September 6, 2026—Five years after the dramatic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the repressive Taliban regime remains in control, even as it is still unrecognized by a majority of countries. Nearly half the population is dependent on humanitarian aid. Humanitarian Action calculates that is 21.9 million. Also, more than 5 million Afghans who lived in neighboring countries have been forced to return. What’s more, Afghanistan and Pakistan are at war.
The Aftermath of the U.S. Withdrawal
The United States spent 20 years fighting in Afghanistan, often asserting a strategy of nation-building while the underlying strategic goals went undefined. Scores of civilians were killed during the two-decade war. By some estimates, roughly 46,000 civilians were killed by crossfire, mostly by the Taliban and other militant groups. The U.S. military lost over 2,000 service members and spent roughly $2.3 trillion on the war, veterans’ care, nation-building, and interest on the debt.
President Donald Trump has called the U.S. withdrawal under the Biden administration as “the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country.” However, Trump established the timeline for removing U.S. and NATO forces and conditions for turning over power to the repressive regime. Trump negotiated directly with the Taliban, known formally as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, excluding Afghan government.
The U.S. government promised to draw down troops over a 135-day period and completely exit within nine and a half months. In exchange for the withdrawal of foreign troops, the Taliban promised “that Afghan soil will not be used against the security of the United States and its allies.” They also promised intra-Afghan negotiations.
Full-Text Document of the 2020 Trump-Taliban Agreement
Disastrous Withdrawal
A year and a half later, the world witnessed the disastrous consequences of the 20-year war and U.S. withdrawal. It resulted in one of the worst humanitarian crises of the year. During the U.S. evacuation at Kabul airport, Afghans desperately tried to cling to the airplane to escape. Then, on August 26, 2021, a suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. service members and over 170 Afghan civilians.
The Taliban carried out targeted killings of the Afghan military, policy, and government that had worked with the U.S. military. They implemented strict work restrictions on women, barred girls from secondary schools, and imposed a strict Islamic law of the land. Women are barred from speaking publicly or using their voices to sing, and they must wear thick face and body coverings and must be accompanied by a male if they leave home.
President Joe Biden defended his decision to complete the withdraw of U.S. troops from war-torn Afghanistan, saying the agreement made it preordained.
The Impact
Since retaking power, the Taliban have carried out brutal punishments, such as public floggings, amputations, and executions, against over a thousand people. Furthermore, the government treats minorities who are not part of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam as herectics, subject to death. Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai remains in the country but lives under a strictly imposed house arrest.
Geopolitically, the impact harmed the U.S. standing in the world. Europe began to turn inward to set its foreign policy goals. President of the European Council Charles Michel, said the “chaotic withdraw from Afghanistan” forces European leaders to “reduce our dependencies and strengthen our strategic autonomy.”
Today, Critical Minerals for Sale
It resulted in a failure for the United States. The U.S. effort there was plagued by a lack of strategy from the beginning. U.S. Defense leaders wandered dangerously into the territory of nation-building without a clear plan for winning the war.
The Taliban has reportedly made deals for $7 billion in mining agreements for its critical minerals. The land is thought to be rich in copper, iron ore, lithium, gold, and other rare-earth minerals. Since the Taliban regained power, they have sought contracts for the minerals to finance their own sources of capital. There’s no indication, however, how the government contracts would work and if resources would reach the population in famine.
Today’s Taliban is inviting U.S. investors to make similar deals in exchange for money, the release of frozen assets, and relief from sanctions. In an interview with the Financial Times, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said he is in talks with governments for cooperation agreements. “Our economic policy is open,” he told the FT.
United Nations officials, meanwhile, advise against meeting with the Taliban “without demonstrated, measurable progress against human rights benchmarks, particularly for women and girls.”
