Hegseth demands information: Afghanistan deduction marked dark hour

Hegseth demands information: Afghanistan deduction marked dark hour

Kabul, Afghanistan - On May 20, 2025, US defense minister Pete Hegseth ordered a comprehensive examination of the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan under President Joe Biden. The aim of this review is to account for those responsible and to offer the Americans a complete picture of what is happening. Hegseth described the deduction as "catastrophic and embarrassing", which ultimately led to the death of 13 soldiers and 170 civilians in a suicide bombard at the Kabul Airport in August 2021. He described this incident as one of the darkest in the history of US operations abroad, which underlines the explosiveness of his arrangement.

Hegseth has commissioned his consultant Sean Parnell, also an Afghanistan veteran, to check the existing test results. Some analyzes of the withdrawal were previously carried out by the US military, the Foreign Ministry and Republicans in the House of Representatives. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how Hegseth's Initiative will differ from these previous reviews. At the same time, Donald Trump reported in March the arrest of a alleged mastermind of the assassin, which was caught with the support of Pakistan.

The role of the IS-K

The arrested suspect, with the combat name "Jafar", is a member of the Islamic State jihadist militia in Afghanistan and Pakistan (IS-K). This incident is particularly important because the assassination attempt took place during the evacuation of citizens and local forces from Afghanistan, which underlines the chaotic situation that had occurred after the NATO troops' abrupt deduction. The NATO-led deployment in Afghanistan ended in August 2021 after around 18 years, whereupon Kabul quickly fell under the control of the Taliban.

chronology of NATO use

NATO use in Afghanistan began in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 when ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) was launched. The operation initially led to the fall of the Taliban regime and set the framework for a transitional government. The aim was to build national security structures and to train Afghan security forces to combat terrorism.

The ISAF mission, which is considered the largest NATO operation, bundled over 130,000 soldiers from 51 nations. While the mission officially ended on December 31, 2014, the Resolute Support Mission, which lasted until September 2021, followed. But during this time the Taliban increasingly built influence in the country, which ultimately culminated in returning to its rule.

The continued discussion about the withdrawal of troops shows the complex consequences of the long-term commitment of the United States and its NATO partner in Afghanistan. Hegseth's announced investigation will have a decisive influence on the perception of political responsibility and the teachings from this conflict -rich chapter in American military history.