President Joe Biden announced this Saturday in a statement that he will authorize the deployment of “approximately 5,000 troops to Afghanistan to ensure that we can have an orderly and safe reduction of US and other allied personnel and a safe and orderly evacuation of Afghans. who assisted our troops during their mission, as well as those in particular danger from the advance of the Taliban. "
The announcement comes as Biden seeks to
end the US presence in Afghanistan after more than 20 years of war.
“I was the fourth president to command the presence of American troops in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats.
This war would not and will not pass to a fifth Administration ”, declared Biden in the statement, in which he also assured that measures will be taken to prevent the Middle Eastern nation from becoming a headquarters for terrorist operations against States. United.
[The Taliban advance and take two major cities in Afghanistan as the US withdraws from the country]
The arrival of new contingents of Marine Corps to Kabul, the Afghan capital, this Saturday puts to the test the calendar for the withdrawal of the 2,500 troops that were already in the country, whose departure date was set by the Biden Administration for the August 31st.
The United States has already begun the evacuation of the embassy in Kabul
, in the face of the advance of the Taliban fighters, who have taken over most of the country's provincial capitals, including recently the cultural and commercial centers of Kandahar and Herat.
A man sold Taliban flags in Afghanistan's Herat province on Aug. 14, 2021. AP
A Taliban spokesperson told Noticias Telemundo's sister network NBC News that the group was aware of the US deployment, but will only act against those forces if there is any provocation.
It did not specify if the advance on the capital will be stopped while evacuations are carried out.
In another part of the north of the country, Gul Rahman Hamdard, a legislator from Balkh province, confirmed to NBC News that
all of its cities, including the capital, Mazar-e-Sharif, were under Taliban control.
Meanwhile, the President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, tried to reassure the population in a short and vague television speech that was broadcast in the early hours of Saturday.
[The unstoppable advance of the Taliban corners the last Americans in Afghanistan and forces the Pentagon to act]
He said talks with local leaders and the international community were underway and that he still had hopes of being able to
"stop the war imposed on the Afghan people, so that no more people die."
"I know that everyone is concerned about their present and their future," he said.
"I, as your president, assure you that [my goal] is to reduce violence and stop the migration of people."
However, a Taliban commander told NBC News that
the militant group will soon "conquer and liberate Kabul."
[US Government Expands Afghan Refugee Program]
He added that it will be "as simple" as the recent capture of the key cities of Kandahar and Herat, which so far are the greatest achievements of the Taliban's military campaign.
The war in Afghanistan "is an absolute failure", says a veteran before the new advance of the Taliban
Aug. 12, 202101: 42
"When they take Kabul, they will have the whole country,"
said Bruce Jentleson, professor of public policy and political science at Duke University.
Jentleson, who served as senior adviser to the State Department's Director of Policy Planning under the Obama Administration, believes the Taliban will be able to take over the city "very soon."
["Time to end America's longest war": Biden announces total troop withdrawal from Afghanistan]
"That is why we are evacuating Kabul," he said, adding that he thought the rapid advances of the Taliban had "surprised" the government of President Joe Biden, although he does not believe that "the lesson of this situation is that (the troops Americans) had to stay longer ”.
"When you give a country twenty years and hundreds of billions of dollars and American lives ... it's a pretty strong commitment, but
if it doesn't work, there comes a time when you end it,
" he said.
Earlier this week, Biden said he has no regrets about his decision to go ahead with the US withdrawal.
[The US Army leaves the main air base in Afghanistan, after almost 20 years]
"Afghan leaders have to come together," he told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
“We had thousands of deaths and injuries, thousands of American personnel employees.
They have to fight for themselves, fight for their nation,
”he added.
Biden announces that US troops will leave Afghanistan on August 31
July 9, 202100: 26
According to Biden, the United States has spent $ 1 trillion to train and equip Afghan forces, in addition to
2,448 Americans have been killed and some 20,722 injured in the fighting.
The United Nations claims that more than 100,000 civilians have been killed or injured since 2009.
Now, as the Taliban move closer to Kabul, those multi-billion dollar efforts appear to have failed.
And many Afghans who gambled on that vast nation-building experiment could be the biggest losers.
["He never thought it would be our last photo." But a bomb killed this young Hispanic in Afghanistan]
Large investments and few results
Although Biden has said that the United States did not go to Afghanistan to "build a nation," the 38-nation NATO alliance and the billions of dollars invested tried to do just that.
Of the $ 144.98 billion that the United States has spent since 2002 for reconstruction and activities focused on advancing Afghanistan
, about $ 36.29 billion went to governance and development
, according to the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar , for its acronym in English), which is the body that has documented the management of the billions of dollars destined for that country, as well as the excesses and corruption in the management of those funds.
For example, the US Agency for International Development
invested 71 million in Afghan media alone.
[Biden announces that the US will leave Afghanistan on August 31 despite the risk of civil war and the resurgence of the Taliban]
When George W. Bush declared the "war on terrorism" after the attacks of September 11, 2001, he also indicated that
humanitarian aid was key to winning the fight.
Ultimately, one of the best weapons, one of the true weapons we have against terrorism is to show the world the true strength of character and goodness of the American people.
Americans are united in this fight against terrorism, ”he said.
"
We are also united in our concern for the innocent people of Afghanistan," he
added.
But that "goodness" has not been consolidated.
Taliban continue to gain ground in Afghanistan as US troops withdraw
Aug. 8, 202100: 32
According to Sigar data, while all of those investments helped many Afghans, they also enriched the security forces and government officials.
[A senior US commander in Afghanistan will resign on Monday, marking a symbolic end to 20 years of war]
And, in part, they reinforced
the vast corruption and inefficiency of the Afghan government,
while the austere and harsh Taliban leadership has made steady progress over the years, establishing parallel governments across the country and recruiting fighters.
With the rise in violence from the Taliban, voter turnout has declined over the years, and it raises a question: Was the desire for Western-style democracy and personal freedom perhaps not as widespread as Americans hoped? ?
Yet prominent journalists, intellectuals, activists and women - and all those who believed that Afghanistan could establish a Western democracy -
are in mortal danger
.
For months, an assassination campaign has targeted prominent figures that the Taliban consider to be liberals or Westerners.
With information and analysis from NBC News