“President Biden on Saturday authorized the deployment of 5,000 troops to Afghanistan amid a U.S. pullout that has emboldened the Taliban to take over multiple cities,” reports NBC News. “‘I have authorized the deployment of approximately 5,000 US troops to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops during our mission and those at special risk from the Taliban advance,’ Biden said in a statement.”

“That amounts to 1,000 more military personnel than originally had been announced, a Defense official said Saturday. Biden and his administration have remained steadfast that it was time for the United States to continue to close the book on the 20-year war, and for Afghanistan to fight for itself. ‘Afghan leaders have to come together,’ he told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. ‘We lost thousands to death and injury, thousands of American personnel. They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation.'”

The rapid advance of Taliban forces as US troops have been withdrawn has led some to feel that the complete lack of will and initiative demonstrated by the Afghan people means any further US Presence will just perpetuate an endless obligation, with many Afghans having no desire to fight to protect themselves, while also harboring ill will towards US occupiers.