Lydia Mardin
Equinox Staff
Starting in April of 2021, President Joseph Biden showed interest in starting to pull troops out of Afghanistan, with the goal to have them all home by September 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the fall of the World Trade Center. American boots have been on the ground in this country since October 2001, and American boots have had a significant influence on the Middle East since then. The conflict originally started when airstrikes escalated to troops from America and its allies getting sent over to stop the Taliban and put up a strong military offensive so they would stop harming the citizens of Afghanistan. The Taliban are a group of Islamic and Political extremists that have been wreaking havoc and causing issues within Afghan borders since before 2001 with the group initially forming in 1994.
As of August of this year, a majority of all American troops have been pulled out of the conflict-ridden areas of the Middle East. Many people, myself included, would argue that this move had been a long time coming and that soldiers should have been pulled much sooner than this year. Many people thought the end would be brought about sooner, especially with the peace deal between Former President Donald Trump and current Taliban leaders in 2020. However, the Taliban returned in full force and started to inflict mass atrocity on the people in the area as a result.
This is heartbreaking as it seems nothing except American forces being in Afghanistan can really help to put an end to the Taliban. In my own opinion, I think what is happening over there is really terrible, and it seems that nothing can be done until the group is dissolved, which obviously will not be happening any time soon. As a result of the troops being withdrawn, the Taliban have caused mass destruction and chaos in the area resulting in many deaths, some of which include American troops.
When the innocent civilians of Afghanistan needed us the most we turned our back on them. President Biden seemed so obsessed with the idea of getting people out of there, as long as they were American, and does not seem too concerned about the people we left behind, the citizens of Afghanistan. I believe removing our troops was the right thing to do, but I think that we also need to hold our government accountable for the multitude of people who are hurting as a result of this. We need to start letting people into our borders to help protect them and save them from the atrocities happening. President Biden needs to be doing better in this aspect, especially where his approval rating is at an all-time low. According to National Public Radio, President Biden hit a 43% approval rating, and many are suggesting he might hit as low as 36% if nothing improves.
For being a President who is an advocate for the rights of people, and who is encouraging others to do this the same way, he is clearly only interested in helping those who got him elected in the first place, proving that he is not interested in helping those who need it.
Lydia Mardin can be contacted at
lmardin@kscequinox.com
