The Taliban, one of Afghanistan’s rulers, is being considered a “foreign terrorist organization,” according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio asserted to the House Foreign Affairs Committee that “classification is now, once again, under review,” during a hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
A day after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mandated a “comprehensive review” of the US’s chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, an ISIL (ISIS) bombing that claimed the lives of 13 US service members and 150 Afghans, was carried out at Kabul’s airport.
Hegseth stated in a memo on Tuesday that a thorough review was required to establish accountability for this event after three months of evaluating the withdrawal.
According to Hegseth, “This is a significant step toward restoring faith and trust with the American people and all those who wear the uniform,” and it is prudent to do so given the number of casualties and items lost in the course of this withdrawal operation.
The first Donald Trump administration’s administration, which oversaw the pull-out, largely blamed a lack of planning and troop reductions for the delay in the withdrawal of US forces, according to former president Joe Biden’s administration, which oversaw the pull-out.
Trump and the Taliban had agreed to end their 18-year conflict in Afghanistan by resuming the “within months” withdrawal plan in Doha in February 2020.
If the Taliban struck a peace deal with the Afghan government and made a promise to stop internationally recognized terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda and ISIL from establishing foothold there by May 2021, the then-Trump administration had agreed to leave the country.
Biden stated in his January 2021 assuring that he must uphold the agreement or run the risk of starting new conflicts with the Taliban, which might have required the deployment of additional troops in Afghanistan.
Trump frequently criticized Biden and his administration for the withdrawal, claiming that it was “the most embarrassing day in our country’s life.” Trump claimed that “dignity, strength, and power” should have been used to force the withdrawal.
Former US military leaders Mark Milley and Lloyd Austin, both of whom served as defense secretary at the time, have already testified before lawmakers regarding the withdrawal.
The US’s longest war, surpassing Vietnam, occurred in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021.
Hegseth’s review is still unsure in what ways it would differ from the numerous previous investigations conducted by the US military, the Department of State, and Trump’s fellow Republican members in the House of Representatives.
Source: Aljazeera
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