United States Withdrawal from Afghanistan

• James J. Kimuyu

  National Defence University - Kenya

  Author

In August 2021, the United States withdrew the last of its troops from Afghanistan, ending its military presence there after nearly 20 years. This paper uses the Systems theory to examine the effects of this withdrawal on human security in Africa. The military action in Afghanistan represented a massive global coalition effort. In addition to the United States, the 20-year period saw military forces and assets from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, and Turkey. The termination of this conflict is likely to have long-term effects on human security in Africa. These effects traverse personal and community security, economic security, environmental security, food security, health security, and political security, all of which fall within the larger domain of human security. This qualitative method-based paper uses the SALSA model to source and analyze information from a diverse set of literature. The key findings of this research are the likely increase in terrorism activities, the dangers posed by the increasing population of refugees, the problem of proliferation of sophisticated weapons and small arms, and increased economic challenges such as unemployment and poverty. The theoretical lenses provided by the Systems theory showed that Africa is a player within the global system. The identified effects require Africa to rethink its strategy and policy to decisively 
address them. Additionally, the silenced guns must translate to improved human security across the continent by refocusing the massive resources that were being used to sustain this campaign towards the creation of sustainable developmental programmes across the African continent. On her part, the continent must come up with strategies to address human security challenges, create employment, enhance efforts to fight terrorism, minimize the impact of refugees, eliminate drug abuse, and stop the proliferation of illegal arms.

1. James J. Kimuyu, National Defence University - Kenya

   Col (Dr) James J Kimuyu, PhD, is an accomplished academician, researcher, ICT expert, security practitioner, and Senior Military Officer. He holds a PhD in Information Systems, an MSc in Information Systems, a BSc in Information Sciences and a PgD in Strategic Studies. He is currently a Senior Lecturer and Head of Research at the Centre for Security and Strategic Studies (CSSS), a national think tank under the National Defence University-Kenya (NDU-K). He has over 22 years’ experience in university-level teaching, research, strategic analysis, curriculum development, aviation management, technical support, ICT systems programming and development, and quality assurance.

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