The Negligence of Media After Every US Military Departure

Every time the US military departs from a state after invasion from a foreign land it does not only leave behind barracks and military equipment, but a complete void is left behind. It became a chaotic stage. resident militants, opposing political groups, and sometimes militant groups, fill the empty spaces and fight for power and determine territories. What comes afterwords is barely a stable regime or harmony, instead, people are left to negotiate with splintered states, decreasing resources, and increasing fear. Yet, as these stories begin to unfold, the transnational media turns the page side and at no time tries to turn it back.

Somalia in 1994 after the U.S departure, subsequent the horrific events of the “Black Hawk Down” incident, labeled the inaugural of a continued lineage into chaos. The power spaces left behind were instantly filled by warlords and ethnic-based militants, each contesting for control in a fragile landscape. Without a democratic régime and global attention, Somalia turned into an arena of fluctuating loyalties and merciless wars. Over time, radical groups like Al-Shabaab appeared from this vagueness, exploiting the non-presence of a government to establish their own in the region. The humanitarian toll was stunning. Generations of generations were raised up in affiliation with anarchy, starvation, and migrations. education destroyed, Infrastructure crushed, and healthcare became almost a fantasy in many areas. “The international media, once obsessed with the downed helicopters and histrionic firefights, moved on—leaving back a region still fighting with the costs of abandonment.”

In 2011 the U.S departure from Iraq marked a turning point not just for the inner peace, but also for how the global media looked into the issue and the ongoing disaster. With U.S military personals withdrawal, the already fragile political system of Iraq began to collapse. Deep-rooted ethnic tensions that once decreased reappeared, and the regime in Baghdad tried to maintain command. During this chaos, the “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)” began to silently gain ground—first in rural areas, then in big cities like Fallujah and Mosul.

Despite initial signs —such as identity killings, jail breaks, and the set’s growing occurrence in Sunni-majority districts—the transnational media mostly was unbothered to grip or convey the measure of the threat in its developmental stages. Reporting was periodic, often suppressed beneath other global issues, and lacked the urgency that might have grabbed global acknowledgement or strategy response. The (ISIS) had already rooted itself across massive regions in Iraq and Syria before declaring its caliphate.

The departure of the U.S military from Afghanistan in August 2021 was not just a military withdrawal, it was a collapse of a geopolitical system that redesigned the lives of millions overnight. As the Taliban invaded into Kabul with immense speed, the world witnessed in surprise. Clips of horrified Afghans hanging to departing airplanes became a representative symbol of the chaos, but they also marked the launch of a deeper, more lasting crisis that would soon slip from the international news.

The Afghan régime collapsed in the immediate result, and with it, two decades of delicate U.S progress broke down. Once motivated Women and girls to chase education and careers, were shortly enforced back into the darkness. The education institution doors were closed for female students, dress codes were forced with harshness, and public spheres became progressively hostile to female’s presence. Journalists who reported unsympathetically were particularly on the Taliban radar, some were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. Independent media was shuttered, and the flow of news and information from within the country slowed to a drop.

In the meantime, the Afghan economy was about to collapse. With assets frozen and foreign aid on hold, ordinary Afghans starved for food, healthcare, and basic services. Deficiency and displacement combined the suffering, pushing millions toward starvation. Yet, as these crises deepened, international media coverage disappeared. The emergency that had once conquered global transmissions went silent, leaving the Afghan people to bear their new realism mainly unnoticed and unheard.

According to intelligence information, 150,000 Afghans who had worked alongside U.S. forces were left behind, on the mercy of Taliban. The breakdown of the US trained Afghan armed forces and the Taliban’s capture of American military gear only added to the sense of unfaithfulness and abandonment. And while conflict continues in parts of the country particularly with the Islamic State-Khorasan Province—the media’s attention has largely moved on.