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NATO Winds Down Afghan Military Mission
- By The Financial District
- Jul 19, 2021
- 2 min read
NATO has quietly wound down its military mission in Afghanistan after almost two decades, sources told Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa), as fears of civil war in the country grow, Ansgar Haase, Ella Joyner and Hesamuddin Hesam reported.
Foreign troops still in the country - like those from the United States and Turkey - are solely under the control of their national chains of command, dpa learned on Friday from several diplomatic and military sources.
This means the bloodiest military mission in the history of the alliance has effectively drawn to a close. Most NATO-country soldiers have left Afghanistan in recent months, prompted by a US decision earlier this year to remove its troops.
NATO spokesperson Piers Cazalet said on Friday however that the mission was still operational, and would only be officially terminated in the coming months with the approval of the alliance members.
The US invaded Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on its territory. Washington had triggered NATO's mutual defense clause for the first time ever, and allies soon followed them into the country.
NATO led the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission there between 2003 and 2014. At the peak, some 130,000 foreign troops were in Afghanistan, many involved in combat against the Taliban. NATO's successor mission, Resolute Support, began in 2015 and focused on training and supporting Afghan security forces.
Over the last two decades, the international community poured billions of dollars in aid and security assistance to rebuild Afghanistan and establish a new democratic government and armed forces.
The underlying aim was to stop Afghanistan serving as a safe haven for those planning attacks on Western nations. But with the war having descended into a now years-long stalemate, public patience in NATO countries has been wearing thin.
In April, shortly after US President Joe Biden took office, he ordered the unconditional withdrawal of all US troops by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the US.
