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The US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan will be completed by the end of August, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has confirmed, following earlier reports that a full withdrawal was imminent. Uncle Sam will not be the global policeman any more. They will go back to their barracks, or Poland or Germany or Japan or South Korea, leaving behind a sad trail of disaster, rampaging poverty, feudal wars and misery.
Major news outlets had reported earlier on Friday that troops leaving the Bagram Air Base, one of the largest military sites in Afghanistan, would be followed by a full withdrawal within days. However, President Joe Biden later dismissed those reports while speaking to reporters at the White House. Asked if a full withdrawal was taking place in the next few days, the President said “no,” but didn’t offer a specific timeline.
“We’re on track exactly as to where we expect to be,” he said, referring to the plan as a “rational drawdown.” Psaki later confirmed that withdrawal is expected to be complete by the “end of August.”
Former President Donald Trump had previously made a deal to leave Afghanistan by May, though this deadline was pushed back by the Biden administration, which set a goal of having troops gone by September, 2021, on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 bombing, which shocked the US forever and this started the global war on terror. Brits left the allied base camp 2 days back to their cozy homes, to watch England storm into semifinals to play against gritty Danes. So did Germans, Italians and Australians.
As the Potus was hammered with more questions on Afghanistan from the press before the Psaki’s briefing, President Biden grew visibly frustrated, citing the “holiday weekend” as his reason for not wanting to focus on “negative” stories. And rightly so!
“I’m not going to answer any more questions on Afghanistan,” he told reporters, throwing his hands up. “Look, its Fourth of July … I’m concerned that you guys are asking me questions that I’ll answer next week.” Period.
NOW – Biden: “I’m not going to answering any more questions on Afghanistan. Look, it’s the 4th of July… I’ll answer all your negative questions… not negative, your legitimate questions.” pic.twitter.com/F2joLTW5aj
— Disclose.tv 🚨 (@disclosetv) July 2, 2021
Despite insisting he wanted to talk about “happy things,” Biden did offer some insight into his perspective on the Afghanistan withdrawal. Regarding concerns expressed by the activists and military officials that the US departure could create a vacuum that would quickly be filled by the insurgents, Biden said he is confident the Kabul government “have the capacity to be able to sustain government down the road.” But where are the funds, resources, ill trained army and above all superior fire power of Taliban!
According to reports earlier on Friday, the Pentagon was planning on a withdrawal that could have happened just in time for Fourth of July celebrations. September 11, 2021 of this year, Biden’s proposed withdrawal deadline will mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, which triggered the two-decade long conflict.
The war led to more than 2,300 US troop deaths and more than 20,000 others wounded, a continuous stream of body bags wrapped in the national colours. That is among the estimated tens of thousands of other war-related deaths and casualties, including around 1,000 troop’s deaths among other NATO forces.
NATO mission is failed in Afghanistan, they are destroying their war machinery not handing over to Afghan national army, which means Afghan army can’t resist against Taliban for long time, another dimension of this conflict is Pashtoon vs non Pashtoon in Afghanistan, hazara, tajiks uzbik etc are in government, majority of Pashtoon are not in government fighting.
A 2020 report from the Department of Defense estimated war-fighting costs had topped US$ 815 Billion. The Costs of War project at Brown University estimates the US has spent a total of over US$ 2.2 Trillion on the conflict.
From the 1990s till their fall in 2001, Taliban’s held a radical ideology where women’s rights were violated and non-Pashtuns and the Hazara were in a miserable condition. Girls were not allowed to go to school and women were barred from jobs. No music, no movies and no concerts and no merry making. After their fall, their subsequent rise and struggle and then involvement with the outer world have made them soften and moderate. Besides, they have had some concrete strategies which put them on the path of victory against the US and ultimately paved the way for their role in the upcoming set-up on one hand and provided them legitimacy on the other.
Taliban has captured more areas in the recent past. US and the allies were using lot of services from the local folks, number of drivers, translators, cooks, informers, body massagers, loaders, plumbers, welders, construction labour, tin smiths, black smiths, electricians and the list goes on and on and some I can’t list.
After troop withdrawal, they may continue to get pension for their work for the Uncle Sam. Taliban never defeated US army, their fighters have been receiving salaries in dollars from the United States since 2001. Once Trump said: “Taliban are our proxies”, and General Muller said: “Taliban are our soldiers”. They fought for American war criminals and danced to their tango. They are terrorists and the CIA and Pentagon proxies. Their religion is murder, torture and destruction. They are mercenaries and they will fight for those who are willing to pay.
There’s fresh tension between Afghanistan & Pakistan after Afghan NSA accuses Islamabad of supporting Taliban’s violence & calls it a ‘brothel house’. Afghan NSA is very mild mannered, though tough. There is killing in girls’ schools and if something happens at the border, disintegration of Pakistan will start. China just wants that its well-trained, reformed, without beard and well tutored new age mullahs don’t mingle with Taliban. The speed at which the Taliban are scoring gains has prompted the US intelligence community to reassess the ability of the Afghan Government to survive for more than six months after the US withdrawal is completed.
Everyone is waiting and watching as allies vacate Afghanistan. India also watches very keenly and started thinking of interacting with Taliban. US is also having a Plan B and have moved their entire air force to their base at Qatar and nearby regional bases, and they can bomb the Taliban within 2 hours of rapid firing. In all this game on onemanship, the loser will be Pakistan, for sure!
