Afghan war vets blast Biden’s humiliating exit from nation and decision to leave nation to the Taliban after 20 years of conflict sparked by 9/11
- U.S. war veterans criticized government’s decision to withdraw troops as a resurgent Taliban capturesĀ half of Afghanistan’s 32 provincial capitalsĀ
- ‘We knew that this would happen,’ says vet John Whalen, of ArizonaĀ
- Vets recount friends who died in the war, adding that they all fought to protect the Afghan people from the TalibanĀ
- President Joe Biden followed through on a Donald Trump pledge and formally withdrew all troops by August 31
- The last major city in the north, Mazar-e-Sharif, is currently under attack
- Ā Taliban continue to sweep eastwards towards Kabul, where the U.S. embassy is
US veterans of the war inĀ AfghanistanĀ have expressed their anger and frustration over the government’s decision to pull out of the 20-year war as the Taliban continues to conquer city after city.
Tom Amenta, 40, a U.S. Army veteran and Chicago native, toldĀ The Washington PostĀ that he got angry as he caught the latest headlines on Thursday, describing the Taliban’s take over of Kandahar and Herat and the crumbling of the Afghan government, all in the final days of the U.S. withdrawal.
Amenta, who plans to publish a book on his interviews with nearly six dozen veterans next month, recalled the death of his friend, Jay Blessing, who was killed by an improvised bomb in 2003.
‘I mean, why did my friend get blown up? For what?’ said Amenta.
‘[Afghanistan] has never had a clean solution. But now that it’s gotten hard, we’re just going to bounce? It doesn’t make it right.’
The U.S. has lost about 2,300 soldiers in Afghanistan, the most out of the four dozen countries who deployed troops there, apart from Afghanistan itself.
Amenta’s anger not only stemmed from the death of friends – like Blessing and NFL star Patrick Tillman – but also from the U.S. government’s decision to leave Afghanistan during such a tumultuous period.