series on Defense360.
One of the Biden administration’s most contentious war-related decisions will likely be what to do about Afghanistan. The U.S. military has been fighting in Afghanistan for two decades in a war that has persisted nearly continuously since the late 1970s. However, a precipitous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan at this point without an intra-Afghan peace agreement will likely shift the military balance of power in favor of the Taliban and increase the possibility of an eventual Taliban takeover of the capital city, Kabul, and significant rural and urban areas of the country.
Q1: What is the current U.S. military presence in Afghanistan? What are U.S. interests in Afghanistan and the region?
âThere Is No Safe Areaâ: In Kabul, Fear Has Taken Over
A new wave of violence and a growing uncertainty about the countryâs future have left Afghans in the capital with a constant sense of fear.
A police checkpoint in Kabul, Afghanistan, this month.Credit.Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
Jan. 17, 2021
KABUL, Afghanistan â In Kabulâs uncertain present, fear and dread intertwine in a vise. Fear has become a way of life.
âWhen youâre in the car you feel fear, when you are walking you feel fear, and when you are in the shop you feel fear,â said Shamsullah Amini, a 22-year-old shopkeeper, while watching over his vats of dried grains and beans in the Taimani neighborhood. âIf there was any security at all, we wouldnât all be thinking about leaving the country.â