With the complete withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the military operation known as "the longest war in American history" has ended.
However, the turmoil in Afghanistan, where the Taliban seized power, remains.
Why is America withdrawing?
And how do you deal with Afghanistan from now on?
Reporter Arioka of the Washington branch will explain.
Q What triggered the US military operation?
It is the terrorist attacks on the United States that occurred on September 11, 2001, 20 years ago.
The Bush administration at the time determined Osama bin Laden, who heads the international terrorist organization Al Qaeda, to be the mastermind of the case, and demanded that the Taliban administration in Afghanistan, which was hiding bin Laden, be handed over.
The Taliban refused to do so, so the Bush administration embarked on a military operation and destroyed the administration by conducting violent air strikes.
Q Why did the US military remain in Afghanistan after that?
This is to maintain security.
After the collapse of the former Taliban administration, some of the Taliban regained their power by hiding in the border area with neighboring Pakistan, and began to repeat terrorism and attacks.
The U.S. military has increased the size of its troops deployed locally, with 100,000 troops stationed at its peak.
After that, in response to the murder of bin Laden in 2011 and the voices of the US Congress calling for a reduction in war costs, the scale of local troops will be gradually reduced.
At the end of 2014, most of the international forces, centered on the US military, withdrew after completing combat missions, shifting the focus of their activities to training and support for Afghan government forces.
There was an idea that making Afghanistan a stable country would lead to counterterrorism.
Q Did President Biden decide to withdraw?
The withdrawal was the default route from the previous Obama and Trump administrations.
President Trump has signed a peace agreement with the Taliban that includes the complete withdrawal of US troops and others, and the Biden administration has announced that it will take over this policy and will withdraw at the end of August.
Q Why did you withdraw as planned in the turmoil?
President Biden explained that continuing to station troops would not be worth the burden on the United States.
The original goal of removing the threat of terrorism to the continental United States, such as the overthrow of the international terrorist organization Al Qaeda, has already been achieved.
Meanwhile, according to the US Department of Defense, 2461 US soldiers have died in Afghanistan since October 2001, when military operations began, and more than 20,000 have been injured.
It is also estimated that over $ 2 trillion has been spent in the last 20 years.
If you replace it per day, you will spend 300 million dollars every day, or about 33 billion yen in Japanese yen.
Under these circumstances, "war fatigue" has spread among the people, and the withdrawal policy itself is supported.
There is also the aim of focusing more on countering China, which continues to increase its presence.
Q What does the complete withdrawal of the US military mean?
"It's also the end of an era in which the United States conducts large-scale military operations to rebuild other countries," Biden said in a speech after the withdrawal was completed.
In other words, the complete withdrawal of the US military is a declaration that the United States will no longer be involved in foreign nation-building with a large amount of war expenses and personnel.
Q Will the United States not be involved in Afghanistan in the future?
The Biden administration will continue to be involved in protecting the lives and human rights of the turmoil of Afghanistan through diplomatic and financial support.
In addition, it will continue to support the evacuation of Americans who wish to escape abroad but are left in the field, and Afghan people who cooperated with the US military as interpreters.
However, the embassy of Kabul, the capital city, which was the base of diplomacy, was temporarily closed and moved overseas.
With no military or diplomats in Afghanistan, some are wondering how effective the response can be.
Q How do you deal with the Taliban, who has seized power?
The Biden administration has not stated that it "does not have to rush to make a decision" as to whether the Taliban's prospective administration will be approved as the official government of the country.
The Taliban has stated that it will work on the protection of women's human rights and security measures, but the United States has nailed this, saying, "The important thing is whether or not to do it."
The United States, while keeping pace with other countries such as European countries, used the approval from the international community that the Taliban wanted as a negotiation card, actually protected human rights such as women in Afghanistan, and cut off ties with terrorist organizations. , I would like to work toward the protection of security.
Q How do you deal with the regional organizations of the extremist organization IS?
Following the suicide bombing, the U.S. military announced in retaliation that it had killed two executives using an unmanned aerial vehicle, followed by an airstrike on a vehicle believed to have been loaded with explosives.
President Biden said he would continue to retaliate and emphasized that he would take strict measures.
It is possible to attack even if US soldiers are stationed in the field and do not engage in ground battles.
However, it is believed that civilians, including children, were involved in the airstrikes on the vehicles and died, leaving challenges.
With criticism that the United States has abandoned Afghanistan after leaving Afghanistan with confusion in the field, there is a lot of interest in whether the United States will take measures to restore trust in the future.