The world has gone through a whole ordeal within the past year, but nothing could have prepared the world for what happened in Afghanistan. In the middle of August seemingly overnight, the US pulled out of Afghanistan, and as soon as the pressure of the US forces were lightened the Taliban re emerged. The Afghan government seemed to just crumble to the Taliban which came like a thief in the night, and now Afghanistan is currently under Taliban rule. There are a lot of mixed opinions concerning Afghanistan from how we should have pulled put (or whether we should have pulled out at all) to America’s role in all of this.
Currently, President Joe Biden has made a statement saying that it is not the responsibility of the US to provide nation building for Afghanistan. Afghanistan is currently under Taliban rule, and due to the way that the US pulled out of the country, the Taliban received over millions of dollars of equipment payed for by taxpayers. Some of but not all of the equipment includes: guns, ammo, facilities, Humvees, and various other vehicles. I personally think that the US could have been more tactful on its departure as to not leave the Taliban while millions of dollars worth of weapons and equipment.
In the US citizens are expressing concerns that agree with Biden’s statements and there are also citizens who believe that the US should be over in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban. There are still American’s in Afghanistan who were promised safe passage back, but the problem is with that is that there is no functioning airport in Kabul which raises more than a few issues. Also, the rhetoric of the nation’s politicians concerning Afghanistan show expressions of care for the citizens suffering in Afghanistan and what the nation should do concerning this issue. There are multiple approaches by all kinds of different politicians on the political spectrum. In addition, citizens of both the US and Afghanistan are calling for some kind of action concerning the Taliban takeover, and the question is what is going to be done by the US government concerning this issue.
The topic of Afghanistan and what needs to be done has many different possibilities that are being proposed by both politicians and citizens alike. I think the US has some responsibility for the situation over in Afghanistan, and we should take responsibility. However, what we should do is not determined by me but is determined by President Biden and the US government
Hi Zappa,
I agree with the point about how they leave Afghanistan like you said leaving millions of dollars worth of weapons and equipment might not be a wise decision for the U.S.
Hi Anthony,
I think that the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan is something that has not been talked about enough, so it is great that you are bringing light to it. I was listening to information about this topic in a podcast (The Daily by The New York Times) and I think that in addition to the safety of the US citizens that are stuck in Afghanistan, we also need to be considerate of the Afghan citizens. In this podcast, I heard accounts of bombs that were going off in crowded airports and interviews of the families of those affected. It was extremely heartbreaking and eye-opening, and I highly recommend listening to the podcast. The episode title is “The Bombings at the Kabul Airport”.
Hi Anthony,
You have made a intriguing and informational post. No matter how heartbreaking it was to hear about what is happening in Afghanistan, I do agree that it is not up to us to be making decisions. Unfortunately, we don’t acquire the ability to get into the minds of those who are making the big and difficult decisions for this country. We can only just stay informed and try to comprehend the reasoning.