What’s happening with our military in Afghanistan? Or more importantly, what’s happening with our military that’s not in Afghanistan? The problem with Afghanistan and the Taliban is one that started 20 years ago, and though it might be different now, should America still be helping and sending support to help the people?

Biden’s plan was to remove all American troops in Afghanistan but keep the American Embassy open, leaving 1,400 people protected by 650 marines and soldiers. He believed that the Afghan forces would be able to hold off the Taliban for 1-2 years, and also assumed that a full takeover by the Taliban would take at least 18 months. He had an emergency backup plan in case the Taliban took over faster than he thought. All Americans in danger would be taken to an airport in Kabul by helicopters over time, but no plan was established for if the airport was taken over by the Taliban.

The plan failed miserably because there was a lot of misjudgment. Everyone believed we had time on our side to remove all the people safely out of harm from the Taliban, but as soon as the American troops left, the Taliban took over in a matter of days. The Biden administration believed the Afghan forces would be strong enough to fight for at least a year or two, but he deeply overestimated their willingness to fight at all. He also underestimated the impact that removing their forces would have on the Afghan people. After removing their troops, all the Afghan soldiers’ confidence was shattered, and they did not believe in their government anymore.

The removal of the American troops may have seemed like a smart move to make when it was done, but the aftermath of it was completely unexpected. Should the military be sent back in to help the Afghanistan people? We don’t have an obligation to, but there are many things that no one is obligated to do that we do anyways, and it’s all based on our conscience. As a country that is always fighting for human rights, it looks terrible on our end to be leaving a country completely defenseless in a time when they needed our help.