Americans have always been present in many parts of the world, places like Japan or Germany had heavy American influence after world war 2, but after 911 Americans were distraught and we had a general idea of where the attacks came from. So as a nation we banned together and began the war on Afghanistan.

Context 

   Now unsurprisingly a lot of people do not know the full contest of the Afghan war, a brief history of what happened was: 

• Like I  said prior the war began back in 2001 
• A group that called themselves the Taliban had control over the country since 1996, but they were engaged in combat and taken over by British, American, and a group of afghan forces called the northern alliance  in November 2001 right after 9/11
• During the time that the Taliban had control over the country, they allowed a group called al-Qaeda to have multiple military training camps there
• Al-Qaeda was a terrorist group formed by Ossama Bin Laden, and he gained Arab forces during the Soviet-Afghan war 
• And as you definitely know they attacked America on 9/11 killing over 3,000 people 
• Ten years later in 2011 American Seal team Six, found and killed Ossama Bin Laden ending his control

So that is the basics of what happened during that time, but even after the Americans killed Ossama Bin Laden, they still kept boots down in Afghanistan. This was because they were still under control by the Taliban. They would continue to stay and combat the Taliban until recently. In February of 2020, a treaty was signed between the United States and the Taliban called the “Agreement for bringing peace to Afghanistan,” this entailed that American armed forces would be pulled out of Afghanistan and the Taliban would no longer allow terrorist groups to have train ground in their nation. This is what was in the news recently regarding Americans pulling out of Afghanistan but this has sort of backfired. This is because as there was less and less American presentence the Taliban grew more and more out of control and started to break our treaty. 

Leaving Afghanistan 

   We began the extraction of American troops in July of 2020 where we pulled out 8,600 Americans followed up by a complete withdrawal in May of 2021. The war was later ended in august of 2021 by the Biden administration, sadly tho with the hasty pull out of so many Americans, some are still left behind. When we were leaving Afghanistan there were Afghan refugees that were also trying to flee to the United States. Some got on board the planes, others hung onto the sides of the plane. Some were lucky and hung on, others weren’t as lucky. The reason that they did this was that it was better for them to plummet to their death than stay in afghan. The plane took off out of the Kabul airport and was one of their last hopes of getting out of there. 

   A quote by the Afghan president regarding America pulling out is as follows: “The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan respects the U.S. decision and we will work with our U.S. partners to ensure a smooth transition. As we move into the next phase in our partnership, we will continue to work with our US/NATO partners in the ongoing peace efforts. Afghanistan’s proud security and defense forces are fully capable of defending its people and country, which they have been doing all along, and for which the Afghan nation will forever remain grateful.” Ashraf Ghani, president of afghan. After this, they were later subdued to the militant forces of the Taliban. Many people feel different regarding the matter and Americans are torn. 

How Americans Feel About the Switch 

   Shockingly, the general public is in favor of us withdrawing from Afghanistan. Overwhelmingly 54% of adult Americans are in favor of us pulling out of Afghanistan, while 42% say it was wrong for us to pull our troops. This is according to the Pew Research Center survey conducted on August 23-29. Another study made during the conflict by the same Research center states that 69% of Americans believe that we didn’t achieve our goals in Afghanistan. Others believe that it wasn’t entirely necessary. 

   Now I can’t quote president Biden’s entire speech. A very key part is listed here “I always promised the American people that I will be straight with you. The truth is: This did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. So what’s happened? Afghanistan’s political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight.”

“So I’m left again to ask those who argue that we should stay: How many more generations of America’s daughters and sons would you have me send to fight Afghans – Afghanistan’s civil war when Afghan troops will not? How many more lives – American lives – is it worth? How many endless rows of headstones at Arlington National Cemetery?” President Joe Biden. President Biden has been dealing with the problem of Afghanistan since he was the vice president of former president Barack Obama, so he has a lot of background and intelligence on the matter. But not everyone was happy with how he handled the situation, U.S. SENATOR JEANNE SHAHEEN, DEMOCRAT, OF NEW HAMPSHIRE “I’m very disappointed in the President’s decision to set a September deadline to walk away from Afghanistan. Although this decision was made in coordination with our allies, the U.S. has sacrificed too much to bring stability to Afghanistan to leave without verifiable assurances of a secure future.” This is a more American opinion on the matter and contrasts president Biden’s opinions, criticizing him showing both sides of the coin. 

   So what do you think? Do you think that we should’ve stayed in Afghanistan or do you think we should have left as soon as possible?