Current Events > Biden to announce withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan by September 11

(+) Yeah! (+)

President Joe Biden plans to announce Tuesday a withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan by the upcoming twentieth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, according to three people familiar with the plans.
The withdrawal extends the US troop presence past a May 1 deadline set by the Trump administration in an agreement with the Taliban, but only by a matter of months.
Biden has been weighing the decision for months with his advisers and signaled he did not believe US troops should remain in the country long past the deadline.
Officials were expected to explain the decision further later on Tuesday.
The Washington Post was first to report the news.
US officials say there are about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. In addition, it's not immediately clear what will happen to several hundred US special operations forces there that often work for the CIA on counter terrorism missions. Those troops are not publicly acknowledged and are not part of the formal calculation of 2,500 troops in the country.
Biden's new September 11 deadline to withdraw US troops would mark a symbolic end to the longest war in American history: Exactly 20 years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that sparked the initial US invasion of Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan troop withdrawal is the first major decision of Biden's presidency regarding US troops abroad, and Biden wrestled with what to do for months leading up to the May 1 deadline set by his predecessor.
Last month, Biden signaled he was unlikely to meet the May 1 deadline, but said at his first press conference as President that he did not envision US troops remaining in Afghanistan by next year.
"We are not staying for a long time. We will leave," Biden said. "The question is when we leave." He added, "it's going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline just in terms of tactical reasons."
Secretary of State Tony Blinken laid the groundwork for Biden to make an announcement about the withdrawal in a phone call with President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday, according to two sources familiar with the phone call.
Blinken did not divulge precise details about the withdrawal but explained that Biden would be calling Ghani on Thursday, and Blinken left the Afghan president with the understanding that Biden had decided on withdrawing US troops over the course of the next few months.
Biden administration officials have also been sending signals to Afghan officials at the working level that this was the direction they were headed in, one source explained.
The Biden administration is also making a series of phone calls to allies in the region this afternoon to detail their planned strategy, two diplomatic sources told CNN.
Ghani tweeted on Tuesday that he's spoken to Blinken about planned U.S.-backed peace talks between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban set for this week and the upcoming phone call Biden.
"Today I spoke with Secretary @ABlinken. We discussed the ongoing peace process, the upcoming peace talks in Turkey, and also spoke about the upcoming phone call with President @JoeBiden", Ghani tweeted.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/13/politics/biden-afghanistan-withdrawal/index.html

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Not crazy about the possibility of the Taliban or worse sliding back in there

But realistically what more can be done?

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Yeah, sure.

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Ill believe its happening when were actually gone.

That's what they always say

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Didnt Trump try this and Pentagon stopped him. Maybe they will do same to Biden.

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Good.

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Doom_Art posted...

Not crazy about the possibility of the Taliban or worse sliding back in there

But realistically what more can be done?

aren't Taliban are still controlling more than half of Afghanistan anyway? and they're in war with ISIS.

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Why would he choose that date? >__>

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Total waste of lives, money, and time. We will never accomplish anything there so why continue to be there

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BlueTigerLion posted...

Didnt Trump try this and Pentagon stopped him. Maybe they will do same to Biden.

they'll probably pull a syria: say that they left, and actually secretly keep soldiers there

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Very interesting indeed

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NeonOctopus posted...

Why would he choose that date? >__>

Symbolism

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Tired-Insomniac posted...

Symbolism

too soon brah

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Bbbbut what about the copious amounts of lithium worth trillions?

about time

they dont appreciate what we've done to help them anyway
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Should just take them out now or whatever, not wait a few more months for a symbolic date

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Doom_Art posted...

Not crazy about the possibility of the Taliban or worse sliding back in there

But realistically what more can be done?

This will come with recognizing The Taliban as a legitimate part of the Afghan government. Which if we are going to do that, we should have jist taken the deal the Taliban offered us 20 years ago to give up Bin Laden in exchange for legitimacy.

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Yeah Im gonna go ahead and say that this wont end up happening

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Well, fingers crossed, but. Not holding my breath on this one.

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*at 9/10*
"fuck, we're not ready to leave!"
"we can't miss the symbolic date, let's postpone it for a year!"

anyway, 9/11 is the deadline but can't they move out partially before the deadline? or it has too be one big migration at that date?

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Better late than never. Let's hope he actually follows through with it.

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Ricemills posted...

*at 9/10*
"fuck, we're not ready to leave!"
"we can't miss the symbolic date, let's postpone it for a year!"

anyway, 9/11 is the deadline but can't they move out partially before the deadline? or it has too be one big migration at that date?

They should be able to gradually move out over time. They probably just werent able to do so by May due to pandemic travel restrictions or other issues so they pushed it back and chose 9/11 as the new deadline because symbolism.

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thanks biden

UnlikedMonkey posted...

The withdrawal extends the US troop presence past a May 1 deadline set by the Trump administration in an agreement with the Taliban, but only by a matter of months.

...oh

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ah, the "good" war coming to an end.

I guess the people who used that term during the Iraq conflict didn't really mean it.