The scene is set in the airport of Kabul, Afghanistan. A U.S. military aircraft is attempting to leave the country after two decades of war, symbolically withdrawing troops. Alongside the Aircraft there are hundreds of Afghans urgently trying to catch up to the plane, some are latching on to the jet engines or wheels, and others are pleading for the plane to stop. In the video, there is an unavoidable feeling that is quite prevalent throughout, a feeling of desperation. This is one of many videos that surfaced in the past months after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. These videos have garnered online popularity, and have sparked a lot of conversation recently around the topic of Afghanistan. People have begun to question, was America right to withdraw from Afghanistan? Some say withdrawing from Afghanistan will eventually result in the nation falling to tyranny. Others say the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was long overdue, and the war had no solution. This essay will preview both perspectives on the topic, the supporters and the adversaries. Both sides will answer the question, was withdrawing from Afghanistan the right decision?  

Supporter Perspective: 

       The U.S. military’s reign in Afghanistan was the longest American war since the nation’s inception. While the U.S. has had some success in Afghanistan, America’s endeavors in the country were inevitably a futile investment. The war was expensive, destroyed infrastructure, and, most tragically, thousands of lives were lost. The U.S. arrived in Afghanistan with the purpose to hunt down Osama Bin Laden and punish the Taliban regime that provided him refuge. After capturing the Al-Queda leader, the U.S. extended its stay in Afghanistan to conduct phase two. After toppling the Taliban regime, the U.S. attempted to rebuild the Afghan state into a functioning nation. The intervention was intended to protect the Afghan people from the Taliban to prevent the extremist group from furthering any more killings. Since the U.S. arrival in Afghanistan, this plan has seemed to backfire. The numbers indicate that the war in Afghanistan has perpetuated many deaths. It has been estimated that “As of April 2021, more than 71,000 Afghan and Pakistani civilians are estimated to have died as a direct result of the war” (Watson Institute 2021). If the intended purpose was to help the Afghan people, why is it that tens of thousands of civilians have died in the process? This demonstrates that the U.S. time in Afghanistan has inflicted more damage than good. 

       Perhaps the most consequential mistake the U.S. ever made regarding Afghanistan was invading it in the first place, especially with the U.S.’s record of military intervention in the nation. Many can argue that America’s previous involvement in Afghanistan was a contributing factor in starting the Taliban. The Taliban were initially from the Mujahideen, the freedom fighters in the Soviet-Afghan War. The Mujahideen were funded by the CIA, helping provide them with militarized weapons and resources. After the end of the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan, a civil war sprouted among warlords who came from former Mujahideen. With the military equipment that the CIA provided to the Mujahideen in the Soviet-Afghan conflict, the Taliban had ended victorious in the civil war, giving them the capacity to take over the nation. Historical incidents like this only show that the U.S. has been clumsy with its affairs in Afghanistan; these repeated mistakes have led to several wars. That is why it was the correct decision for the U.S. to have withdrawn from Afghanistan. The war may have lasted for two decades, but it is better to leave now than never. 

Adversary Perspective: 

      Maintaining a military presence in Afghanistan is not an option; it is necessary. When all the troops in Afghanistan were withdrawn on August 5, 2021, the Taliban had taken over the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, in a mere ten days. In months, the takeover had been so catastrophic that, “A new United Nations report has said nearly 400 civilians have been killed in attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover…” (Aljazeera 2021). These facts already hint at the possible dictatorship the state of Afghanistan is bound to become. This should come as no surprise, for let us not forget how Afghanistan was before the U.S. invasion. The nation was in shambles and was under dictatorial rule by the Taliban from 1996 to 2001. In that period, the Taliban had fully cemented their reign of terror in the country. Enforcing oppressive laws that abide by their extremist sharia law philosophy, “Its policies included the near-total exclusion of women from public life (including employment and education), the systematic destruction of non-Islamic artistic relics (as occurred in the town of Bamiyan), and the implementation of harsh criminal punishments.” (Britannica). This tyranny had stopped when the U.S. invaded the nation, eventually dismantling the Taliban government. When the Taliban regime had fallen apart, America spent an abundance amount of resources to rebuild Afghan Institutions, improve the quality of life in the nation, give women opportunities that were restricted from them under the Taliban, enhance the country’s economy, etc. After decades of trying to build Afghanistan into a stable state, the withdrawal from Afghanistan is not a demonstration of ending America’s longest war but a sign of giving up on the Afghan people. 

Personal Opinion:

       The United States government had a moral obligation to remain in Afghanistan. There were evident flaws in America’s management of the nation, but there is no denying the progress Afghanistan achieved in 20 years. A primary example of this progress is the nation’s abrupt rise in GDP during America’s arrival. Research indicates that between 2000 and 2010 the country’s GDP took a massive leap, going from 4.06 billion to 15.86 billion (World Bank). This is an excellent metric to show Afghanistan’s development, the nation’s GDP had nearly quadrupled in just a decade. This is one of many statistics and facts that show the progression Afghanistan was able to reach simply because of a military presence being kept there. As the Taliban have regained control of Afghanistan, the nation’s economy and social progress have already taken a significant dip. Implementing policies that will drastically affect the nation, “More than a quarter of the 400,000 civil servants in Afghanistan are women. They have been banned from working until there are sharia-related procedures in place to ensure their safety” (Aljazeera 2021). This policy is predicted to cost Afghanistan’s economy a 1 billion dollar decrease. If the Taliban regime carries on with this, its impact will be severely detrimental to the Afghan people and the whole world. The Biden Administration should not have withdrawn all troops from Afghanistan; remaining in Afghanistan would have been the lowest risk decision, the necessary decision, but most importantly, the most humanitarian decision.   

Research Cited: 

"Afghan Civilians." The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University, watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians/afghan. Accessed 26 May 2022. 
"Afghanistan War - Was the United States Right to Have Withdrawn from Afghanistan?" Issues & Controversies, 31 Aug. 2021, icof.infobase.com/articles/QXJ0aWNsZVRleHQ6MTY1NDc%3D?aid=104051. Accessed 16 May 2022. 
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Taliban - Political and Religious Faction, Afghanistan. Britannica, edited by Swati Chopra and Adam Zeidan, Encyclopædia Britannica, 28 Sept. 2001, www.britannica.com/topic/Taliban. Accessed 17 May 2022. 
"GDP (current US$) - Afghanistan." World Bank Group, World Bank, data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=AF. Accessed 26 May 2022. Chart.