Afghanistan’s Collapse and the Future of Counternarcotics
By the autumn of 2021, the Taliban took complete control of Afghanistan as the government of Ashraf Ghani collapsed. This unfortunate series of events began with the signing of the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan on February 29, 2020. In this agreement, the Trump administration agreed to pull all US troops out of Afghanistan by May 2021 if the Taliban agreed to a ceasefire with the Afghan government and to stop international terrorist groups like al-Qaeda from plotting attacks on the West from within the country.
The US began steadily lowering their troop presence after signing the peace agreement. Surprisingly, the foreign policies of the Trump and Biden administrations aligned on this matter. President Biden announced on April 14, 2021 the intent to pull all US forces out of Afghanistan by…
