August 30 in History
2021 – The last remaining American troops leave Afghanistan, ending US involvement in the war
The United States Armed Forces completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan on this day in 2021, marking the end of the 2001–2021 war. In February 2020, the Trump administration and the Taliban, without the participation of the then Afghan government, signed the US–Taliban deal in Doha, Qatar, which stipulated fighting restrictions for both the US and the Taliban, and provided for the withdrawal of all NATO forces from Afghanistan in return for the Taliban’s counter-terrorism commitments. The Trump administration’s US–Taliban deal, and then the Biden administration‘s decision in April 2021 to pull out all US troops by September 2021 without leaving a residual force, were the two critical events that caused the begin of the collapse of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). Following the deal, the US dramatically reduced the number of air attacks and deprived the ANSF of a critical edge in fighting the Taliban insurgency, leading to the Taliban takeover of Kabul on August 15, 2021.
As part of the US–Taliban deal, the Trump administration agreed to an initial reduction of US forces from 13,000 to 8,600 troops by July 2020, followed by a complete withdrawal by May 1, 2021, if the Taliban kept its commitments. At the start of the Biden administration, there were 2,500 US soldiers in Afghanistan and, in April 2021, Biden said the US would not begin withdrawing these soldiers before May 1, but would complete the withdrawal by September 11. The Taliban began a final offensive on May 1 and, on July 8, Biden specified a new completion date of August 31. There were about 650 US troops in Afghanistan in early August 2021, tasked with protecting Hamid Karzai International Airport and the US embassy in Kabul. NATO‘s Resolute Support Mission concluded on July 12, 2021, while US intelligence assessments estimated as late as July that Kabul would fall within months or weeks following withdrawal of all American forces from Afghanistan, though the security situation deteriorated rapidly.
The US also launched Operation Allies Refuge to airlift the United States translators and selected Afghan citizens considered at risk of reprisals and US Forces Afghanistan Forward was established on July 7, 2021 as a successor command overseeing the evacuation of all US diplomatic, security, advisory, and counter-terrorism personnel remaining in the country after the withdrawal of US troops. On August 12, 2021, following continued Taliban victories across Afghanistan, the Biden administration announced that 3,000 US troops would be deployed to Kabul Airport to evacuate embassy personnel, US nationals and Special Immigrant Visa applicants. With the rapid advance of the Taliban in the provinces, on August 14, the US increased its troop commitment to 5,000. On August 15, with the fall of Kabul, another 1,000 troops were deployed, and on August 16, another 1,000 troops were deployed, bringing the total number of troops to 7,000. The last US military planes left Kabul airport at 11:59 p.m. Kabul time on August 30 2021.
-Wikipedia
Photo Caption -Army Major General Christopher T. Donahue boarding a C-17 at Kabul Airport as the final American soldier to depart Afghanistan, August 30, 2021 – dvidshub.net
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