U.S. President Joe Biden is to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11 of this year, bringing an end to a 20-year war. Although the news was first reported by the Washington Post on Tuesday, Biden is expected to make the announcement official today.
The date of withdrawal, two decades after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, is months later than a previous agreement made between the Taliban and the Trump administration. Under the so-called Doha agreement, U.S. troops were to have left the country by May 1.
That detail has not been lost on Taliban leaders, who issued a statement following the news that puts its future participation in peace talks in question. “Until all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland, the Islamic Emirate will not participate in any conference that shall make decisions about Afghanistan,” Mohammed Naeem, a Taliban spokesman, said on Tuesday.
The US (Trump admin) had said they would withdraw by May 01/21. Now Mr Biden is claiming it will be September 11/21. The choice of that date? 20 years to the day after 9/11 leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Don't hold your breath for this to occur. It could turn out to be a replay of the "withdrawal " of troops from Iraq. That never happened. Instead the occupation was simply rebranded.