Five Years After the U.S.Withdrawal, Afghanistan Faces a Complex Postwar Reality

The Kabul Tribune— Five years ago, the last U.S. military aircraft left Kabul, ending nearly two decades of American military presence in Afghanistan and the longest war in U.S. history.

Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, was the last U.S. service member to board the final military flight from Hamid Karzai International Airport shortly before midnight on Aug. 30, 2021.

His departure brought an end to a war that began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but left behind a deeply contested legacy in both Afghanistan and the United States.

The withdrawal came after the Taliban seized Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, as the Afghan government and security forces rapidly collapsed. The U.S. military then carried out a massive evacuation from Kabul airport before completing its withdrawal two weeks later.

The final days of the evacuation were marked by a deadly Islamic State-Khorasan suicide bombing at Abbey Gate on Aug. 26, which killed 13 U.S. service members and scores of Afghan civilians.

According to the Pentagon, 2,461 U.S. military personnel died during the 20-year conflict and more than 20,000 were wounded. Hundreds of thousands of American troops served in Afghanistan during the war.

Afghanistan suffered far greater losses. Tens of thousands of Afghan civilians and members of the former security forces were killed during the conflict, along with Taliban fighters and members of other armed groups.

At the height of the U.S. military buildup under President Barack Obama, American troop levels reached about 100,000. The number was gradually reduced in subsequent years and stood at about 2,500 when Donald Trump left office in January 2021. President Joe Biden completed the withdrawal seven months later.

The withdrawal was rooted in the February 2020 Doha Agreement negotiated between the Taliban and the Trump administration. Under the agreement, the United States committed to withdrawing its forces, while the Taliban pledged, among other things, to prevent Afghan territory from being used by groups or individuals seeking to threaten the United States and its allies.

The agreement remains controversial. Former Afghan officials, political figures and analysts have argued that the deal weakened the former Afghan government and helped create conditions for its eventual collapse.

The New York Times, in its analysis of the war and its aftermath, has highlighted the broader consequences of the U.S. withdrawal, including the rapid collapse of the Afghan government, the difficult evacuation and the unresolved debate over whether Washington could have ended the conflict on better terms.

Biden defended the decision to withdraw, arguing that the United States had spent two decades and more than $2 trillion on a war that could not be resolved through continued military deployment. A subsequent White House review also put the cost of the U.S. effort at more than $2 trillion.

Five years later, the consequences of the withdrawal remain visible inside Afghanistan.

The Taliban have consolidated control over the country and remain largely isolated internationally. Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban government in July 2025, while several other countries have expanded diplomatic and economic engagement without formally recognizing the administration.

The Taliban’s return has also fundamentally changed the lives of Afghan women and girls. Girls remain barred from education beyond sixth grade, while women have been excluded from universities and face sweeping restrictions on employment, public life and movement.

The restrictions have drawn widespread international condemnation and remain among the main obstacles to the Taliban’s formal international recognition.

Inside Afghanistan, economic hardship, unemployment and restrictions on basic freedoms continue to shape daily life for millions of people. Critics of the U.S. withdrawal argue that the collapse of the former government reversed many of the gains made during the previous two decades, particularly in education, women's rights and civic participation.

Supporters of the withdrawal, however, have argued that maintaining a large U.S. military presence indefinitely was neither sustainable nor a viable solution to Afghanistan’s political and security problems.

The debate over the war’s final chapter continues five years after the last U.S. aircraft disappeared into the night sky over Kabul. For Afghans, however, the consequences of that departure remain part of everyday life under Taliban rule.