Charlie Wilson will be turning in his grave. He told that with an ‘F’ instead of an ‘M’ of course, in the hope that history would not repeat itself. There is much to unpack about the latest disaster in Afghanistan. The words that are being used range from ineptness, abandonment, and fear. Let’s begin with fear, but not in a humanitarian context just yet. The most powerful country, supposedly the only superpower, is not ready to learn from its errors, is really frightening for the rest of the world. If the aftermath of the Soviet-Afghan War was too far back, how about the incredible inroads ISIS made in Iraq in 2014 after the US withdrawal? Their hubristic misadventure, followed by their series of miscalculated on-ground strategies and then an inevitable cowardly scramble are all too familiar to the people that strike fear worldwide, as a country with such might and influence constantly became a victim to its own mistakes that cost countless lives of the humanity.
US President Joe Biden’s media talk on the July 08, 2021, where he said “there’s going to be the Taliban that overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely”, is terrifying. While a week before Biden said Afghanistan would not collapse, it was reported by the independent Afghan Analysts Network (AAN) that the Taliban had captured 127 out of 420 districts. On July 21, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark Milley said the figure was more than half.
The mainstream American media spent four years scrutinising and poking fun at former President Trump’s media talks but surprisingly, the liberal media has not taken Joe Biden to task for his naive and callous remarks about Afghanistan. The humiliation of the United States and its Western allies at the hands of the Taliban could hardly be more severe. Despite of the intelligence community’s warnings of a collapse, the Biden administration paid deaf ears and carried out the American classic-style ‘Cut and Run’. If Biden’s stance was shocking, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s take was priceless, as “We went into Afghanistan 20 years ago with one mission in mind, and that was to deal with the people, who attacked us on 9/11, and that mission has been successful”. ‘What a load of tosh!’
We should have seen this coming, when the Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is now being hailed as a masterful tactician, signed the Doha agreement with the US in February 2020, in what the Trump administration called a breakthrough towards peace, when it was in fact a major step towards total Taliban victory. The real agenda of the Doha agreement was revealed, when the US and Taliban agreed not to fight each other, while the other part of the deal was to create a power-sharing arrangement between the Taliban and the Kabul government. The talks were floundering, because the Taliban were in a strong position, knowing though the US also got what they wanted out of the deal, and would finally weasel their way out. It is clear now that Mulla Baradar and the Taliban were playing for time, waiting for the US to leave, while meticulously preparing for their final assault to seize the reign of the government.
The betrayal of the Afghan people by America and its allies would live in infamy, as their haphazard exit has left the Afghan civilians in a dire situation, which is likely to worsen, especially for women. The progress of Afghan women was constantly highlighted by the US media, suggesting that America’s presence brought gender equality and rights, which the Afghans never would have achieved without the US intervention This is a direct example of the disingenuous nature of the politically correct woke media in the US. While, riddled with corruption, disunity, ineptness, and an unhealthy persecution complex, the Afghan government and its forces also bare blame, even after being allocated $88.3 billion for security-related reconstruction and $36 billion for the governance and development, they were still no match with the ill-equipped but highly-motivated and ideologically-driven Taliban.
Allegations of corruption and ineptness dogged the Afghan military for years. The US aids spending watchdog for Afghanistan reported that the ANDSF lacked the competence and mostly depend on the US and NATO forces. The watchdog had also warned about “the corrosive effects of corruption” within the force, while with its reliance heavily on advanced equipment and widespread illiteracy in professional ranks, the force could not reliably maintain its strength and combat readiness. For example during the last autumn, President Ashraf Ghani had ignored the advice from senior security officials, who suggested him to make hard choices, especially to make strategic retreats to focus on resolving more important issues, such as key roads and border crossings, but surprisingly Ghani refused. Perhaps, President Ghani would have been better served assessing the severe risks, his country was facing rather than constantly blaming Pakistan. A month ago in Tashkent, Ghani had the gall to tell Prime Minister Imran Khan that Pakistan has continuously been playing negative role in Afghanistan, alluding Pakistan’s alleged support for the Taliban. Ghani was last seen fleeing his country in the midst of turmoil, but the people of Afghanistan had definitely deserved better.
Both the US and Afghanistan have blamed Pakistan throughout this war, and also accusing for meddling, as it was the first sentence out of the Afghan government’s playbook. Even if Pakistan has in fact been playing a ‘double game,’ than it was the reason that Afghanistan fell to the Taliban just in twenty days? The reality is that the United States has failed again and invasion in Afghanistan was a disaster to begin along with their puppets in the Afghan government and military, and they all are responsible to destroyed Afghanistan and its people. They have provided the Taliban with a huge cache of high-tech weapons, aircraft, drones and vehicles, supposedly providing new life to a group that is hell bent on imposing a radical ideology, which persecutes women in the worst possible way. The snapshot of America’s ‘noble’ occupation was watching desperate families, trying to escape from the most probable brutality of the Taliban. The US was repeatedly warned that it could happen. God knows! When would they learn from their mistakes? After the Soviet invasion, they mucked up the end game, but this time, they mucked up both the beginning and the end.
