Turmoil Timeline: Here's How US & West Messed Up Afghanistan Evacuation

On the one-year anniversary of US forces’ hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan after a 20-year deployment, there is renewed focus on the decision-making made by the Joe Biden administration that resulted in the swift fall of the Afghan government and the eventual return to power of the Taliban* Islamist group.

With the Democratic POTUS’ approval rating hitting historic lows and eating away at his party’s November midterm prospects, it is commonly believed that his handling of the Afghan crisis at the time of the pull-out created the momentum that began to drag down Americans’ confidence in Biden’s leadership.

The United States-led military offensive "Operation Enduring Freedom" was originally launched by former US President George W. Bush in pursuit of terrorists from Al Qaeda** - including leader Osama bin Laden - for masterminding the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US.

At the time, a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamist terrorist group Al Qaeda killed 2,996 people in the US as hijackers crashed two planes into the World Trade Center, hijacking another that failed to reach its target, crashing in Shanksville, Pa., and a third that struck the west side of the Pentagon.

After suspicion fell onto Al Qaeda, the United States responded by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan under the pretext that the Taliban had failed to comply with Washington’s demands to expel Al Qaeda from the country and extradite the terrorist group’s leader, Osama bin Laden. American-led forces overthrew the Kabul-based Taliban government, which had been in control of large parts of the country since 1996.

Bin Laden was eventually killed nearly a decade later, in 2011, by a group of Navy SEALs who raided his compound in Pakistan. As Washington's attempt to impose Western ideas and forms of government on the country increasingly failed and the situation deteriorated for the Western-backed government in Kabul, the Donald Trump administration opened peace talks with the Taliban.

In February 2020, the Donald Trump administration signed an agreement in Doha, Qatar, between the US and the Taliban on drawing down US involvement based on a "reduction in violence." The "Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan" set out a series of commitments from the US and the Taliban regarding troop levels, counterterrorism, and intra-Afghan dialogue seeking to bring about "a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire."

The deal stipulated a deadline of May 1 the next year for all US troops to leave the country.

However, in April 2021, President Joe Biden, just seven months into his presidency, unilaterally deviated from the peace deal by extending the timeframe to September 11 and ordered all troops to withdraw from the country by an end of August 2021 deadline, with his decision triggering chaos and bloodshed.

As the US military began their pull-out, sending home troops and equipment, the emboldened Taliban proceeded with a lightening-swift onslaught. They took over huge swathes of the country, facing little resistance and picking up weapons and vehicles paid for by the US government which Afghan government troops left behind.

Afghan officials, including the country’s president, Ashraf Ghani, fled, as the country’s capital, Kabul, was taken over by the militants on August 15, 2021 in a matter of hours.

None of the US intelligence assessments had predicted such a swift collapse, with American officials insisting in June that Kabul could capitulate within six to 12 months after the start of the withdrawal. Amid reports of failed intel forecasts, then-Pentagon spokesman John Kirby acknowledged that security in some parts of Afghanistan was “certainly deteriorating, and that’s of concern.” Washington continued to emphasize “commitment to the people of Afghanistan” and the goal of “ensuring that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for terrorist groups who pose a threat to the US homeland.”

Amid the developments, the Biden administration debated whether to delay the American departure from Bagram Air Base, 35 miles north of Kabul, but eventually opted to go ahead. Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had told the House Armed Services Committee that “it is not necessary for the United States to stay at Bagram for what we’re going to try to do here with Afghanistan.”

As the Taliban regained full control, more than 120,000 people, including Afghans and foreigners, were frantically evacuated in a vast airlift operation from Kabul International airport. Thousands of Afghan citizens desperately sought to flee the country in fear of the Islamist group’s return to rule.

Searing images from the capital’s airport showed desperate people trying to cling to the wings of planes that were taking off amid the huge airlift operation. Many Afghans who collaborated with the occupying US forces and feared retribution from the Islamist group were left behind in the hasty evacuation. Between 100 and 200 Americans remained in Afghanistan, despite wanting to get out.

Furthermore, 13 US troops were killed on August 26 in a suicide bomb attack blamed on an Afghan offshoot of Daesh***.

The explosive device detonated by a single bomber who was able to approach Kabul International Airport's Abbey Gate killed at least 170 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members. The bomber was not stopped as Afghans had begun using alternate routes to the gate due to the difficulty of getting through Taliban checkpoints.

In another deadly incident that marred the withdrawal, a botched US drone strike killed 10 civilians - seven of them children - on August 29.

The US claimed it had been targeting a Daesh operative with a car full of explosives linked to the terrorist group’s affiliate, planning an imminent attack on American forces during the final days of the evacuation. However, the man turned out to be a longtime Afghan aid worker, Zamarai Ahmadi, employed by Nutrition and Education International, a nongovernmental organization focused on food security.

Approximately three weeks after the strike, the military acknowledged its "tragic mistake," yet a subsequent Air Force review around the strike found "no violation of law, including the law of war."

The last US aircraft left Kabul on August 30, 2021.

Joe Biden’s administration faced bipartisan criticism for the Afghan withdrawal.

On August 17, just two days after the fall of Kabul, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan promised the White House would “conduct an extensive hot wash” and “look at every aspect of this from top to bottom.” But it remains unclear when any progress will be made by the congressionally-ordered bipartisan 16-member commission on the 20-year Afghan war, US media reported.

The White House is believed to have geared up for congressional investigations into the Afghanistan withdrawal if Republicans win the House or the Senate in November’s midterm elections, according to sources cited in US media reports.

**Al-Qaeda is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.