Taliban

Report to Congress on Afghanistan and U.S. Policy

The following is the Dec. 1, 2022, Congressional Research Service report, Afghanistan: Background and U.S. Policy in Brief.

From the report

The aftershocks of Afghanistan’s watershed year of 2021 continue to reverberate within Afghanistan, throughout its region, and in the United States. In 2021, U.S. and international forces departed after nearly two decades of operations in Afghanistan; the internationally backed Afghan government and its military forces collapsed; and the Taliban, a Sunni...

https://news.usni.org/2022/12/02/report-to-congress-on-afghanistan-and-u-s-policy

One Explosive Device Responsible for Deaths of 13 U.S. Service Members in Kabul Attack, Pentagon Says

A Marine assigned to 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) provides over-watch during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan on Aug. 21, 2021. US Marine Corps Photo

The attack during the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan that left 13 U.S. troops dead was the result of one explosive device detonation, according to U.S. Central Command officials.

After conducting an investigation into the August attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul,...

https://news.usni.org/2022/02/04/one-explosive-device-responsible-for-deaths-of-13-service-members-in-kabul-attack

Limited Coordination Between U.S., NATO Allies in Getting Afghanistan Evacuees to Airport

Marines with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) search luggage during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan on Aug. 18, 2021. US Marine Corps Photo

Troops from NATO member states, including the U.S., U.K. and France, are all working in Kabul to remove citizens and Afghans eligible for resettlement out of the country. But there isn’t a coordinated effort between the allies to communicate with the Taliban or ensure people get to the Hamid Karzai...

https://news.usni.org/2021/08/20/limited-coordination-between-u-s-nato-allies-in-getting-afghanistan-evacuees-to-airport

SECDEF Austin: U.S. Lacks ‘Capability’ in Kabul to Create Safe Passage for Americans, Afghans to Leave Afghanistan

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks with reporters on Afghanistan, at the Pentagon on Aug. 18, 2021. DoD Photo

The U.S. doesn’t have enough troops in Kabul to secure safe passage for tens of thousands of Americans and Afghan allies seeking to leave the country, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a press conference on Wednesday.

Now, there are a mix of 4,500 Marines, soldiers and airmen securing the Hamid Karzai International Airport to the north of the city and assisting in processing...

https://news.usni.org/2021/08/18/secdef-austin-u-s-lacks-capability-in-kabul-to-create-safe-passage-for-americans-afghans-to-leave-afghanistan

Pentagon Declares Afghanistan Exodus a Non-Combatant Evacuation as U.S. Marines, Soldiers Mass in Kabul

Afghanistan civililans attempt on the airfield as a C-17 attempts to take off from the Kabul airport.

The mass exodus of U.S. citizens and American allies from Afghanistan is now a military-assisted non-combatant evacuation operation as the security situation in the capital of Kabul has continued to devolve, a Pentagon spokesman said on Monday.

Last week, officials resisted calling the publicly unnamed operation a NEO – the first from a combat zone since the 2014 evacuation from Libya.

“This is a...

https://news.usni.org/2021/08/16/pentagon-declares-afghanistan-exodus-a-non-combatant-evacuation-as-u-s-marines-soldiers-mass-in-kabul

Pentagon Sending 3,000 Troops To Evacuate U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan

A U.S. Marine with Task Force Southwest (TFSW) provides security for Marine advisors during an advising mission with 1st Brigade, Afghan National Army (ANA) 215th Corps as the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces conduct Operation Maiwand 12 at Camp Shorserack, Afghanistan, March 12, 2018. US Marine Corps Photo

The Pentagon is sending 3,000 troops – including two Marine Corps battalions – to Afghanistan to support the evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Kabul and move Afghans seeking visas...

https://news.usni.org/2021/08/12/pentagon-sending-3000-troops-to-evacuate-u-s-embassy-in-afghanistan

Panel: U.S. Began Afghanistan War with Unrealistic Expectations

U.S. Soldiers and contractors load High Mobility Multi-purposed Wheeled Vehicles, HUMVs, to be sent for transport in support of the Resolute Support retrograde mission in Afghanistan on July 13, 2020. US Army Photo

American expectations of what could be achieved in Afghanistan – like establishing a democracy by defeating al Qaeda and the Taliban – were too high, while the U.S.’s early focus on revenge and justice following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the homeland, two national...

https://news.usni.org/2021/07/08/panel-u-s-began-afghanistan-war-with-unrealistic-expectations

COVID-19 Presents Additional Obstacle to Afghan Peace Process

A Chinook helicopter transports equipment around Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. US Army photo by Sgt. James Dansie.

The Taliban has shown no interest in cooperating with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to combat the COVID-19 pandemic spreading from Iran, creating the latest obstacle to peace, four regional experts said Monday.

The experts, speaking via ZOOM from around the globe, were part of a Woodrow Wilson Center Webcast: What’s Next for the Peace and Reconciliation Process in Afghanistan? A...

https://news.usni.org/2020/03/31/covid-19-presents-additional-obstacle-to-afghan-peace-process

Afghanistan Wants Partnership with US Military Even as Relationship, Conditions Evolve

Ambassador to the United States H.E. Roya Rahmani speaks at the Atlantic Council on Oct. 16, 2019.

Kabul’s ambassador to Washington said “passing statements” about U.S. withdrawal or peace talks with the Taliban made in American political campaigns are “not helpful” in setting Afghanistan on the pathway to a future as functioning democratic republic.

Speaking Wednesday at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., Roya Rahmani said in answer to several questions, “we want the United States to look...

https://news.usni.org/2019/10/16/afghanistan-wants-partnership-with-us-military-even-as-relationship-conditions-evolve

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