Afghanistan: India in an unenviable position | Details Here
The situation on the ground in Afghanistan is changing fast. With the US troop withdrawal more or less complete, the last few weeks have seen the Taliban advancing all across the country. The Taliban have claimed that 85 per cent of the territory is now under their control. But whether this is actually the case, the fact remains that the speed of the Taliban advance, particularly in the northern region, has taken everyone by surprise.
The US withdrawal, after a twenty year war in Afghanistan, marks a humiliating defeat. After the September, 2001 terrorist attack in the United States, President Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan to launch the “war against terror”. The wheel had come full circle. The US had financed and armed the mujahideen to take on the Soviet backed regime in Afghanistan in the 1980’s. Among those who joined the jihad were elements like Osama bin Laden. A full decade later, the US was acting against the Taliban who were the progeny of the mujahideen. After dislodging the Taliban from power, the US, as it is its wont, installed a pliant regime giving it a “democratic veneer”.
Two decades of aerial war and special forces operations could not subdue the Taliban. After spending over two trillion dollars and sacrificing the lives of 2,312 soldiers, for the past few years, successive US administrations have been cutting back on its occupation and troop deployment. Biden took the final step of announcing the withdrawal of all US-NATO troops by September. The twenty year war has cost the lives of 47,600 civilians, of which 40 per cent were caused by US aerial bombing.
The Trump administration had initiated talks with the Taliban in Doha and a peace agreement was announced. But the talks between the Taliban and Afghan government representatives for an interim transitional plan stalled. The manner in which the Americans have abandoned Afghanistan is typical of the way they have left countries they have occupied – in ruins as it happened in Iraq.
The Afghan National Army, built up and trained by the US, is being outmatched and sections of the soldiers are either surrendering or fleeing their posts. Even the US intelligence had estimated that the Taliban would take over the entire country within six months of the American withdrawal. But a Taliban takeover will not necessarily result in stability. There are militias connected with influential ethnic warlords and US-sponsored and trained militias in the field creating the conditions for a civil war. This will be the worst scenario for the people who will continue to suffer from the violence and conflict which has already been going on for four decades.
The only way to avoid such a dire outcome is to form an interim government with Taliban participation based on an understanding with all parties concerned. A last effort is on at Doha between the Taliban and Afghan government and other representatives to arrive at some such agreement.
(Inputs from Agencies)