American forces leave Kabul
The early stages of a deployment and the drawing down of forces are always the most dangerous times in a war. Hostile forces try to take advantage of the chaos as IS-K did yesterday. Thousands of Afghan civilian men, women and children with or without require papers mix in with U.S. military and civilians who wait in ninety degree weather while armed Taliban soldiers hover nearby. Meanwhile, the checkpoints at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul become chokepoints and easy targets for IS-K forces and another hostile attack appears imminent. Please pray for the safe return of our forces from Kabul.
American forces first entered Afghanistan in 2001 in an attempt to arrest Osama bin-Laden and to search and destroy al-Qaida. This required toppling the Taliban regime. However, the persistence of the Taliban and the tribal fighting kept the U.S. and British forces constantly engaged and frustrated any attempts at nation building. Eventually NATO troops deployed to Afghanistant, but this country, known as the “Graveyard of Empires” proved too difficult and costly to conquer.
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Photo credit: Air Force Senior Airman Taylor Crul
Feature photo: Soldiers from Task Force Stalwart, composed of soldiers from 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, pose for a group photo in Afghanistan. Army and Marine Corps officials stressed to lawmakers April 18 the urgency in modernizing ground forces amid an increasingly challenging security environment. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jasmine L. Flowers