Damage after a blast in March in Kabul, where citizens have for years paid a disproportionate price in Afghanistan's conflict. WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden will remove all US troops from Afghanistan before this year's 20th anniversary of the Sep 11 attacks, finally ending America's longest war despite mounting fears of a Taliban victory, officials said on Tuesday .
In the end, he decided to do neither and will order a complete withdrawal other than limited US personnel to guard the US installations including the imposing embassy in Kabul. The Trump administration reached a deal with the Taliban in February 2020 under which all US troops would leave by May 2021 in return for the insurgents' promise not to back Al-Qaeda and other extremists - the original reason for the 2001 invasion.
"Afghan forces continue to secure major cities and other government strongholds, but they remain tied down in defensive missions and have struggled to hold recaptured territory or reestablish a presence in areas abandoned in 2020," it said. A rise of the Taliban has also raised fears among many Afghan women. The Taliban, who enforce an austere brand of Sunni Islam, banned women from school, offices, music and most of daily life during its 1996-2001 rule over much of Afghanistan.
But Afghan women have been largely shut out of talks between the Taliban and Kabul on a lasting peace deal in the country, with activists arguing that could compromise their fragile, hard-won rights going forward.Biden's decision came just as Turkey announced the dates of a peace conference on Afghanistan that would bring together the government, the Taliban and international partners - though, again, would include few women.
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