The Taliban have continued to seize territory in Afghanistan as the U.S. completes its withdrawal of ground troops from the country, with the militant group now controlling a majority of Afghanistan’s districts and a quarter of provincial capitals. The strength of the Taliban offensive in recent weeks has put the future of Afghanistan’s government in doubt. “This kind of a crisis was inevitable whenever the U.S. pulled out, whether it had been 10 years ago, 19 years ago or 10 years from now,” says foreign policy scholar Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. “This was rooted in the nature of the U.S. occupation that began in 2001.” Congressmember Ro Khanna calls American involvement in Afghanistan a “fool’s errand” that should have ended years earlier.
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