Biden Announces September 11 Deadline To Withdraw All U.S. Troops From Afghanistan

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that the United States will withdraw all combat troops in Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Biden’s announcement was met with unanimous action from all members of NATO.

The United States has been weary to fully withdraw from Afghanistan due to fears that the Taliban could overpower the country’s U.S.-backed government in Kabul. The U.S. intelligence community has since assured that a withdrawal is possible, which lead to Biden’s decision.

United States secretaries of state and defense have since met with relevant parties at the NATO headquarters in Brussels to coordinate “a safe, deliberate and coordinated withdrawal of our forces from Afghanistan,” according to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken who spoke on the meetings Wednesday.

Of the nearly 10,000 combat troops in Afghanistan today, about one-fourth are American, while Germany hosts the second most populous garrison. German defense minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said on German television Wednesday that, “I am for an orderly withdrawal, and that is why I assume that we will agree to that today.”