In his own words, US President Joe Biden always carries a card with him that shows the current number of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. On Thursday, 13 killed US soldiers must be entered in the Afghanistan column. Since the controversial agreement between his predecessor Donald Trump and the Taliban in February of last year, no US soldier has been violently killed in Afghanistan.
But right before the end of America’s longest war, the US armed forces are now suffering their worst casualties in the country in more than a decade. The chaos on the evacuation mission turns into a catastrophe.
The local branch of the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) claims the attack with suicide bombers and shooters at Kabul airport. According to Biden, the US secret services also see IS as the mastermind behind the bloody act in which dozens were killed. In Syria and Iraq, Trump declared ISIS defeated in March 2019, which turned out to be premature. In Afghanistan, the IS branch there has joined fighters who even the militant Islamist Taliban were not radical enough. US General Kenneth McKenzie, who heads US Central Command Centcom, says an attack was expected during the evacuation mission in Kabul – “and we expect these attacks to continue”.
ORF correspondent about US measures:
The last days of the US operation in Afghanistan are a perverse world: The Taliban – who were responsible for hundreds of suicide attacks – announced on Thursday that they would bring those behind this terrorist attack to justice. General McKenzie, whose most urgent task until recently was the fight against the Taliban, calls cooperation with the new rulers “useful”. Even now, the opponents of the war are not united, Biden emphasizes that the Taliban are “not good guys”. What the Americans and the Islamists have in common, however, is that they are bitter enemies of IS. Both are also united by the goal of the USA ending its mission next Tuesday.
Biden is visibly upset when he steps in front of the cameras in the White House on Thursday evening, he speaks of a “difficult day”. The president has promised to bring all Americans home and to get as many Afghan allies out of the country as possible. According to the US State Department, there are still around 1,000 American citizens in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, every day of action increases the risk of further attacks. During his half-hour speech, the president made it clear: “We will not be deterred by terrorists. We will not let them hold up our mission. We will continue the evacuation.”
ORF analysis of the attacks in Kabul:
For Biden, the combat missions of US soldiers have a personal touch; his later deceased son Beau was an officer in Iraq. “Like many of you, we have an inkling of what the families of these brave heroes are feeling today,” says Biden, referring to the relatives of the US soldiers who have now been killed. “It feels like being sucked into a black hole in the middle of your chest. There is no way out. My heart aches for you.” Biden’s oath of vengeance is all the angrier. To the address of the masterminds of the attack, he said: “We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay for it.”
As the most important argument for the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden has cited that the terrorist network Al-Qaeda is no longer able to attack targets in the USA from there. Even if that were true, the attack once again made it clear that the terror in Afghanistan has not been defeated. Biden’s threat to the backers is certainly not an empty one in view of US drones and special forces. But there is one thing that jihadists around the world will no longer have to fear for the foreseeable future: a US-led invasion of their country. After their failure in Afghanistan, Western states will no longer be ready for such interventions anytime soon.
Terror in Afghanistan has not been defeated
Biden said something on Thursday that should hurt those who have been committed to building democracy in Afghanistan over the past 20 years. “I never thought we should sacrifice American lives to establish a democratic government in Afghanistan.” He firmly believes that the withdrawal of US troops is the right step, even if Afghanistan is left to the Islamists again.
Biden is convinced that history – and, in the medium term, even more importantly: the voter – will agree with him. According to surveys, his approval ratings have recently dropped to a low point. According to a survey on behalf of “USA Today”, only around one in four agrees with Biden’s handling of the troop withdrawal – although a majority is in favor of bringing the soldiers home.
Biden argues that after Trump’s agreement with the Taliban – which provided for a May 1 withdrawal – he only had two options: to bring the troops home soon afterwards or to send thousands of new soldiers to Afghanistan to escalate the war. He fails to mention that experts have suggested alternatives to these two extremes. And now again emphasizes: “It was time to end a 20-year war.”
