The United States (US) airlifted personnel from its embassy in Kabul on Sunday as the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan after the insurgents took control of the Afghan capital.
It has been reported that most US embassy staff in Kabul were transferred to the airport to be flown home. However, some staff, including the top US diplomat Chargé d’Affaires Ross Wilson, will remain in a facility at the airport for now. The report also mentioned that the US embassy in Kabul will be closed by Tuesday.
According to residents, smoke was visible from the embassy roof as US diplomats quickly destroyed sensitive documents.
Military helicopters airlifted embassy staff, drawing comparisons to people fleeing from the US embassy rooftops in Saigon, Vietnam, almost 50 years ago, as the city fell to the North Vietnamese forces. However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken dismissed comparisons to the fall of Saigon. “This is manifestly not Saigon,” Blinken told ABC News on Sunday, adding that “We went into Afghanistan 20 years ago with one mission in mind, and that was to deal with the people who attacked us on 9/11, and that mission has been successful.”
Earlier, Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin III held meetings with foreign counterparts and lawmakers to discuss the complete withdrawal of US troops.
On Saturday, US President Joe Biden announced that an additional 1,000 troops would be deployed in Afghanistan to help with the evacuation of more than 10,000 US citizens in the country. The US troops will also evacuate Afghans who worked with the military in Afghanistan.
In a statement, Biden also expressed the need for a comprehensive drawdown despite the worsening security situation in Afghanistan. The Biden administration encouraged measures that would bring an end to America’s involvement in “another country’s conflict.”
The US president also attributed the current state in Afghanistan to former President Donald Trump’s approach towards the conflict, which he believes exacerbated the situation. However, he resolved not to spend more human and financial resources on Afghanistan, deeming Kabul’s capture as an unmitigable impasse. “I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth,” Biden said.
Biden’s comments resulted in a debate for the rest of the world, which demanded crucial attention to America’s history of getting entangled in international conflicts. The Afghans also hold America and its historically ineffective peace-building efforts accountable for their present condition.
Critics have argued that the US, which poured billions into the Afghan reconstruction efforts, has failed in nation-building and establishing a democracy in Afghanistan. Others blamed Washington’s “rushed, poorly planned, and chaotic withdrawal” from the country for the Taliban success.
It remains to be seen how long can the United States steer clear of its tumultuous history with Afghanistan and the Taliban.
US Evacuates Diplomats From Kabul, Biden Faces Backlash as Taliban Capture Afghanistan
United States diplomats have been evacuated from Kabul as the Taliban seized Afghanistan’s capital. President Joe Biden, however, has drawn backlash for his role in the current crisis.
August 16, 2021
Source: AP