Exactly 20 years after the attack on Twin Towers in New York and Pentagon in Washington, the United States and NATO forces will be withdrawing from Afghanistan by September 11.
This announcement was made by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Brussels on Wednesday (April 14). There are in all 2,500 US and 7,000 NATO forces (besides that of Australia, New Zealand and Georgia) in Afghanistan.
Actually, the US and Allied forces had launched a massive military campaign against Taliban just two months after 9/11. It is somewhat strange that they are now pulling out of the country without wiping the Taliban out. As per the earlier agreement signed under the Trump Administration with the Taliban, the US was to withdraw all its forces by May 1, but the Joe Biden administration has expressed its inability to do so. Thus, a new date has been agreed.
The exit of the foreign soldiers from the soil of Afghanistan is likely to weaken the present Ashraf Ghani government in the country and embolden the Taliban further.
The Obama administration had considerably reduced the number of US forces from Afghanistan. This was followed by a similar move by the Trump administration.
However, some analysts are of the view that the Taliban of today might not be as dangerous for the West as they too have learnt a lesson and become accommodative. But much depends on the internal situation in Afghanistan as Taliban and the present government are at daggers drawn position.
Apart from this there is a fear of the Islamic State gaining ground in the eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. They have launched several terrorists’ attacks in the country. The Taliban would never like the emergence of ISIS as the latter is challenging them too.
