Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The United States of America and its allies failed after twenty years of military and diplomatic presence in Afghanistan and hastily retreated from this country. This military campaign is the result of the expansion of regional terrorism and continuous war, and the current situation of this country is caused by the failed policies of foreign countries, especially the United States, in Afghanistan.
Billions of dollars in aid were sent to the republican system in Afghanistan during the past twenty years, but widespread corruption and the lack of transparency in how this money was spent within the nascent post-Taliban, government caused this country to look poor even before its fall. Leave a place The United Nations wrote in its last report before the collapse of the republican system, that 50 percent of Afghanistan citizens live below the poverty line. At the same time, millions of dollars were given to that country every month.
During this period, the most attention was paid to the sending of humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan in the domestic media and sometimes in the foreign press, but a very important point that has not been addressed is the sending of cash weekly between 32 up to 40 million dollars to the Taliban.
From the beginning of April 2022, the United States sent more than 32 million dollars in cash every week without any conditions in the government or non-government banks under the rule of the Taliban, and this process is still ongoing on. Although these aids are sent in cash in the name of the people of Afghanistan, there is no clear accountability among the people in this matter. And the citizens of Afghanistan complain about the unfair distribution of humanitarian aid.
The citizens of Afghanistan want the international community, especially the United Nations; to manage the aid distribution process and have proper supervision. Because the Taliban distributed the most food items or cash to their supporters and also to the families of people who committed suicide and explosions during this period of 20 years.
The people of Afghanistan blame the international community. Because the citizens are tortured, raped, and killed for being Persian speakers they are witnesses of the imprisonment of innocent people, former military personnel including army women, political critics, and the employees of former security agencies, and imprisonment. Women are killing, and systematically removing them from society, lawyers, judges, journalists, members of civil society, artists, elites, children, and a large number of Afghanistani people, who were killed by the Taliban during this period. Women and children have been the most vulnerable to the negative outcomes of violence such as physical injuries, psychological disorders, etc.
The Taliban could not end the increased trade of narcotics in Afghanistan. Even if they promised to ban the production, trade, and consumption of illicit drugs when they have taken over the country again. As per the records of the United Nations, Afghanistan was first in the production of opium in the year 2020.
Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan and ruled by utilizing their power. The Taliban has promised and agreed to several conditions in the meeting held between the USA and NATO while preparing to take over Afghanistan. One of the most prominent promises that the Taliban has made includes encouraging democracy in Afghanistan and facilitating a democratic electoral process in Afghanistan to build a nation in which people enjoy the benefits of democracy thereby making the country’s security force more powerful and effective enough to protect the democratic rights of people.
Under Taliban rule, women and girls continuously have been attacked. Their basic human rights were violated, and they were marginalized by the public. They have never been treated as human beings and they are being oppressed in society. They cannot enjoy their economic, political, cultural, and civil rights. Women have been ignored by public services, and they are not allowed to serve in national and private entities.
The United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban returning to power in Afghanistan in 2021 validated the most cited sobriquet for Afghanistan ‘The Graveyard of Empires’. Biden said in a speech at the White House: “I was not going to prolong this war forever,” also he added, “I was not going to extend an outing forever.” According to Biden, the last Air Force transport plane left Kabul a minute before midnight on Monday. He had set Tuesday as the deadline to end the evacuation and withdraw the troops remaining after the Taliban took control of the country. President Biden pledged a final withdrawal to end what he called an “eternal or forever war” that responded to the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City which killed nearly 3,000 people. Former U.S. President Donald Trump blamed Joe Biden for ousting him from the presidency, criticizing his handling of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Eventually, U.S. President Joe Biden announced the decision to complete the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan after the signing of an agreement between the Taliban and the U.S. government in February 2020 in Doha.
The Taliban took over Kabul on August 15, 2021, That was the last major city remaining for the Taliban to take control of it, and the Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani fled to Uzbekistan.
He announced that U.S. military forces would completely leave Afghanistan by September 2021. By the end of July 2021, nearly 95% of the U.S. military forces left Afghanistan, and only 650 troops remained to protect the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
The U.S. withdrawal was not merely a decision held overnight, but rather a long process that began in 2014 and ended in 2021. The decision of U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was first announced by President Barack Obama in May 2014 for the first time.
The U.S. war in Afghanistan was a ‘failure’; three-quarters of Americans believed it, and global media and political scientists agreed too. As soon as the gradual withdrawal of U.S. Troops ended in 2021, the collapse of the Republic Government of Afghanistan happened. Assuming power by the Taliban proved that the United States failed in Afghanistan.
Why was Afghanistan Handed over to the Taliban?
None of the official handover of Afghanistan was held, rather than the president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, who was supported by the United States, left the country, and the flag at the U.S. Embassy was lowered on 15th August 2021. On the day Ashraf Ghani ran away, right after it. Due to a lack of trust and confidence, his trusted teams – Hamdullah Mohib, and Fazal Mahmood Fazly preferred the Taliban to come back to power, but not other ethnic communities to get the power. Vice President Amrullah Saleh, and Defense Minister Bismillah Khan respectively were already on their way to ’Panjshir Valley’. This was a primary cause for why Ashraf Ghani was not ready to accept to change the ruling system to decentralization, parliamentary, or federalism. So, it is true to say that he handed over the country to the Taliban.
Pakistan openly supported the Taliban because of: 1- ideological interests inside them, 2- the worry about the border with Afghanistan, and 3- to build a weak and puppet government in its neighboring country. Despite different sub-groups and controversial issues within the ethnic population of Pakistan, it has a vested ideological interest in the Taliban.
Taliban continues to maintain a good relationship with the Tehrik-E-Taliban (TTP), which is widely named as Pakistani Taliban, and now they have problems. Two years have passed since the fall of the republican system and the semi-democracy of that time in Afghanistan, on August 15, 2021, following the peace talks headed by the US special representative for Afghanistan, Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad, once again turned the country into the hands of radical Islamist and terrorist groups like the Taliban.
Here are the reasons and mistakes of the Government of Afghanistan and the involvement of the international community:
1. Corruption
Corruption is the act of misusing power, authority, and official positions for personal gain. Politicians who may rule the country and those officials in charge of public administration and services could have been involved in the practice of corruption. Corruption is to be considered a social evil that negatively impacts a country’s economy. In Afghanistan, corruption has remained one of the major mistakes of the government for years. Afghanistan Nationals were supposed to pay a huge amount of bribes to avail of public services, including education, judiciary, customs service, police service, public administration, local authorities, etc. and the government did not take any actions against these (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes, 2012).
2. Lack of Strong Leadership
The government of Afghanistan could not build a strong governance system in the country with effective resources. Furthermore, the government was not able to make political and economic institutions function in the country. Meanwhile, the Government of Afghanistan failed to reflect and represent the rules of law. Therefore, there was no transparency in functions.
3. Political Instability
The inability to develop a stable political environment where the government could create and maintain a peaceful space in the country through achieving people cooperation’s and support was another main mistake that the Republic Government of Afghanistan was unable to make (U.S. State Department, 2020).
4. Human Rights Violation
The Government of Afghanistan did not take any action when the human rights of women and minorities, including ethnic minorities and religious minorities were violated. The government needed to implement sound strategies that protect the human rights of women and ethnic minorities in every situation.
Women in Afghanistan are being “erased” from everything two years after the Taliban took power. But since then, it has stepped up its enforcement, closing girls’ secondary schools, prohibiting women from going to university and working for NGOs like the United Nations, restricting their freedom to travel without a chaperone, and barring them from public places like parks and gyms.
The Taliban’s treatment of girls and women has drawn widespread condemnation from the international community, and last week the UN human rights body urged the group to implement reforms and respect women’s rights.
