It also recognises the original deadline would be almost impossible to meet. A rushed withdrawal would open the door for attacks on departing forces and an escalation in the ongoing conflict between Afghan government forces and the Taliban.

The new deadline will mark 20 years, or exactly 7305 days, since al-Qaeda used the troubled central Asian nation as its base from which to launch attacks on the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon, and the US Capitol building.

Those attacks claimed the lives of 2977 victims and 19 terrorists. A further 25,000 people were injured.

Within a month, the US had formed a broad-based international coalition to overthrow Afghanistan's ruling Taliban in retaliation for their harbouring of al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. The first bombing raids began in October.

These marked the start of what Donald Trump, who was determined to extricate America from the conflict, described as one of the US's "endless wars". His government signed an agreement committing America to the May 1 withdrawal in February 2020, after months of "on-again, off-again" talks reminiscent of Kissinger's negotiations with the North Vietnamese 47 years earlier.

Trump's decision to extricate America reflected a growing view within US diplomatic and military circles that the rise of China was a far more significant danger to American interests than Islamic terrorism.

The Biden administration shares that view, and has pivoted strongly towards the Indo-Pacific in order to contain what some commentators now consider to be a potentially existential threat. The President is committed to working strongly with the alliance known as "the Quad", of which Australia, America, India and Japan are all members.

While the Taliban is already condemning America's failure to meet the original deadline, it has to take much of the blame. A condition of the agreement was that it would halt attacks and engage in meaningful negotiations with the Afghan government to work out a sustainable power-sharing agreement.

Although attacks on foreign troops are now down to their lowest level in decades, the frequency and intensity of assaults on government forces have been stepped up.

While the imminent withdrawal, which will free up US resources for deployment elsewhere, is good news for Australia given our interests in the Indo-Pacific are closely aligned with America's, the Afghan people are between a rock and a hard place.

Washington's strategy mirrors the approach taken by the Nixon administration to its withdrawal from Vietnam almost half a century ago. After having negotiated what is being described as a "dignified departure" - something closely akin to Nixon's "peace with honour" - and armed its Afghan allies to the best of their abilities, the Americans are going home.

While few insiders hold out much hope the Afghan government - riven by internal dissensions and often at the mercy of the feudal warlords who have been stoking unrest for centuries - will be able to prevail against the Taliban for long, the hope is that when the collapse does come it won't be on America's watch.

Afghanistan's people, particularly its women and girls, are now facing a very uncertain and dangerous future.

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