End of US military mission in Afghanistan
Recently, the top US commander in Afghanistan resigned near the end of the 20-year war.
- The US military mission in Afghanistan will end on August 31. However, it will continue to provide civil and humanitarian aid.
- The United States first carried out operations in Afghanistan in 2001, destroying several bases of Al Qaeda terrorists.
- It is known that these were the bases where these terrorists received training to carry out attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in New York on 11 September 2001.
Why did the United States withdraw from Afghanistan?
- US military involvement in Afghanistan was proving to be a strategic obligation and a fruitless investment. Its ability to alter basic political and military dynamics in Afghanistan was lost.
- The United States is shifting its priorities to the Indian Pacific, considering China as the biggest competitor.
Issues related to the evacuation of the United States:
- Fear of Civil War in Afghanistan: With the violence continuing, civil war in Afghanistan could begin again.
- Regional Security: Challenges could increase for the Indian subcontinent, as the US military presence was controlled by hardline extremist powers.
Special concerns relating to India:
- Security: The increase in violence and instability in Afghanistan has made India more vulnerable to incidents of state-sponsored terrorism.
- Economic: India has invested in various projects including the construction of the Afghan Parliament in Afghanistan.
- Strategic: Afghanistan is the gateway to the oil and mineral rich Central Asian republics.
Source – The Hindu
