April 15, 2021
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) President Joe Biden has announced a withdrawal of all remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September, about 20 years after the start of a war provoked by the deadliest terror assault on the United States.
Biden’s plan, announced Wednesday, is to pull out all the American forces now numbering 2,500 by Sept. 11, the anniversary of the attacks on the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon that were coordinated from Afghanistan by the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
There were 2,500 to 3,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan when Biden took office, the smallest number since early in the war. The number peaked at 100,000 during President Barack Obama’s first term.