The Reality of the US Withdrawal From Afghanistan

we're on a routine patrol with the afghan national police in waldorf province they say that they're very limited in terms of the equipment that they have and in fact over the past couple of months they've lost around 20 men carrying out these operations this area is controlled by the government but further on is taliban territory and it's these guys that come out every day to look for and then defuse ieds that have been planted by the taliban on the road or in civilian areas [Music] [Music] the united states military has begun strikes against qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the taliban regime in afghanistan twenty years ago the u.s with the help of its allies invaded afghanistan and removed the taliban regime the conflicts banned four u.s presidencies cost nearly two trillion dollars and left over 110 000 afghan police military and civilians as well as 2 300 u.s soldiers dead last year's deal between the taliban and the trump administration required a full withdrawal of u.s forces president biden is intent on following through with the agreement war in afghanistan was never meant to be a multi-generational undertaking we were attacked we went to war with clear goals we achieved those objectives and it's time to end the forever war four years ago 11 000 u.s troops were stationed in afghanistan with the objective to train and support afghan forces including 300 marines here in helmand today they're gone afghan forces are now preparing to face the fight alone with the final u.s troops set to return home by september 11th this was once the largest u.s marine base in helmand province but now it's like a ghost town because the vast majority of american troops have withdrawn and there's only a handful left there are afghan civilians who support the withdrawal of u.s forces because they see them as occupiers but for politicians leading the frontline fight against the taliban like hamdullah muhib it brings complications mohib is the national security adviser for afghanistan and he's come to hellmann to meet with security officials so in what way has the u.s withdrawal impacted your job as national security advisor well um we weren't expecting it to come this soon so there hasn't really been a proper transition it has helped in one way but also put us at risk in others we had to expedite self reliance and self-sufficiency with our security forces at a much faster pace than when what we were preparing for and the risk the taliban could see this as an opportunity uh and attack us like they did and think that they could overrun a couple of provinces and put us in a situation where it may be hard for us to take them back has american troops pulling out made your ability to protect civilians harder the capabilities we have built over the last 20 years have equipped us to be able to do the job relatively well we have always emphasized that it's not the number of u.s troops it's the capabilities that they provide us to do what we need to do but nonetheless we're preparing for that zero troops option there were conditionalities attached to the u.s taliban agreement the taliban have not met that one of them was a reduction in violence and we have not yet seen the taliban to really comply with that and we are seeing increased number of attacks it seems like they still think they can take power by force in afghanistan if you could give the taliban a message right now what would it be i think they should take peace negotiations seriously the afghan people want an end to this war they've gained a lot from these peace negotiations whereas you're left with decreasing u.s support and the possibility of giving up some of your power to the taliban are you gaining anything from this off peace is what we should what we wish to gain from but that's not happening is it well it hasn't come to an end yet we're still negotiating and that is the quickest way to end this conflict it seems like everybody knows though that the taliban doesn't want a democracy so is this is this even worth it well we think that democracy is the best way or the best system because in that the taliban can exist do you really believe that the taliban would ever support a democracy do you honestly believe that i think we can convince them the us withdrawal isn't stopping afghans from joining the army these newest recruits come at a time when the taliban controls over half the country and thousands of civilians continue to be killed and injured each [Music] we're with new recruits in the afghan national army every single soldier has to go through 12 weeks of training after that they're either sent off for more specialist training or they can be sent directly into combat these are the new generation of soldiers who will be risking their lives on the front lines of the war but this time without us ground support at one point there were tens of thousands of u.s soldiers who were stationed in afghanistan who were fighting alongside afghan forces now there's hardly any how does that change the future for these men who you're training as a brigade commander from the training point of view and as my level when i'm seeing the morales of the soldiers they are very high this is their country they keep on telling me that this is our land our soil our country we have to depend whether our international community is there to support or not [Music] come on support of the international community is very important we are quite sure and our soldiers are sure that we will not be left by the international community and they will keep supporting the afghanistan whether they are physical presence is here or not what was it exactly that made you decide that you wanted to pick up a gun and fight for your country taliban used to say that its fight was against american soldiers but now it says that his fight is against afghan soldiers how does that make you feel being the next generation of soldiers who are going to fight this war do you think about that a lot the level of danger that you're going to be facing are you ready to die for your country has do you all feel ready who do you consider your biggest enemy to be who here has lost somebody to the war in afghanistan [Music] that's well over half of the people here is that why you you're fighting you

Channel: VICE News

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Keywords: VICE News, VICE News Tonight, VICE on HBO, news, vice video, VICE on SHOWTIME, vice news 2020, us, united states, military, us military, usmc, afghanistan, taliban, withdrawal, sept 11, biden, terror

Id: 7q5a5sjyxQs

Length: 10min 13sec (613 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 25 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/emeraldhorus]

Optimistic. To say the least.

[u/Keepitred]

On the other hand, if you cannot fix Afghanistan after 20 years and trillions of dollars what good is it to spend another 20 and even more trillions? I’d offer easy immigration to the U.S. since Afghanistan’s situation and geographic positioning makes using free trade as a stick unfeasible