It would have been more difficult to sell that narrative to American people if Al Qaeda's close ties to the new Taliban 'government' had been fully acknowledged.īut officials from the Biden administration, as well as the Trump administration, had assured us that the Taliban had cut ties with bin Laden's fanatics. The suicide bomber's blast killed nearly 200 people, including 13 members of the United States military.Īnd still, Biden declared 'extraordinary success,' even as he recognized the loss of life.Īccording to Biden, after two decades of war, America's mission had been accomplished. One year ago this month, President Biden (left) told Americans that Al Qaeda was 'gone' from Afghanistan. On Monday, the White House revealed a CIA drone strike killed Al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri (right) in Kabul, Afghanistan. Some clung to the landing gear of departing planes and fell to their deaths after the aircraft left the ground. The world watched as Afghans stormed the runaways. 'Look, let's put this thing in perspective,' he insisted amid calls to delay the evacuation, 'What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point, with al Qaeda gone?'ĭays after those remarks, on August 26, 2021, a suicide bomb ripped through a crowd of soldiers and civilians at Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul.īy that point, the Afghan military had melted away and the Taliban had overrun the country.ĭesperate people - American and Afghan - crowded outside the airport gates, as US Marines stood guard on its concrete walls. President Biden had set August 31st as the last day for US troops to leave Afghanistan after 20 years of war and the deadline had caught the world by surprise. And we did,' he told reporters on August 20, 2021, as American and allied forces hastily prepared to pull out of the country. 'We went to Afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan as well as getting Osama bin Laden. On Monday, we learned that clearly was not the case. One year ago this month, President Biden told Americans that Al Qaeda was 'gone' from Afghanistan.
From 1991 to 1997, Roggio served as a signalman and infantryman in the US Army and New Jersey National Guard Bill Roggio is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and editor of FDD's Long War Journal.
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