In recent months President Biden has been withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in an attempt to end the “forever war.” Yet in this process, he has made too many mistakes. This is the action that resulted in the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan. This has reversed the last 20 years of campaigns in the Middle East to take out a terrorist organization that 20 years ago launched the largest attack on American soil since the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The mishandling of the war in the Middle East has resulted in many dead and many more that will die as a result. The Taliban is an oppressive terrorist organization that has and will strip away rights of anyone to keep power.

Although it is noble of Biden to withdraw from the Middle East, he broke the terms of the peace agreements with the Taliban that Former President Donald Trump negotiated in February 2020. The United States was supposed to have fully withdrawn from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021, yet Biden pushed that deadline back to September 11, 2021 which was the fatal mistake that led to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban. This takeover would not have been as fast and as drastic if he did not break the terms of peace. The Taliban taking over means the oppression and mass killing of women, minorities, and anyone that’s not a Muslim man. The worst part is that the United States, which is the largest symbol of freedom and equality worldwide, is standing by and letting this happen.

In the current state of Afghanistan there are people that are desperate to leave with no hope of survival by staying in Afghanistan. There are people clinging to the side of aircrafts to then plunge to their death from hundreds of feet in the air. This is because the US left almost overnight meaning the Afghan citizens lost their protection. The withdrawal was performed poorly and slowly with little thought of the aftermath of the withdrawal, yet in Biden’s press conference, he seems to only be talking about himself and blaming other politicians. Biden even said that “I will not mislead the American people by claiming that just a little more time in Afghanistan will make all the difference.” Yet a little more time in Afghanistan would make all the difference. It would make all the difference for all the people attempting to escape one of the most authoritative regimes in history which has countless war crimes and even more human rights violations.

The Taliban had responsibility in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which resulted in 2,977 people dead and many more injured. We did not only wage war on terror to avenge the many men and women who died on 9/11, but also to safeguard America’s future by ensuring that an attack that large would never happen again. We have not ensured this future for America, and we have also left thousands to fend for themselves against the ruthless Taliban.

After the attacks of 9/11 there was a photo that surfaced of a man falling from the towers which motivated many to go to war, but now there is a photo of a man falling off an airplane and people don’t share the same compassion for him. Ever since the Spanish-American war of 1898 when the United States became a global superpower, there has been a larger responsibility of America to ensure a better world for everyone and not just Americans. If America continues this withdrawal from Afghanistan, it will result in oppression and death for many Afghani citizens, and showing how selfish America and more specifically the Biden administration actually is. They only do things for their best interest even though it led to the largest American loss of life since 2011 in this war.