The US has failed in every possible aspect of its Afghan mission

It seems unlikely that the Afghan security forces – trained and equipped by Washington – will triumph against the ongoing Taliban onslaught, meaning US involvement there is a failure, writes Dr Jacqueline Fitzgibbon

Supporters of the Taliban carrying the Taliban's signature white flags in the Afghan-Pakistan border town of Chaman, Pakistan, on Wednesday. The Taliban are pressing on with their surge in Afghanistan, saying that they seized Spin Boldaka, a strategic border crossing with Pakistan — the latest in a series of key border post to come under their control in recent weeks. Photo: AP/Tariq Achkzai

On 8 July, President Joe Biden announced that the US military mission in Afghanistan would end by 31 August just over a week before the 20th anniversary of 9/11. In his remarks, Biden contended that the ‘military mission hasn’t failed, yet’. 

However, it’s hard to assess the US involvement in its longest running war ever as anything other than a failure given it’s unlikely that the Afghan security forces – trained and equipped by Washington – will triumph against the ongoing Taliban onslaught.