The U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan was meant to remove the Taliban from power and deny terrorist groups a safe base of operations following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. Just short of 20 years later, however, the Taliban has once again taken control of the Middle East country amid a chaotic U.S. withdrawal.
The U.S. presence in Afghanistan has cost around $2 trillion and resulted in the deaths of 2,400 U.S. troops, according to Fortune. The two-decade effort to train the Afghan national army, which cost around $83 billion, also went up in smoke as the Taliban in recent weeks took over much of the country and captured the capital city of Kabul.ANALYSIS: What The Military Has Been Doing Instead Of Winning Wars
![Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin And Army Secretary Gen. Mark Milley Hold Briefing At Pentagon Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin And Army Secretary Gen. Mark Milley Hold Briefing At Pentagon](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GettyImages-1334907071-scaled-e1629400634952.jpg)
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