US Troop Draw Down in Afghanistan by 2021

Afghan army collapse 'took us all by surprise': US defence secretary Lloyd Austin

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told Congress on Tuesday (Sept 28) that the Afghan army's sudden collapse caught the Pentagon off-guard as he acknowledged miscalculations in America's longest war including corruption and damaged morale in Afghan ranks.

"The fact that the Afghan army we and our partners trained simply melted away - in many cases without firing a shot - took us all by surprise," Mr Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "It would be dishonest to claim otherwise"...

Contradicting Biden, top generals say they recommended a small force stay in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON — Top military leaders said Tuesday that they had recommended to President Joe Biden that the U.S. keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan even after the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline, contradicting the president's assertion last month that his advisers did not tell him to leave a small military presence in the country.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, who oversaw the withdrawal as head of U.S. Central Command, and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in testimony before Congress that they had communicated that advice to the president...

McKenzie also said in his testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that he had held the view that a withdrawal of forces would "inevitably" lead to the collapse of the Afghan forces and government.

Milley confirmed later in the hearing that he agreed with the recommendation to leave behind a force of a few thousand troops. He added that if the U.S. military had stayed in Afghanistan past Aug. 31, the risk of attacks on both American civilians and service members would have increased. Additionally, remaining in the country would have required 15,000 to 20,000 troops and a move to re-establish control of Bagram Airfield, he said...

U.S. says it is working to screen passengers of plane carrying Americans from Kabul

The United States is working to verify the accuracy of the list of passengers aboard a charter plane carrying more than 100 U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents evacuated from Afghanistan, the State Department said on Wednesday, after the flight's organizers said Washington denied it landing rights...

Bryan Stern, a founder of the nonprofit group Project Dynamo, said late on Tuesday that the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection agency was blocking a charter on an international flight into a U.S. port of entry...

Taliban says U.S. drones must stop entering Afghanistan

The Taliban on Wednesday warned of consequences if the United States did not stop flying drones over Afghan airspace.

“The U.S. has violated all international rights and laws as well as its commitments made to the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, with the operation of these drones in Afghanistan,” the Taliban said in a statement on Twitter...

Senate GOP seeks bipartisan panel to investigate Afghanistan withdrawal

Senate Republicans on Tuesday introduced legislation aimed at investigating the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, seeking answers on the chaotic and fatal end to America’s longest war.

The effort is being led by Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and would create a bipartisan select committee composed of members of the House and Senate...

Rural Afghans are continuing to live with the painful U.S. legacy in Afghanistan. The villagers and farmers living in Afghanistan’s hinterlands were often trapped in the crossfire between the Taliban and U.S. forces and their allies – with many becoming casualties of U.S. counterterrorism operations, drone strikes and gun battles. “‘Everyone here hated the Americans,’ said Zabiullah Haideri, 30. His shop was shattered by an airstrike in 2019 that killed 12 villagers. ‘They murdered civilians and committed atrocities,’” Sudarsan Raghavan reports for the Washington Post.

US, Pakistani officials in strained talks on Afghanistan

United States and Pakistani officials are meeting Friday amid a worsening relationship between the two countries as each nation searches for a way forward in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

Pakistan has been pressing for greater engagement with the all-male, all-Taliban Cabinet in Kabul even as it shies away from any unilateral formal recognition. The South Asian country has urged Washington to release billions of dollars to the Taliban so that Afghanistan’s new rulers can pay salaries of the many ministries and avoid an economic meltdown. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warns such a crash could unleash a mass migration...

Hundreds of billions were spent by the US in Afghanistan. Here are 10 of the starkest examples of 'waste, fraud and abuse'

Half a billion dollars of aircraft that flew for about a year. A huge $85 million hotel that never opened, and sits in disrepair. Camouflage uniforms for the Afghan army whose fancy pattern would cost an extra $28 million. A healthcare facility listed as located in the Mediterranean Sea.

These are part of a catalog of "waste, fraud and abuse" complaints made against the United States' reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan -- an effort totaling $145 billion over 20 years -- made by the United States' own inspector general into the war. But the in-depth audits detailing these findings have, for the most part, been taken offline at the request of the State Department, citing security concerns...

WANNA FIGHT? PUSHING PARTNERS ASIDE IN AFGHANISTAN

“Remember when we kept saying that we were on ‘Afghan-led’ missions? We were lying every time.” This July 2021 tweet by Robert O’Neill, the Navy SEAL who claims to have killed Osama bin Laden, kicked up a Twitter frenzy. It was posted in the same week that the United States announced it had officially left Bagram Air Base, one of the final and most symbolic steps in ending the U.S. war in Afghanistan. The tweet captures a key disconnect between strategic intent in Afghanistan and tactical implementation, ultimately suggesting that large-footprint troop surges in expeditionary counterinsurgencies are doomed to fail.

Despite senior leaders’ guidance to advise and assist, tactical units across Afghanistan showed a clear preference for unilateral combat operations, often cutting Afghan partners out of mission planning and only grabbing enough Afghans on the way out of the wire to put an Afghan face on thinly veiled U.S. operations. Our respective Marine and Army experiences in-theater and our academic research suggest a prevalent preference to fight throughout Afghanistan, as well as in other theaters. We argue that this preference occurs under conditions in which tactical units possess the capabilities to conduct unilateral operations and working with partner forces is relatively difficult, dangerous, disappointing, and downright contradictory to the warrior ethos in the U.S. military. In other words, when U.S. units can fight alone, they will choose to do so...

'Progress on a number of fronts' following US-Taliban meetings, State Department says

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday that "there has been progress on a number of fronts" following several days of meetings between US and Taliban officials in Doha.

"There were productive discussions on the issue of humanitarian assistance," Price said at a press briefing, noting there was "a degree at least of consensus" about the desire for aid.

The Biden administration has said it will provide assistance directly to the people of Afghanistan amid mounting concerns about a potential humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan as the country's medical system falters and its economy sits on the brink of collapse...

Russia-led security bloc to hold military drills near Afghan border

A Russia-led security bloc that includes some countries adjacent or close to Afghanistan will hold military drills near the Afghan border in Tajikistan from Oct. 22-23, the RIA news agency reported on Wednesday.

The Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) includes Tajikistan, which has a lengthy border with Afghanistan, as well as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Belarus.