Biden ‘permanently grateful’ to forces in Afghanistan on exit anniversary

WASHINGTON —The Biden administration acknowledged on Thursday the two-year anniversary of Afghanistan’s fall to the Taliban, a mournful turning point following a 20- year U.S.-led war in the nation.

The Taliban went back to power in Afghanistan following a spectacular string of battleground turnarounds as the U.S., NATO and partner countries started a months-long sheer withdrawal.

“We bow our heads today in memory of the 2,461 U.S. service members who never made it home, including the 13 courageous troops taken from us in the attack at Abbey Gate in the final hours of the war,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin composed in a declaration referencing the last U.S. servicemembers eliminated throughout a humanitarian evacuation objective near evictions of Kabul’s airport.

“We also remember the hundreds of service members from allied and partner countries who lost their lives during this 20-year war. And we honor the more than 20,000 Americans who were injured waging war in Afghanistan, including many who still bear wounds that are not visible,” Austin composed, without discussing the Taliban’s go back to power.

The beginning of America’s war in Afghanistan, called “Operation Enduring Freedom,” already-President George W. Bush, started in the weeks following the attacks ofSept 11, 2001.

At the time, the Taliban supplied sanctuary to al-Qaeda, the group that prepared and performed the ravaging terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and thePentagon The dispute, which covered over 4 administrations, declared the lives of almost 2,500 U.S. service members and more than 100,000 Afghan soldiers, authorities workers and civilians.

In April 2021, Biden purchased the complete withdrawal of roughly 3,000 U.S. soldiers from Afghanistan bySept 11 of that year. He later on provided an upgraded timeline stating the U.S. military objective would end byAug 31, 2021.

In the last weeks of a prepared exodus of foreign forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban took provincial capitals prior to recording the valued Bagram Air Base, a vast and once-stalwart U.S. military setup that was moved to the Afghan National Security and Defense Force just 2 months prior.

In 2012, at its peak, Bagram saw more than 100,000 U.S. soldiers travel through, making it the biggest U.S. military setup in Afghanistan.

As the Taliban moved better to the capital, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani got away the nation and Western countries hurried to leave embassies amidst a weakening security scenario. Despite being significantly surpassed by the Afghan military, which had actually long gotten help by Western union forces, the Taliban marched into the governmental palace onAug 15.

Meanwhile, countless individuals swarmed evictions and tarmac at the airport in Kabul in a desperate effort to leave life under the Taliban.

For 2 weeks, U.S. soldiers performed the biggest airlift in American military history, leaving more than 120,000 U.S. people, people of allied countries and Afghan allies from Taliban guideline. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken suspended America’s diplomatic existence in Kabul and moved the staying operations to Doha, Qatar.

A day after Afghanistan collapsed to the Taliban, Biden protected his choice to leave the nation stating, “there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces.”

Read more: ‘Intelligence failure of the highest order’– How Afghanistan was up to the Taliban so rapidly

“I remain forever grateful to the military members, diplomats, intelligence professionals and development specialists who not only worked together to advance the United States’ Afghan mission for two decades — but who also conducted our withdrawal with the same resolve and bravery that defined U.S. service in Afghanistan,” Biden composed in a declaration.

“We have demonstrated that we do not need a permanent troop presence on the ground in harm’s way to take action against terrorists and those who wish to do us harm,” he included.