On Sunday, Septemer 10, reports surfaced detailing the humiliation the US soldiers had to endure before they were allowed to leave Kabul in August 2021 when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. According to the reports, before being permitted to depart Kabul, US Marines were told to clean up human feces and other repulsive trash at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in order to leave it spotless for the Taliban.
The story of the humiliation faced by US soldiers has been chronicled in a newly published book titled, “Kabul: The Untold Story of Biden’s Fiasco and the American Warriors Who Fought to the End.”
According to media reports, the incident occurred after two blasts caused by ISIS suicide bombers between the Abbey gate of the Kabul airport and the Barron Hotel on August 26, 2021, cost the USA the lives of 13 soldiers.
On August 28, two days after the 13 American service members were killed during Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, more than 120,000 Afghans had camped at the Kabul airport for a week, “defecating and leaving trash, bags, clothes, and other unspeakable things.” The US Marines were then ordered to clean the human excreta of these thousands of Afghans before they could go back to the USA.
“The Marines of 2/1 were certain that the order had come from higher headquarters because their battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Brad Whited, joined them in the cleanup effort and was as visibly displeased as they were,” the book read.
The authors Jerry Dunleavy and James Hasson quoted a junion Marine as telling them that the order to clean “came with a threat that we would not leave at all if it was not completed,” one junior Marine told authors Jerry Dunleavy and James Hasson.
“It was degrading and ridiculous. We took a lot of casualties and put a lot of effort into that mission and to close it out that way was wrong. Morale was really down at that point, and it was an extremely pointless effort,” the US soldier added.
The remaining Marines finally left the country on August 29, a few minutes after midnight, after clearing away heaps of garbage, dung, and partially consumed food in order to make way for the Taliban.
Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan
In August 2021, Taliban’s tookover of Afghanistan, two decades after being removed from power by a US-led military coalition. The Taliban offensive in Afghanistan had resulted in a massive humanitarian disaster with many Afghans fleeing the country to escape the Taliban’s rule.
During the 2021 Taliban offensive, the United States of America had come under severe criticism with several blaming the US troop pullout for the instability that was caused in Afghanistan.
The US military withdrawal and evacuation of US and allied officials, citizens and Afghans at risk of Taliban retribution saw crowds of desperate Afghans trying to enter Kabul airport and men clinging to aircraft as they taxied down runways. An ISIS suicide bomber killed 13 US service members and more than 150 Afghans outside an airport gate.
Some 125,000 people, including nearly 6,000 Americans, were flown out of Kabul before the last US soldiers departed on 30 August 2021, as the Taliban consolidated their grip on Kabul after the US-backed government fled.
The colossal failure: US Troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021
It is important to note that a recent US State Department report held both Trump and Biden administrations responsible for the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, back in 2021.
The report criticised the handling of the 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan by both the Biden and Trump administrations. It noted that the troop withdrawal had “serious consequences for the viability” and security of the former U.S.-backed Ashraf Ghani government in Afghanistan.
Without explicitly mentioning his name, the report also reflected adversely on the Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
The report read, “Naming a 7th-floor principal … would have improved coordination across different lines of effort.”
It is important to note here that the seven floor has offices of the State Department including that of Blinken and other senior diplomats have offices.
