The Evacuation of Afghanistan: Poorly Executed but Necessary

  James Nespole

    After a nearly two decade campaign in Afghanistan that spanned over four presidencies, the Biden Administration finally removed American troops from Afghanistan. The Biden Administration believed that the Afghan Government would be able to hold off the Taliban for 30-90 days, but the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, fell to the Taliban in just 6. Many have criticized Joe Biden and his administration’s decision to leave Afghanistan and his method of doing so. However, although Biden’s procedure for removing American troops was both sloppy and disorganized, it was time for the US to leave Afghanistan. 

As aforementioned, the US’s departure from Afghanistan was a sloppy mess that was widely publicized and ultimately reflected poorly on both the Biden Administration and US as a whole. As stated by Grossman, “Chaos at Kabul’s airport as people try to get out, helicopter evacuations from the U.S. embassy that bring back memories of the fall of Saigon, Afghans who helped the United States against the Taliban left to fend for themselves—all was at least partially avoidable with better planning.” (Grossman 4) Many Afghans stormed the airport in Kabul trying to get on American aircraft to escape the Taliban. Some even went as far as to hold onto an American cargo plane as it took off only to fall off and die. This frenzied scene that was recorded and shared all across news outlets and social media quickly formed the narrative that the Biden Administration was unprepared for the panic that ensued and the ultimate speedy takeover by the Taliban. However, although this final departure of American troops resulted in chaos, it was time for the US to finally leave Afghanistan. 

Many democrats and republicans alike agreed it was time to leave Afghanistan. This is not only apparent by the 54% majority of adults in the US who answered in a poll that leaving Afghanistan was the right decision, but also the fact that the past three administrations have been trying to find a way out of Afghanistan. In 2012, Barack Obama suggested that the US could start thinking about finding a way out of Afghanistan, then Donald Trump negotiated the Doha Deal, which declared that the US would leave Afghanistan in 2021, and then Joe Biden finally pulled the plug. Both members of the American public and political world had been trying to find a way out of Afghanistan for years. This was for a number of reasons. One, the US had been trying to build, organize, and train the Afghan military for almost 20 years. By the time the US had left, as stated by President Biden, “Afghan troops have 300,000 wellequipped, as good as any army in the world, and an air force, against something like 75,000 Taliban.” (Grossman 4) The Afghan army outnumbered the Taliban 4 to 1 and were equipped with both better equipment and military vehicles. Furthermore, as stated, they even had an air force. Simply put, another 5 or 10 years of American military presence in Afghanistan would have still yielded the same result, a Taliban takeover. (Boot) In addition, the Afghan army gave up in 6 days. It is important to emphasize the fact that the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan was relatively peaceful, due to a lack of morale and/or motivation by the Afghan military to fight back. Grossman said, “While the Taliban’s military capabilities gave it leverage, its rapid takeover of provincial capitals came about more through talks with tribal elders and other local elites than by overwhelming them with violent assaults.” (Grossman 5) The Afghan army was going to quit against the Taliban whenever the US left, regardless of when. Second, the US had spent over a trillion dollars fighting the war in Afghanistan, while tens of thousands of both civilians and soldiers have lost their lives. With no conclusion bearing any fruit in sight and the continuation of both money and lives lost, it made no sense for the US to continue fighting a war that has been stagnant for a long time. The US’s goal of ridding Afghanistan of the Taliban had failed. The Taliban were still in control of about 20% of Afghan territory, while 50% was still under contention. The US, in almost 20 years, had failed to remove the Taliban from Afghanistan, any more time would not have changed this outcome. 

The Biden Administration did a very poor and sloppy job of removing the final American troops from Afghanistan. It was poorly calculated and under multiple assumptions that proved to be faulty. This ultimately was a bad look for both the administration and the US. However, it was time for the US to leave Afghanistan, given the facts that the US had been there for almost two decades with no obvious changes, the war had been extremely expensive, and the war proved to have no imminent end in sight. 

Grossman, Nicholas. “Every Option in Afghanistan Was Bad.” Every Option in Afghanistan Was Bad, Arc Digital, 18 Aug. 2021, www.arcdigital.media/p/every-option-in-afghanistan-was-bad?s=r. 

Boot, Max. “Opinion | Twenty Years of Afghanistan Mistakes, but This Preventable Disaster Is on Biden.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 16 Aug. 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/15/twenty-years-afghanistan-mistakes-this-preventable-disaster-is-biden/.