US allies fear ‘retaliatory attacks’ after Joe Biden sets Afghanistan withdrawal date
Troops to leave on 11 September, prompting Taliban to declare victory

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
US allies fear that Joe Biden’s decision to renege on Donald Trump’s date for withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan could lead to a wave of Taliban attacks on Nato military and diplomatic personnel.
In a speech yesterday, Biden said that it was “time to end America’s longest war”, announcing that US troops would “come home” on 11 September 2021, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
A meeting of the North Atlantic Council at Nato’s Brussels headquarters saw a “tense” discussion of Biden’s plans, Politico reports, with some allies voicing concerns over “retaliatory attacks”, as well as fears that it is “too early for an orderly withdrawal of troops”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Forever war
“We went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago,” Biden said yesterday. “That cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021.”
While Biden’s speech yesterday was heavy on symbolism, the speed with which he is planning to withdraw US troops came as a surprise to some Nato allies who “now have the majority of forces on the ground in Afghanistan”, Politico reports.
At the meeting in Brussels yesterday, attended in person by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, allied nations raised concerns about “contingency plans in the event emergency evacuations are needed” as they “only learned in very recent days of Biden’s decision”, the news site continues.
While the decision to push back the date agreed by Trump, 1 May, prompted concerns over potential retaliatons and difficulties in effectively withdrawing troops, the allies presented a united front in a Nato statement released after the meeting, saying that the removal of troops would be “orderly, coordinated, and deliberate”.
The decision to take troops out of the country comes amid “renewed regional and international support for political progress toward peace”, the statement added. “We welcome the Istanbul Conference as an opportunity to move the peace process forward and to reinforce the progress made” in power-sharing talks.
While the tone coming from the western powers is one of a job well done, the line emerging from within Afghanistan is markedly different. “The Taliban believe victory is theirs”, the BBC reports.
‘Return to barbarism’
Haji Hekmat is the Taliban’s shadow mayor in the northern Balkh district. While not officially in power in the region, the Islamist group runs a complex intelligence network and “asserts their authority through sporadic checkpoints along key roads”, the BBC reports.
“Perfumed and in a black turban”, Hekmat is a “veteran member of the group”, the broadcaster adds, joining the Taliban in 1990 when it ruled the majority of the country following the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989.
“We have won the war and America has lost”, Hekmat says. The Taliban is now “ready for anything. We are totally prepared for peace, and we are fully prepared for jihad.”
At a news conference yesterday, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the US and its allies, “standing shoulder to shoulder”, had “paid a high price in both blood and in treasure” during the occupation of Afghanistan. But behind the scenes, “many believe the two decades of losses were nothing to boast about”, Politico says.
The reality on the ground is that “the Taliban have outlasted western firepower over two decades of bloody conflict,” writes The Times’ south Asia correspondent Hugh Tomlinson. And now, with Biden confirming an “unconditional withdrawal”, the militants have also “outlasted the US at the negotiating table too”.
“For ordinary Afghans and their benighted country, shattered by 40 years of conflict, a new nightmare beckons”, Tomlinson adds. And with US troops soon to depart, “the terrifying spectre of another collapse into civil war” and a “return to barbarism” once again looms on the horizon.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs.
Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.
-
Should you fire your financial adviser? 4 signs it's time to say goodbye.
The Explainer Breakups are never fun, but you have to protect your wallet
By Becca Stanek Published
-
The daily gossip: Man arrested in connection with shooting of Tupac Shakur, an OceanGate movie is in the works, and more
Feature The daily gossip: September 29, 2023
By Brendan Morrow Published
-
What to expect from an El Niño winter
The Explainer Things might be different thanks to this well-known weather phenomenon
By Devika Rao Published
-
Cluster bomb controversy hangs over Biden’s ‘chilly’ visit to UK
Talking Point US cites military ‘expediency’ but allies warn bombs could lose Ukraine the ‘moral high ground’
By The Week Staff Published
-
Nato’s new plans to defend Europe from Putin
feature Most comprehensive shake-up of defence planning since end of Cold War will see 300,000 troops on stand-by
By The Week Staff Published
-
US-China talks: can Biden mend ties with Beijing?
Today's Big Question Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to use visit to ‘re-establish contact’ between world’s two largest economies
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Taliban’s ‘unprecedented’ crackdown on opium poppy crops in Afghanistan
feature Cultivation in former poppy-growing heartland Helmand has been slashed from 120,000 hectares to less than 1,000
By Julia O'Driscoll Published
-
‘Cold-war mentality’: Chinese defence minister Li Shangfu takes aim at US in first speech
feature Keynote address warns of intensifying arms race but says US-China conflict would be ‘unbearable disaster’
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Pentagon docs: America’s worst intelligence leak in a decade
feature Classified files reveal Ukrainian military vulnerabilities, penetration of Russian intelligence and information on US allies
By The Week Staff Published
-
How will Finland's entrance into NATO affect global relations?
Today's Big Question How the Nordic country's addition to NATO will affect the organization
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Finland to join NATO on Tuesday, doubling the alliance's border with Russia
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published