The United States has ended its 20-year-long presence in Afghanistan. The last US soldier has left the country on a military plane, ending a hasty and humiliating exit for Washington and its allies. The mission that started with the Taliban out of government had ended with the militant group firmly in control and stronger than ever before. There was celebratory fire across Kabul as the Taliban took control of the airport, the site of a mass evacuations and deadly attack last week. America’s longest war took the lives of 2,500 US troops and an estimated 240,000 Afghans, costing a whopping $2 trillion. The world is now watching if the Taliban will form a more moderate and inclusive government in the months ahead.
It is time now to examine what this prolonged conflict has achieved and whether it has met its goals of wiping out terrorism from Afghanistan. If we are to go by recent events, this is certainly not the case. The Taliban are back in power as they were in 2001, prior to the American invasion, and matters have become even more complicated with the Islamic State now active in Afghanistan, and threatening to put up a struggle against the Taliban, which could lead to even more conflict. The Islamic State is almost directly a creation of American policies in Iraq and other places where the group cropped up and based its policies around a hatred for US action on sovereign soil.
The period of American occupation was marked by violence, bomb blasts, clashes between the Taliban and the US and a feeling of uncertainty and unrest. The war was futile and aimless, alienating more people than it benefitted. It is true that some development work took place both under the Soviet and then the US occupation of Afghanistan, but the truth remains that any development that does not have support of the people proves to be short lived. Perhaps, a better strategy would have been to foster a broad-based government, but the Taliban did not participate in any of the Loya Jirgas (Large Councils) held in Kabul during the past 20 years.
But beyond geopolitical lessons, there are very relevant questions about what lies ahead for Afghanistan. After all, during their last stint in power the Taliban enforced a brutal code influenced by their narrow interpretation of religion. This time around the armed movement says things will be different. Only time will tell. That many Afghans are fearful for their future is confirmed by the fact that in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover of Kabul, there was a mad rush to leave Afghanistan. But unsavoury as the Taliban’s precedents may be, it is also true that the Western-supported dispensation that has just been replaced was unable to run a clean administration, or provide security to Afghans. In fact, stories of corruption within Kabul’s corridors of power were rife, and the erstwhile Afghan government’s Western supporters were unable to plug the leaks. The Taliban, for their part, are not known to indulge in financial corruption, and have pledged to restore law and order.
The challenge for the Taliban and their Afghan political adversaries now is to form an inclusive set-up that represents all the country’s ethnic groups, tribes and religious denominations. If the Taliban seek to create a state in their own image without bringing others to the table, Afghanistan may well slip back into civil war. All groups — Pakhtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras and others, Sunnis, Shias, religious minorities etc — must have a say in the new Afghanistan.
Shafaqna Pakistan
pakistan.shafaqna.com
