Thursday, July 8th, 2021
“End Longest War”
Biden defends withdrawal from Afghanistan
The Taliban are on the rise again in Afghanistan, and the first areas are already under their control. US President Biden still believes that the American withdrawal is the right decision. The Afghan army is strong enough to defend the country against the Taliban.
US President Joe Biden has defended the rapid withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in the face of the advance of the radical Islamic Taliban. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States “achieved” its goals in the fight against terrorism, Biden said in the White House. The US armed forces and secret services could also intervene in the future should Afghanistan again pose a terrorist threat to the US. But he will not “send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan,” said Biden almost 20 years after the US operation began in the Hindu Kush. “We’re ending America’s longest war.”
When journalists asked whether a return of the Taliban to power was “inevitable”, the president replied “no”. Afghanistan has 300,000 well-equipped security forces and its own air force. “Our military mission in Afghanistan will end on August 31,” said Biden. He promised to support the Afghan government beyond that. Ultimately, however, the Afghans themselves would have to decide about the future of their country. In April, Biden announced that all US soldiers would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11 – the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the USA in 2001 – at the latest. His spokeswoman Jen Psaki then spoke last week of “the end of August”, now Biden specifically mentioned August 31.
The US armed forces have already withdrawn their last soldiers from the important base in Bagram. The air force base, located around 50 kilometers north of the Afghan capital Kabul, had served as the headquarters of the US armed forces in the country. Observers fear that the Taliban could regain power after the US and its NATO partners have completely withdrawn from Afghanistan.
The Islamists are on the rise in many parts of the country. For the second day in a row, Taliban fighters fought fierce battles with Afghan security forces over the provincial capital of Kala-i-Naw. Thick clouds of smoke rose over the city in the northwestern province of Badghis. After the Taliban’s offensive, the government sent hundreds of soldiers to the region by helicopter.
“Land can be controlled”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson meanwhile announced the withdrawal of the majority of British soldiers from Afghanistan. “I will not disclose the timing of our exit,” said Prime Minister Boris Johnson. But most of the 750 British soldiers have already been withdrawn. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani nevertheless expressed confidence that his government can overcome the crisis. The country is in “one of the most complicated phases of transition,” he said in Kabul. “The international armed forces are going back to their countries after 20 years here, but the country can be controlled.”
The fighting with the Taliban seems to have spread to the neighboring province of Herat, where the authorities admitted that they lost two districts to the Islamists that night. Human Rights Watch reported that the Taliban had evicted people from their homes and that some homes were looted or burned.
The storm on Kala-i-Naw began on Wednesday, just hours after the US Army announced that the withdrawal from Afghanistan was 90 percent complete. The Taliban have already taken control of a number of areas in Afghanistan, but so far no provincial capital.
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