Now that Afghanistan under siege when the Taliban launched a blitzkrieg successfully in May 2021 as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO and the US troops began to withdraw seizing city after city across Afghanistan too easy.
The Biden regime’s disastrous move simply put the lives of Afghans—men and women both young and old—into crossroads of death or inhumanity that is worse than slavery.
This Biden’s debacle would never be forgotten in the annals of the US war history in Afghanistan. In this, the US failed tragically in its “longest war” and as the “greatest embarrassment in the US history” from the words of the former US President Donald Trump.
Afghanistan Under Siege: A Brief Look at the US War in Afghanistan
It started when the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1267 on Oct. 15, 1999, demanding the Taliban turn over Osama bin Laden and be brought to justice. Following this move, the Council demanded all States freeze funds and disallow take-offs and landings of Taliban-owned aircraft. It also imposed sanctions on travel and arms shipments.
Osama bin Laden, to remember, led the al-Qaeda terrorist group in Pakistan in the 1980s, Afghanistan in the 1990s, and Sudan in 1991. The Taliban, from the ashes of Afghanistan’s post-Soviet civil war, according to cfr.org, “provides al-Qaeda sanctuary for operations.”
On Sept. 9, 2001, the assassination of the commander of the Northern Alliance Ahmad Shah Massoud brought a serious crisis to the anti-Taliban resistance. Experts believed that the Massoud assassination guaranteed bin Laden protection by the Taliban following the terrorist attack in the US on Sept. 11, 2001 (9/11).
Came the 9/11 terrorist attack when al-Qaeda reportedly hijacked four commercial airliners crashing into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and Pentagon in Washington, DC, then US President George Bush promised to “win the war against terrorism.”
On Sept. 18, 2001, exhaustive measures to fight terrorism was launched by Bush after signing into law a Joint Resolution authorizing the use of military force against those responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
Then on Oct. 7, 2001, the US military launched Operation Enduring Freedom starting a bombing campaign against the Taliban forces.
Over the week, the Taliban fell on Nov. 9, 2001, but bin Laden managed to escape despite military engagement thought to be on Dec. 16, 2001. On Dec. 5, 2001, an interim government was installed after the fall of Kabul.
In April 2002, Bush calls for Afghanistan reconstruction appropriating over $38 billion in humanitarian and reconstruction assistance from 2001 to 2009.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Afghanistan’s interim government Hamid Karzai headed the transitional government of Afghanistan in June 2002 after being chosen during an emergency loya jirga in Kabul attended by 1,550 delegates.
In May 2003, coinciding with the “mission accomplished” announcement of Bush declaring an end to the Iraq war, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared that “major combat” ended.
Barely three months after, NATO assumed control of an international mission in Afghanistan securing Kabul and its parameters.
In January 2004, Afghan delegates arrived at creating a strong presidential system of government agreeing on a constitution for Afghanistan.
By the third quarter of 2004, Karzai became the first president for Afghanistan elected democratically by voters, who were threatened or intimidated.
However, barely three weeks after the new president of Afghanistan was elected, bin Laden resurfaced aired on an Arab TV network saying, “We want to restore freedom to our nation, just as you lay waste to our nation.”
In 2005, Afghan President Karzai and US President Bush vowed a commitment of strategic partnership on “the war against international terror and the struggle against violent extremism.” Their strategic partnership’s goal is to “strengthen the US-Afghan ties and help ensure Afghanistan’s long-term security, democracy, and prosperity.”
However, in July 2006, violence rose across Afghanistan with intense fighting, bombings, and suicide attacks.
In May 2007, a Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah was killed in a joint engagement with Afghan the US, and NATO forces. Dadullah was believed to be the leader of guerilla forces deploying suicide bombers. ▲
(Read: Afghanistan under siege: Biden’s disastrous move, Part 2)
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Sources:
Agence France-Presse. (2021, Aug. 17). Taliban’s Blitzkrieg In Afghanistan: A Timeline Of Events. ndtv.com. https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/afghan-crisis-talibans-blitzkrieg-in-afghanistan-a-timeline-of-events-2512522
Kiely, Eugene and Farley, Robert. (2021, Aug. 17). Timeline of U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan. FactCheck.org. https://www.factcheck.org/2021/08/timeline-of-u-s-withdrawal-from-afghanistan/
____________________. The U.S. War in Afghanistan. cfr.org. https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-war-afghanistan
Niquette, Mark. (2021, Aug. 18). Trump Calls Biden’s Afghanistan Exit the “Greatest Embarrassment”. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-18/trump-calls-biden-s-afghanistan-exit-greatest-embarrassment
Since 2011, Regel Javines has been writing online, sharing news and analysis on a range of noteworthy and urgent social issues. He completed his bachelor’s degree in office administration at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP)—Taguig Campus, where he also served as editor-in-chief of the official school newspaper. See Regel’s published articles here.