biden’s April announcement, the Taliban reminded the world that it never recognized its democratic government. Today, images of crowds of Afghan citizens – most feared for their lives, desperately clinging to a U.S. Airforce plane as it took off, likely will never go away. At least three people fell hundreds of feet from the aircraft and died as they attempted a most defying trip out of the country. “Our military commanders advised me that once I made the decision to end the war, we needed to move swiftly to conduct the main elements of the drawdown,” President Biden remarked last month. He added that “speed is safety.” The President now faces criticism from within his party, and his own words appear to bite. “We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools — let me emphasize: all the tools, training, and equipment of any modern military,” the President declared in July. “We provided advanced weaponry. And we’re going to continue to provide funding and equipment. And we’ll ensure they have the capacity to maintain their air force.” As the nation awaits the President’s address on Afghanistan on Monday, Aug. 16, the White House essentially has called the middle eastern government cowards. According to Russian officials, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the county with several automobiles and a helicopter so filled with cash that money was left behind because it all couldn’t fit. Ghani claimed he left the country to encourage peace and avoid death and destruction in a statement issued over the weekend. “Afghan leaders have to come together. We lost thousands – lost to […]

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