The Taliban Retake Kabul as US Forces Leave

On 15 August 2021, Taliban forces entered Kabul, bringing a swift close to the twenty-year conflict that began with their ouster in 2001. Months earlier, international observers and American intelligence assessments projected that the central government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan would hold the capital for several months or perhaps up to a year following foreign military disengagement. Instead, insurgent units rapidly swept across provincial centers after starting a comprehensive offensive in May 2021. By mid-August, the Afghan national army's command structure was largely shattered and most provincial capitals had fallen.

The collapse came so fast partly because of the agreement signed between the United States and the Taliban in Doha in February 2020. The pact arranged for the complete withdrawal of foreign forces in exchange for counterterrorism assurances. The deal was negotiated without the participation of the Afghan government, and afterward the United States sharply limited its airstrikes against the Taliban, according to the US watchdog for Afghan reconstruction. That loss of support, paired with a widespread belief that the Americans were abandoning the country, eroded the morale of government soldiers and accelerated local surrenders across multiple provinces.