Following an announcement of his intent to withdraw all US military personnel by US President Joe Biden in mid-April, the government and armed forces of Afghanistan collapsed in the face of rapid advances by the Taliban, culminating in the seizure of Kabul on 15 August 2021.
The central Asian nation was home to a 20-year NATO-mission purportedly to combat terrorism and such forces that led to the 11 September 2001 terror attacks in New York City, the gains by the Taliban have shocked the world and resulting into deadly scenes in Afghanistan as Western nations have scrambled to evacuate their citizens as well as those Afghans who collaborated with the West over the past 20 years.
One particularly deadly suicide bombing at Kabul’s international airport, attributed to Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), resulted in the deaths of 169 Afghans as well as 13 US military personnel tasked with securing the airport for evacuations. By the end of August, the US completed its troop withdrawal leaving a nation reeling with a new reality under the Taliban.
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