“There is a further update from Afghanistan,” said Verum, “The United States (US) completed the withdrawal of its troops from the war-torn country on Monday. The withdrawal was completed a day before the deadline set by US President Joe Biden. After this, the Taliban called Afghanistan ‘a free nation’.”
Scorch said, “The Taliban, a group with extreme views about the society, ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. In 2001, the United States (US) invaded Afghanistan. It mostly kept the Taliban at bay for nearly 20 years. But in 2021, US President Joe Biden started the process of withdrawing US troops from the war-torn country.”
Felix added, “The existing Afghan government and army couldn’t withstand the Taliban’s aggressive attacks. So, the Taliban took over the country within weeks, with Kabul falling to them on 15th August.”
“Since then, people have thronged at Kabul Airport, desperate to leave onboard one of US’s evacuation airplanes,” said Verum, “The Taliban has ultra-conservative policies which put the lives of many Afghans in grave danger. You see, some of them even worked with the US troops in the war against the Taliban.”
“Were they evacuated?” said Orak.
“Not all of them,” answered Verum, “The US and its allies hadn’t expected the Taliban to take over so rapidly. That’s why their exit was haphazard. This meant many Afghans who would have qualified for evacuation were left behind.”
She added, “Along with this, violence also took place last Thursday at the US-controlled Kabul airport when Islamic State (IS), which is the enemy of both the West and the Taliban, attacked the airport. At least 175 Afghans and 13 US soldiers lost their lives.”
“How did the US respond to this?” said Orak.
“President Biden promised to reprimand the people behind it,” replied Verum, “The US intelligence found that IS had planned another attack on Kabul airport. It launched a drone attack to take out a vehicle with explosives that was allegedly going to carry out the attack. But in the process, common Afghan people lost their lives.”
“Such a complicated situation with long-term consequences,” said Orak.
