On August 15, 2021, 13 U.S service members were killed by a suicide bombing in the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. A majority of these brave souls were still infants when 9/11 took place, an attack against the U.S.A. that killed 2,996 people, 2,600 which were killed when the World Trade Center in New York City was hit by two hijacked commercial flights. A traumatic event in U.S history that will never be forgotten. 

The terrorist attack on the Kabul airport killed over 90 people trying to escape Afghanistan. The 13 service members all had a week left before the U.S troops were to depart, ending the war. The people trying to flee from the country weren’t just Afghanistan citizens, but also foreigners such as students  from Texas and people from countries such as France, Germany and Canada.

President Biden announced that he would be removing troops from Afghanistan by August 31. He could not meet his promise, and removed all troops almost a full three weeks later on September 11, ending the 20-year war in Afghanistan known as Operation Enduring Freedom.

American weapons and vehicles were left behind and no reinforcements were given to our Afghan allies to fight against the Taliban. As result, the Taliban, an extreme religious terrorist group, the people we were fighting against, took over Kabul and took our equipment and weapons. Within only a few days, they learned how to fly our Black Hawk helicopters. 

This group is extremely violent, treating the country’s citizens horribly. The women of Afghanistan hardly have any rights. In recent years they were able to get some but now with the Taliban back, those rights were once again stripped from them. Anyone resisting the Taliban are treated in horrible ways. These people will risk such treatment, for themselves and their children, to be free from the chaos and horror that swept over their cities. 

At the Kabul airport, where the U.S military was using as a base, people trying to flee surrounded the base outside of the barbed wire fences. They spent days, weeks, or more trying to get over it. They stood in their own urine and feces and tried getting their children over, even infants, by throwing them over the barbed wire fence. There was nothing safe about this, but they felt they had no choice. People took extreme measures and still are. Right now, people are trying to keep their identity a secret, hiding from the Taliban because if they are caught they will be killed. 

President Biden managed to evacuate at least 13,000 people from Afghanistan on cargo planes since August 14. Still, I believe that President Biden has handled this situation horribly. He may have evacuated all of the US. troops and ended the 20-year war, but what has he done to protect the citizens of Kabul? He did not give equipment to help protect our allies, nor left weapons to fight against the Taliban. All of the reinforcements left behind were taken by the Taliban who soon took control of Kabul and already had control over many other parts of Afghanistan. 

People are living in inhumane conditions, being executed, beaten, stomped on, and tortured. They are trying to survive and hide, trying to keep their identity a secret. Foreigners in the country can’t see their families and even the country’s own citizens can’t see their own families. They are fighting for their lives. 

We left Afghanistan the way we first came 20 years ago. Has Biden ended a war, or did he just start a new one?

(Information used in this article courtesy of The New York

Times)