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Afghanistan: Why the US is there, why it's leaving, what will happen when it's gone

Afghanistan: Why the US is there, why it's leaving, what will happen when it's gone

Afghanistan: Why the US is there, why it's leaving, what will happen when it's gone
Apr 14, 2021 2 mins, 37 secs

Those two decades have seen more than 2,300 US military lives lost, tens of thousands of US wounded, countless Afghan casualties and more than $2 trillion in taxpayer money spent.

After all that, the last US troops to depart -- some of them surely born after the 9/11 attacks -- will leave parts of Afghanistan under the control of the same oppressive Taliban leaders who were there in 2001.

Here is a brief attempt to bring those 20 years of war into perspective.

Where did the Taliban come from?

Bush say when the US invaded Afghanistan?

The invasion, led by US forces with help from NATO allies, was framed specifically as a step in a war on terrorism.

"These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime," he said, pointing out the name of the operation was "Enduring Freedom," although in hindsight it might be enduring war.

"Since September 11, an entire generation of young Americans has gained new understanding of the value of freedom and its cost and duty and its sacrifice," he later said.

Since then, a new generation of Americans has been born and come of age while the war that started that day carried on, often in the background with little focus from most of the public.

How many troops have been in Afghanistan in the past 20 years?

The number has fluctuated quiet a bit.

Obama tried to end US combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014, but left more troops in the country than he planned.

It suggests government leaders have long misled Americans about what was achievable in Afghanistan.

In unvarnished interviews they never thought would become public, American military leaders told government viewers the US was unprepared for Afghanistan and that the American people did not know the "magnitude of dysfunction" in carrying out the war.

Will any US troops be left in Afghanistan after September 11, 2021?

Very few US forces will be there and they will be focused on helping US diplomats.

Elizabeth Warren in a statement.

It's also in line with Trump's aim of withdrawing from Afghanistan, although the former President has not weighed in.

What will happen after the US and NATO forces leave?

While the US will continue to try to broker a peace agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban, September may now be the de facto deadline for those talks.

Biden is overruling military commanders who worry the Taliban will overrun the Afghan government once American firepower is gone.

A US intelligence community assessment released Tuesday shares those concerns.

"The Taliban is likely to make gains on the battlefield, and the Afghan Government will struggle to hold the Taliban at bay if the coalition withdraws support," according to the official assessment of worldwide threats.

Why is Biden bent on removing the remaining 2,500 US troops?

Biden said in his speech Wednesday that no amount of US forces on the ground can deter the Taliban or end the war.

"It was not true when we had 98,000 US troops on the ground, and it won't be true keeping [the current] 2,500 troops on the ground...

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