Biden announces end of ‘Afghanistan war,’ US troops officially withdraws on Aug 31 [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the US is ending the “Afghanistan war,” pulling out the entire US troops on August 31.
• The Taliban forces have been gaining a stronghold in the country since the withdrawal announcement early this year.
• Biden said that the Afghanistan government and the Taliban should enter into a treaty to resolve their conflict.

In his major policy speech on Thursday, President Joe Biden said that the US will be ending its “longest war,” as the country moves its withdrawal date ultimatum for US troops from September 11 to August 31 in Afghanistan.

While the US has already obtained its agenda in Afghanistan, such as executing Osama bin Laden and defending the country from becoming a terrorist base, Biden said that there was no “mission accomplished” to be proud of.

The president admitted that the troops’ withdrawal was “quite frankly, overdue,” noting that the US “did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build.”

Following Biden’s administration announcement earlier this year about the military pull-out, more than 90 percent of US troops have already left the south asian nation. There only remains around 600 servicemen who largely secure the US Embassyin Kabul and the Kabul airport.

In a separate announcement by White House press secretary Jen Psaki, other US delegates such as Afghan translators would be pulled out from the country by August.

Biden’s announcement came amid a growing dominion of Taliban forces in Afghanistan. The militia group has now held over 200 of 421 districts, and is currently at war against the Afghan government over the remaining 124 districts, based on experts’ analysis. Recently, the Taliban had taken control of some of the country’s key areas in the north. The anti-Taliban Northern Alliance has previously gained a stronghold on that territory.

In February 2020, the US and Taliban negotiators reached an agreement after negotiations for roughly one and half years. The US agreed to move out from the country while the Taliban agreed to oppose sheltering terrorist groups such as al-Qaida and stop assaulting US troops.

The deal, however, did not involve the Afghan government as another negotiating entity. The series of talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government were by far unproductive.

Over the course of the US military abdication, the Taliban moved to establish control over the Afghan regions while attempting to get in touch with the government to reach consensus.

Beginning October 2001, the Afghanistan War is the longest military engagement of the US in history. According to Brown University’s Costs of War Project, the war resulted in over 2,300 deceased US troops and more than 20,600 casualties. Over 70,000 Afghan and Pakistani civilians were also killed. Since 2001, fatalities have reached around 241,000 in the Afghanistan-Pakistan ‘war zone.’

Biden said Thursday that the Afghan government and the Taliban should need to establish a “modus vivendi” to end the conflict. Experts believed that given the Taliban’s actions, they would soon conquer the entire Afghan nation, but Biden was thinking otherwise.

Source: AOL.com