Afghanistan: Why the US is there, why it's leaving, what will happen when it's gone

 

Afghanistan: Why the US is there, why it's leaving, what will happen when it's gone

Zach Wolf

By Zachary B. Wolf, CNN

Updated 0135 GMT (0935 HKT) April 15, 2021

President Joe Biden arrives to speak from the Treaty Room in the White House on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, about the withdrawal of the remainder of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
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(CNN)President Joe Biden's promise to remove US troops from Afghanistan by September 11 is his effort -- each of the last four presidents has had one -- to end America's longest war.

The deadline for Biden's withdrawal is significant -- September 11, 2021, is 20 years after the 9/11 terror attacks in New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania that led the US to target Afghanistan in the first place.
Those two decades have seen more than 2,300 US military lives lost, tens of thousands of US wounded, countless Afghan casualties and more than $2 trillion in taxpayer money spent.
    After all that, the last US troops to depart -- some of them surely born after the 9/11 attacks -- will leave parts of Afghanistan under the control of the same oppressive Taliban leaders who were there in 2001.
      Here is a brief attempt to bring those 20 years of war into perspective.
      Where did the Taliban come from?
      The Soviets occupied Afghanistan during the 1980s and ultimately withdrew after resistance from fighters, collectively known as mujahadeen. Among them was Osama bin Laden. The US funneled arms and help to these anti-Soviet forces. But in the post-Soviet power vacuum, the Taliban was formed under the leadership of Mullah Mohammed Omar, who wanted to create an Islamic society, expel foreign influences like TV and music from the country and impose a repressive version of Islamic law that is particularly harsh on women. By 2001, they controlled nearly all of the country.
      How Taliban may run Afghanistan after US troops withdraw

      How Taliban may run Afghanistan after US troops withdraw 03:50
      Why did the US invade Afghanistan in the first place?
      It was al Qaeda, the international terror network, not Afghanistan's Taliban -- a regional Islamic political and military force -- that attacked the US on 9/11.
      But the masterminds of the attack, including Osama bin Laden, had been operating out of under the cover of the Taliban, which refused to give up bin Laden in the wake of the attack.
      Was there bipartisan support for invading Afghanistan in 2001?
      Support was nearly unanimous. The military effort was begun on authority from an "authorization for the use of military force" resolution passed one week after 9/11. Only one lawmaker, Rep. Barbara Lee of California, opposed it. That resolution was first used to authorize action in Afghanistan, but presidents since have leaned on it for action in at least 37 different countries, according to the Congressional Research Service.
      What did the President George W. Bush say when the US invaded Afghanistan?
      The invasion, led by US forces with help from NATO allies, was framed specifically as a step in a war on terrorism.
      "These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime," he said, pointing out the name of the operation was "Enduring Freedom," although in hindsight it might be enduring war.
      President Bush in the Treaty Room of the White House, October 7, 2001, after announcing airstrikes on on Afghanistan.
      President Bush in the Treaty Room of the White House, October 7, 2001, after announcing airstrikes on on Afghanistan.
      "Since September 11, an entire generation of young Americans has gained new understanding of the value of freedom and its cost and duty and its sacrifice," he later said.
      Since then, a new generation of Americans has been born and come of age while the war that started that day carried on, often in the background with little focus from most of the public.
      How many troops have been in Afghanistan in the past 20 years?
      The number has fluctuated quiet a bit. President Barack Obama came to office promising to refocus the US military there over Iraq, where Bush also invaded. At times during the Obama administration there were about 100,000 US troops deployed to Afghanistan. Obama tried to end US combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014, but left more troops in the country than he planned. His successor -- President Donald Trump -- sent new US troops there before largely drawing them down and engaging in peace talks with the Taliban.

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