US Air Force C-17s and other aircraft assist with the withdrawal from Afghanistan. US Air Force
US Air Force C-17s and other aircraft assist with the withdrawal from Afghanistan. US Air Force

2021 - The fall of Kabul

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Updated 19 April 2025
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2021 - The fall of Kabul

2021 - The fall of Kabul
  • After 2 decades, trillions of dollars and countless lives lost, Afghanistan is back where it began. Was it all in vain?

KABUL: During the hot summer of 2021, a deep sense of eeriness, and at the same time optimism, hung over Afghanistan as one city and province after another fell to the Taliban ahead of the imminent full withdrawal of US-led troops.

Those weeks were a microcosm reflecting much of the experience of the 20 years following the US invasion of a country that had already suffered a bloody, decade-long occupation by the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and between 1838 and 1939 endured a series of conflicts with the British Empire.

On Feb. 29, 2020, the Taliban signed the Doha Accord, a peace agreement with a US administration determined to end to America’s longest war, which began in 2001 in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks by Al-Qaeda.

As part of the deal — officially known as the “Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban and the United States of America” — Washington agreed to dramatically reduce the number of US forces in the country ahead of a complete withdrawal within 14 months.

It immediately became apparent, however, that without US air and ground support, Afghan government forces could not cope with the sudden surge in Taliban attacks that followed the signing of the agreement.

How we wrote it




Arab News reported the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul “20 years after the US-led invasion that ousted them.”

Even the Taliban were stunned by the speed of their victories in 2001, which by Aug. 15 had brought them to the gates of Kabul.

The fall of the city had been predicted a year earlier by Mariam Koofi, a member of the Afghan parliament, while the talks between Taliban delegates and US diplomats were still in full swing in Doha.

“I fear that we would see the Taliban on the streets of Kabul one day when you get up from your bed,” Koofi told me.

Her assessment was based on a number of factors, including corruption within the government, rising numbers of deaths among Afghan troops, power struggles between state and non-state actors, the growing push for a US withdrawal by regional rivals such as Iran, Russia and China, and the decline in vital American military and logistical aid to the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

On Aug. 15, 2021, Koofi’s prediction came to pass. As news spread that Ghani and members of his government had fled by helicopter to Central Asia, and US and other Western diplomats had abandoned their embassies in panic, Taliban fighters entered Kabul and captured the presidential palace.

In some parts of the city, large crowds gathered on the streets, some in fear, some to welcome their new rulers. Others were merely curious to see them for the first time, because they were born during the US occupation and so had not experienced the first rule of the Taliban, which was cut short by the American-led invasion in 2001.

Key Dates

  • 1

    In an agreement that excludes the Afghan government, the Taliban and the US sign the Doha Accord, under which Washington commits to a full withdrawal of troops within 14 months.

    Timeline Image Feb. 29, 2020

  • 2

    Newly elected President Joe Biden announces all US troops will leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the start of “the forever war.”

    Timeline Image April 14, 2021

  • 3

    Taliban launch major offensive.

    Timeline Image May 1, 2021

  • 4

    Taliban seize Kabul; government of President Ashraf Ghani collapses.

    Timeline Image Aug. 15, 2021

  • 5

    Suicide bombing at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport kills 170 Afghan citizens and 13 US military personnel.

    Timeline Image Aug. 25, 2021

  • 6

    Last-remaining US soldiers leave Afghanistan. Taliban declare victory.

According to Brown University’s Costs of War project, 20 years of war in Afghanistan claimed the lives of more than 168,000 Afghans, including 69,000 members of the national police and military, and 46,000 civilians.

Despite the loss of more than 6,000 American lives and after spending trillions of dollars on the conflict, the US had handed power back to the very group it drove out 20 years earlier.

In the center of Kabul, banks and businesses closed, fearing looting, but the Taliban swiftly managed to stop any threat of plundering. The group also quickly announced the reestablishment of its Islamic Emirate, rather than the formation of a broad-based government as agreed in the Doha deal.

At Kabul airport, diplomats, some of their local employees and foreign aid workers were flown out of the country on US and other foreign military aircraft.

Fearful for the future of Afghanistan under Taliban rule and the return of civil war, tens of thousands of residents mobbed the airport amid false rumors that aircraft were waiting to transport Afghans who wanted to leave the country.




Commanding General US Central Command Kenneth F. McKenzie touring an evacuation control center at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Afghanistan, on August 17,2021. AFP

As evening approached, a human tide broke through barriers and flooded onto the runway. In chaotic scenes, broadcast around the world, some desperate people tried to cling to aircraft as they took off. On Aug. 16, a young dentist fell to his death from a plane, his remains found on a rooftop four miles from the airport. A teenage soccer player similarly died after plummeting from a US aircraft.

In the days that followed, the Taliban, who had promised to be more lenient and inclusive than they had been during their previous rule, began imposing curbs and draconian policies. Billboards depicting women were defaced or torn down, Afghan flags were lowered, cafes stopped playing music, and a few restaurants run by women were closed. Demonstrations by women protesting against the Taliban’s actions were suppressed.

On Aug. 26, a suicide bomber, later identified as a member of Daesh, killed 170 Afghans and 13 US troops at the airport. Five days later, on Aug. 31, the US completed its full withdrawal from Afghanistan.




US Marine and a child spray water at each other during the evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, August 21. US Marine Corps

Since then, the Taliban have continued to impose tough restrictions, particularly on women, who are barred from education above grade 6, attending university, and most public jobs. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have fled the country, seeing no future there.

Meanwhile, the Taliban government faces ever-deepening international isolation, signs of internal divisions, and growing local frustration with its fundamentalist policies.

In addition, Afghanistan might not yet be free of foreign intervention. Although the policy of the new US administration toward the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is not yet entirely clear, on Feb. 1, President Donald Trump repeated a preelection threat that America would reclaim Bagram Airbase.

  • Sayed Salahuddin is an Afghan journalist based in Canada who covered the rise of the Taliban in 1996, the US invasion and the fall of Kabul in 2021.


Germany has three years to overhaul military: official

Germany has three years to overhaul military: official
Updated 8 min 41 sec ago
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Germany has three years to overhaul military: official

Germany has three years to overhaul military: official
  • Germany’s chief of defense, General Carsten Breuer, recently warned that Russia could be in a position to “launch a large-scale attack against NATO territory” as early as 2029

BERLIN: Germany’s armed forces have three years to acquire the equipment to tackle a possible Russian attack on NATO territory, the head of military procurement said Saturday.
Defense spending has risen up the political agenda since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and more recently with the United States pushing NATO members to increase their commitments.
“Everything necessary to be fully prepared to defend the country must be acquired by 2028,” Annette Lehnigk-Emden, head of the Federal Office for Military Procurement, told the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
Germany’s chief of defense, General Carsten Breuer, recently warned that Russia could be in a position to “launch a large-scale attack against NATO territory” as early as 2029.
He said there was a Russian build-up of ammunition and tanks for a possible attack on NATO’s Baltic members.
Lehnigk-Emden said that Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s new government was enabling the upgrade by allocating hundreds of billions of euros for defense.
She said the priority would be for heavy equipment such as Skyranger anti-aircraft tanks.
Merz has made rearmament a priority of his coalition government to make German forces “the most powerful conventional army in Europe.”
Rearmament had already begun under the previous government of Olaf Scholz after Russia launched its war in Ukraine.
And US President Donald Trump has raised the stakes further this year by pushing NATO members to increase their defense spending to five percent of GDP from the current level of two percent.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Thursday that 50,000 to 60,000 new soldiers would be needed in the coming years to meet the increased NATO defense needs.
Last year, the army had more than 180,000 soldiers and set a goal of exceeding 203,000 by 2031.
Germany is meanwhile looking to speed up the establishment of shelters where the population could find refuge in the event of conflict, according to the president of the German Federal Office for Civil Protection, Ralph Tiesler.
At the end of last year, the authorities began to catalogue tunnels, subway stations, underground carparks and cellars of public buildings that could be converted into bunkers.
“We are going to create one million shelter places as quickly as possible,” Tiesler told the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, indicating that a plan to this effect would be presented this summer.

 


Turkiye rally for 2-1 win in friendly against US, who lose 3rd straight under Pochettino

Turkiye rally for 2-1 win in friendly against US, who lose 3rd straight under Pochettino
Updated 27 min 58 sec ago
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Turkiye rally for 2-1 win in friendly against US, who lose 3rd straight under Pochettino

Turkiye rally for 2-1 win in friendly against US, who lose 3rd straight under Pochettino
  • With a year to go before co-hosting the World Cup, the US play Switzerland on Tuesday at Nashville, Tennessee, in another friendly, then open the CONCACAF Gold Cup against Trinidad and Tobago on June 15
  • Preparing for the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign in September, Turkiye have six wins, one loss and one draw in their last eight games

EAST HARTFORD, Connecticut: Turkiye took advantage of a sloppy defense to beat the US 2-1 in a rainy friendly on Saturday, dealing the Americans their third straight loss as Arda Guler and Kerem Akturkoglu scored in a 2-minute, 20-second span midway through the first half.

Jack McGlynn scored 59 seconds in for the US, who were missing many regulars as coach Mauricio Pochettino revamped his roster following a dismal performance at the CONCACAF Nations League final four in March.

With a year to go before co-hosting the World Cup, the US play Switzerland on Tuesday at Nashville, Tennessee, in another friendly, then open the CONCACAF Gold Cup against Trinidad and Tobago on June 15.

The Americans dropped to 5-4 under Pochettino, who took over after first-round elimination last year’s Copa America led the US Soccer Federation to fire coach Gregg Berhalter. They have lost three straight for the second time in a year.

Pochettino changed eight starters from the Nations League loss to Canada in March, keeping only left back Max Arfsten, winger Diego Luna and forward Patrick Agyemang.

Defender Alex Freeman, a 20-year-old son of former NFL All-Pro receiver Antonio Freeman, started in his US debut. Matt Freese, a starter at Major League Soccer’s New York City, made his debut in goal. Matt Turner, the usual starter since 2022, didn’t play for Crystal Palace after March 1.

McGlynn scored when he ran onto a pass from Malik Tilman, took several touches, cut inside and curled a left-footed shot from just outside the penalty area inside the far post for his second goal in five international appearances. It was the earliest US goal since Shaq Moore scored 20 seconds in against Canada during the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Turkiye tied it in the 24th minute when Freese tapped the ball to Johnny Cardoso, whose pass ricocheted off a leg and past Freese for Guler’s fifth international goal.

Then in the 27th, Miles Robinson tried to clear Oguz Aydın’s shot and the ball went to Akturkoglu, who one-timed a bouncing shot past Freese for his 12th international goal and sixth in eight games.

Turkiye goalkeeper Berke Ozer also made his international debut. Preparing for the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign in September, Turkiye have six wins, one loss and one draw in their last eight games.


DR Congo, Burundi thwart Rwanda on regional bloc presidency

DR Congo, Burundi thwart Rwanda on regional bloc presidency
Updated 30 min 44 sec ago
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DR Congo, Burundi thwart Rwanda on regional bloc presidency

DR Congo, Burundi thwart Rwanda on regional bloc presidency
  • Presidency of the 11-nation ECCAS had been due to pass to Kigali
  • Rwanda is accused of helping M23 rebels fighting DR Congo government

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea: Rwanda was blocked Saturday from taking the rotating presidency of the central African economic bloc because of the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The presidency of the 11-nation Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) had been due to pass to Kigali, but at a heads of state and government meeting, DR Congo and Burundi objected.
“The conference postponed to another time the transfer of the rotating acting presidency of the community to the Republic of Rwanda and consequently decided to keep His Excellency Obiang Nguema Mbasogo as acting president of the community for an additional year,” a communique said.
One ECCAS official described the atmosphere between Rwanda and DR Congo’s representatives at the meeting in Equatorial Guinea’s capital Malabo as “tense.”
The Congolese contingent said “if Rwanda took the presidency, they would not be able to travel to Rwanda for community activities or events,” the official added on condition of anonymity.
“Burundi is also on the same path.”
Diplomatic ties between Kinshasa and Kigali are fraught, with the Congolese government accusing Rwanda of supporting the M23 armed group that has taken swathes of territory in the mineral-rich eastern DRC since the start of the year.
Neighbouring Burundi has sent more than 10,000 soldiers since 2023 to help the Congolese army fight the M23 and other armed groups operating in the conflict-wracked region.
On Thursday, Qatari mediators presented the DRC government and the M23 group “a peace proposal” to end the conflict, a source with knowledge of the talks told AFP.


Manassero, Fox share PGA Canadian Open lead with plenty in pursuit

Manassero, Fox share PGA Canadian Open lead with plenty in pursuit
Updated 34 min 33 sec ago
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Manassero, Fox share PGA Canadian Open lead with plenty in pursuit

Manassero, Fox share PGA Canadian Open lead with plenty in pursuit
  • Manassero, a five-time winner on the DP World Tour, is seeking his first US tour title

MONTREAL: Italian veteran Matteo Manassero was poised to challenge for his first US PGA Tour title after conjuring seven birdies in a six-under par 64 to share the 54-hole lead at the Canadian Open with New Zealand’s Ryan Fox.
Fox also fired seven birdies and a bogey at TPC Toronto Osprey Valley, their 14-under par total of 196 putting the leaders one stroke clear atop a congested leaderboard, with 22 more players within four strokes of the lead.
On a day when as many as 11 players shared the lead at one point, Manassero was the first to reach 14-under with his sixth birdie of the day at the 15th.
He bogeyed 17, where he was in the left rough off the tee and missed a four-footer to save par, but he birdied the par-five 18th.
“It was a really good round,” Manassero said. “I missed the short one on 17, and I did miss a couple more short ones today. I try to think of them just like a shot really, like a driver, like a six-iron, whatever. It’s just a shot.
“It wasn’t that hard for me to stay focused into what I was doing and not ruining (it) at the end.”
Manassero, a five-time winner on the DP World Tour, is seeking his first US tour title. The 32-year-old Italian has revived his career after briefly walking away from the game in the midst of a prolonged slump. He claimed his first DP World Tour victory in more than a decade in March of 2024.
“It’s definitely made me more mature and much better perspective toward golf, which at one point was everything,” he said of the ups and downs of his career. “I have a better perspective toward, for example, a day like tomorrow.”
Fox, 38, is aiming to build off his first US PGA Tour title, captured in a playoff at the Myrtle Beach Classic last month.
He launched his round with three straight birdies and had five on the front nine, bouncing back from a bogey at 11 — where he was in the water — with birdies at 12 and 18.
“To be honest, everything went pretty right,” Fox said. “I drove it great. I think, if you do that round here, you give yourself lots of chances.
“Had a lot of good wedge shots, holed a few putts early. Just played really solid kind of stress-free golf for the most part.”
Americans Lee Hodges and Mat McCarty and Taiwan’s Kevin Yu were tied for third on 13-under 197.
Hodges bookended his seven-under 63 with eagles at the first and 18th, with three birdies in between.
Yu had eight birdies and a bogey in his 63 while McCarty had seven birdies in his 64.
Canadian Mackenzie Hughes and Americans Jake Knapp and Andrew Putnam were tied on 12-under, one stroke clear of a group of seven players on 11-under 199.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry headlined a group of nine players on 200.
Fox said his victory last month had him feeling “more comfortable in my own shoes,” but he with so many within striking distance he said that Sunday promised to be a shoot-out.
“Obviously there’s a lot of good players behind me,” he said. “I feel like it’s going to take a pretty low (score) to get the job done.”


Immigration authorities extend activity in Los Angeles area amid street protests

Immigration authorities extend activity in Los Angeles area amid street protests
Updated 08 June 2025
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Immigration authorities extend activity in Los Angeles area amid street protests

Immigration authorities extend activity in Los Angeles area amid street protests
  • One hand-held sign said, “No Human Being is Illegal.”

LOS ANGELES: US immigration authorities extended activity in Los Angeles area on Saturday in the wake of protests at an federal detention facility and a police response that included tear gas, flash-bangs and the arrest of a union leader.
Border Patrol personnel in riot gear and gas masks stood guard outside an industrial park in the city of Paramount, deploying tear gas as bystanders and protesters gathered on medians and across the street, some jeering at authorities while recording the events on smartphones.
“ICE out of Paramount. We see you for what you are,” a woman announced through a megaphone. “You are not welcome here.”
One hand-held sign said, “No Human Being is Illegal.”
The boulevard was closed to traffic as US Border Patrol circulated through the area. ICE representatives did not respond immediately to email inquiries about weekend enforcement activities.
Arrests by immigration authorities in Los Angeles come as President Donald Trump and his administration push to fulfill promises to carry out mass deportations across the country.
On Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested more than 40 people as they executed search warrants at multiple locations, including outside a clothing warehouse where a tense scene unfolded as a crowd tried to block agents from driving away.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the activity was meant to “sow terror” in the nation’s second-largest city.
In a statement on Saturday, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons chided Bass for the city’s response to protests.
“Mayor Bass took the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement,” Lyons said in a statement. “Make no mistake, ICE will continue to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and arrest criminal illegal aliens.”
Protesters gathered Friday evening outside a federal detention center in Los Angeles where lawyers said those arrested had been taken, chanting “set them free, let them stay!”
Other protesters held signs that said “ICE out of LA!” and led chants and shouted from megaphones. Some scrawled graffiti on the building facade.
Federal agents executed search warrants at three locations, including a warehouse in the fashion district of Los Angeles, after a judge found there was probable cause the employer was using fictitious documents for some of its workers, according to representatives for Homeland Security Investigations and the US Attorney’s Office.
Advocates for immigrant rights say people were detained Friday by immigration authorities outside Home Depot stores and a doughnut shop.