August 13, 2021

Demons unleashed on Afghanistan as US withdraws and Taliban advances

topic:	Peace and Reconciliation
located:	Afghanistan, USA
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

The unfolding of dreadful circumstances in Afghanistan offers a worthwhile lesson as to how the legitimisation of a terrorist group by a global power can lead to the crumbling of a host state and unleash demons in its society.

As the Taliban blitz through rural districts, suburban towns and now through urban centres, the world needs to know how much of the terrorists’ success is due to the mandate the US granted the insurgents in exchange for a safe passage out of the war-ravaged country.

There was, obviously and absolutely, no reason or need for the US and other foreign troops to stay in Afghanistan forever; but the sudden rush to exit in the dead of night, without informing the Afghan government, following a dubious deal with the insurgents, remains something that history will judge as nothing short of betrayal.

After all, since 2014, the US and international troops had already ceased frontline fighting against terrorists in Afghanistan, and their monetary engagement too had decreased significantly - hence the international community’s presence was indeed sustainable.

The initial human cost of the crumbling of the democratic Afghan state that was first built with generous international support is already devastating. But the worst is yet to come when the likely capture of the state by the hardline Taliban will be followed by targeted killings of pro-democracy figures and silencing of those calling for civil rights and liberties.

The burning flames of homes, markets and public properties in the fallen cities, as well as the dejected caravans of displaced men, women and children are heart-breaking.

Per the country’s refugees’ ministry, nearly 100,000 families have already been uprooted by the Taliban’s attacks on some of the most populated cities in Afghanistan, including the second biggest city of Kandahar and the third biggest city of Herat.

With the arrival of thousands of war-weary Afghans, the dusty northern outskirts of the crowded capital city depict a scene of sprawling and chaotic camps with women, children, and elderly refugees anxiously seeking relief.

For far too long, the historic narrative of Afghanistan being the ‘graveyard of empires’ has been invoked to invade, humiliate and destroy this beautiful country - which has, once again, turned into the ‘graveyard of Afghans’.

Image: Levi Meir Clancy. 

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