241,000 dead and two trillion spent on the War on Terror. However, after 20 years, America’s longest war has ended on August 30. On August 15, the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghanistan a few hours after the country’s President Ashraf Ghani left the country to prevent bloodshed. President Joseph Biden addressed the United States to explain the steps the government would be taking to secure the country. On August 16, Biden deployed 6000 troops to evacuate American and allied officials and secure Kabul’s international airport. Thousands of Afghans attempted to leave while the evacuation was happening. Biden said the military will help with the evacuation of thousands of Afghans that worked with the United States and expanded refugee status for vulnerable Afghans. “My national security team and I have been closely monitoring the situation on the ground in Afghanistan and moving quickly to execute the plans we had put in place to respond to every constituency, including the rapid collapse we are seeing now,” Biden said. During his speech, Biden mentioned that although his decision may be criticized he does not want to pass this decision to another president. He believed this is the right choice for the service members who have risked their lives protecting the nation. “I think using 2020 vision, that there could have been some better decisions made,” Xavier Social Studies teacher Ms. Gineal Schrunk said. Xavier English teacher Mr. Patrick Flanagan agreed. “I think the evacuation could have gone a lot smoother,” Flanagan said. Ten days after the withdrawal, 13 U.S. service members and 200 Afghans were killed during an attack at a checkpoint outside of the Kabul Airport. At least a hundred more were injured. This was the first death of a U.S. service member in Afghanistan since February of 2020. The Islamic state in Khorasan claimed responsibility for this attack, which Biden vows to take action against. A U.S. military C-17 carried its last troops out of Afghanistan one minute before Biden’s deadline of August 31, leaving hundreds of Americans and thousands of U.S. allies stranded.