On the morning of 15th August, 2021, most of us woke up to the distressing news of the fall of a capital and the collapse of a government. Kabul, the city that held its own through 20 years of war and foreign military invasion, finally fell to the Taliban amidst a fleeing president and abandoned embassies. Smoke circled the embassy premises as staff hurriedly destroyed official archives, took down the star-spangled banner and headed to the airport to be taken home by military helicopters, signifying a shameful defeat for USA, the country that began the 20-year war in Afghanistan.
Germany, United Kingdom, Canada- all countries who had a significant number of troops deployed in Afghanistan, were some of the first to evacuate their embassies in the middle of the chaos. No matter how much we hear about the “swift” takeover of the capital, let us not forget that this is a war that lasted 20 years at the cost of trillions in American dollars and hundreds of thousands in human lives.
In the 21st century, the age of reason, we must ask ourselves, how does a government, sworn to be protected by the US, fall to far-right extremists?
Afghanistan through the ages
Even though US involvement in Afghanistan began 20 years ago, the country has been riddled with violence for as long as one can remember. The Taliban first gained majority control in Afghanistan in 1996 following the overthrowing of the Soviet occupation, a mission that was funded by the US and executed by the Mujahideen, thrusting the country into civil war for 5 years. During this period, they imposed a very strict interpretation of Sharia Law, which included denying women the right to work and restricting female education. Very few countries recognized the Taliban as the rightful government of Afghanistan. In December 2000, the United Nations Security Council recognized the humanitarian needs of the Afghan people, condemned the use of Taliban territory for training of “terrorists” and issued severe sanctions against Afghanistan under Taliban control. In October 2001, the United States, with allies including the Afghan Northern Alliance, invaded Afghanistan and routed the Taliban regime. The Taliban leadership fled to Pakistan.
A War on Terror
Rise and fall of American presidents, democrat or republican, have brought about little change to the situation in Afghanistan. It seems like small issues were dissected over and over again in presidential campaign after campaign while issues of war were always put aside. The so-called progressive era of Obama and the oppressive one of Trump ultimately contributed only to a growing number of civilian deaths in a faraway country. From President Bush’s promise to end terrorism once and for all to President Biden’s withdrawal from war without taking any accountability for the country in shambles it left behind- we must ask ourselves, how much America is responsible for the collapse of the Afghanistan government.
President Bush’s “War on Terror” sent the American public into immediate euphoria that was distastefully short lived. The people grew bored of a war that was happening thousands of miles away from them at the cost of thousands of un-American civilian lives. A lieutenant colonel stationed at Baghdad at the time said, “America’s not at war. We’re at war. America is at the mall”. For the past 2 decades, American troops have been fighting in a war that their own countrymen had forgotten.
Even though the ending of a war sounds like an excellent development, simply withdrawing troops from Afghanistan is not a solution to this conflict. But that is exactly what America did. American air support wantonly bombed wherever it wanted and was responsible for many civilian casualties and much unnecessary collateral damage, amidst notorious reports of American soldiers killing Afghan civilians carelessly and sometimes even for sport. American political and military leaders only tried pieces of several strategies, using Afghanistan as a testing ground for weapons, mostly to keep the costs and casualties down and the public oblivious to the major humanitarian crisis they were causing. The everlasting conflicts handicapped Afghanistan’s socio-economic reconstruction efforts and kept the country extremely weak. The trauma the US has caused Afghan civilians bears a harrowing resemblance to the “Agent Orange” operations conducted in Vietnam which left a shocking number of Vietnamese civilians mentally or physically handicapped, a complication that the nation is struggling with to this day. The U.S. planned military withdrawal was carried out extremely irresponsibly which only emboldened the Taliban to immediately go on the offensive and fill the security void that the U.S. created. It is clear as day that the immediate occupation of the Taliban can only be contributed to the irresponsibility of the US.
The sheer recklessness of the US to claim that nation building was never their objective in Afghanistan while they used this very excuse as their trojan horse to enter the country and destroy it from within, is truly the biggest betrayal in modern history.
The US should not get to stage coups, invade, occupy, fund extremist militias and kill thousands in a “crusade for human rights” only to abandon the country that they themselves destabilized for decades to come.
Taking in Afghan refugees isn’t charity for the US, it’s the bare minimum.
Fall and Rise of the Taliban
Contrary to popular belief of many, the Afghan public did not “want” Taliban leadership, for the reason that they were simply never given the luxury of a choice. Amidst foreign militia, modern warfare and an extremist opposition, the last thing the country could care for, was its citizens.
After years of negotiations, the Taliban and the Trump administration finally signed a peace deal in 2020 where the US agreed to withdraw troops and release around 5,000 Taliban prisoners, while the Taliban agreed to take steps to prevent any group from using Afghanistan as a haven for terrorism. By June of this year, the Taliban contested or controlled an estimated 50% to 70% of Afghan territory outside of urban centers, according to a United Nations Security Council report. At this point, the Taliban shifted their tactics from complex attacks to in cities to specifically targeted assassinations to terrorize Afghan civilians. The targets were journalists, judges, women in positions of power – which only go on to prove that the Taliban didn’t change their ideology, only their strategy. They swept across the entire nation in a span of 10 days as soon and the US withdrew troops and by 15 August, they were at the gates of Kabul.
The Taliban promise a more inclusive Islamic government this time around, vowing to respect women’s rights but the problem with the Taliban isn’t simply lack of awareness. The Kabul airport has seen absolute mayhem for the past few weeks amidst citizens desperate to leave their homeland. Photos and videos of planes filled to the brim with 10 times their capacity, gruesome depictions of people hopelessly trying to cling on to the wheels of USA-bound planes and falling to their deaths are being shared by millions on social media.
The desperate pleas of Afghan people tell us the Taliban and their tainted view on Sharia law simply cannot be imposed on a diverse population of 38 million people.
On the morning of 15th August, the Taliban announced from the center of Afghanistan for all the world to hear- “The war is over”. A sentence so long overdue, so anticipated and yet on the morning of 15th August, so feared. While news outlets talk about the end of a 20-year war between the US and Afghanistan, terrified Afghans fighting for their lives to leave the place they’ve called their home for decades- is a scene that begs to differ from that statement. The war in Afghanistan is not over till the middle east has known peace. Till then we can only hope and pray for Afghanistan to rise from its ruins.
