This opinion piece originally appeared in Eurasiareveiw on July 8, 2021
Rare is the country that has upheld various blows, such as troublesome blows, as has Afghanistan since its modern foundation as a distinct political unit in 1747. Yet the country has managed to survive and to hold its sovereignty and territorial integrity, despite numbers of wars and invasions and swings between radical ideological miens, amplifying from tribalist regard system to communism and Islamic medievalism. It is the only country in the world that has experienced military occupation or intervention by Great Britain (twice), the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and the United States of America and its allies (since 2001). It is the only country experiencing continuous proxy wars of the world's big powers for five decades. This country has never experienced a frequent stable ideological and political structure and insight for a single term of a ruler in the last century, yet it survived.
The horrific 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in 2001, masterminded in Afghanistan, made the world bring Afghanistan on the front page of world politics. United States government took its allies in confidence to demolish the perpetrators of those attacks. The ideologically and traditionally divided Afghans found themselves under new challenges for development as a result of-course with the commitments of the international community this time. Unfortunately, a modern way of colonization under the guise of cooperation has made 34 governments called PRTs, which awakened the central government as a result. The three significant institutions for any government, namely the Army, Police, and Judiciary, were taken on training boards by different countries with different scopes, particularly the U.S.A, Germany, and Italy.
However, Afghanistan started building its defense and security forces right in the middle of the world's biggest war in the country; the recruited officers and soldiers, after a few months of short courses, joined the battlefield, where the country was busy on the infrastructure, development and internal political rivalry on the other hand. Things began to turn when the United States invaded Iraq, and Afghanistan was made secondary, which was the most significant strategic blunder.
Although, in his election campaign, Obama had promised to do more for Afghanistan, both to end the war and to assist in developing the nation. Despite Obama’s overarching commitments to Afghanistan, the U.S. military perused his program to cruel fair one thing: more troops, which had been ridiculous, whereas the Iraq war was at its stature. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton helped the military by continuously siding with the generals. She concurred with the Pentagon on each significant decision on Afghanistan instead of tuning in to her advisor and mentor, Richard Holbrooke. Holbrooke contradicted the troop buildup and pushed for settling the Pakistan problem, arranging with the Taliban, and helping Afghanistan with its economy. Unlike the military, he did not see overcoming the Taliban as a choice. The White House snubbed Holbrooke, even though his views were somewhat similar to those of Obama’s advisors. But they abhorred him, and Holbrooke could never get a one-on-one meeting with the president; Obama seemed to exercise no authority over his staff, and here things began getting more regrettable. Without a doubt, Karzai presented an enormous problem for Obama. Once the dear of the West and a reasonable, moderate leader who seemed to have a great chance of taking Afghanistan out of a thirty-year-long war, Karzai had misplaced his way. He had been in the palace but isolated within the administration for quite a long.
Amid the 2009 presidential race, Karzai was persuaded that the Americans wanted to get rid of him, as he unyieldingly refused to correct his failures: corruption within the top positions of his government. He regularly told top U.S. authorities that of the three “main enemies” he faced, the United States, the international community, and the Taliban-he would side with the Taliban first. It was barely an articulation to win over Western soldiers who were fighting the Taliban. Ghani was already in the queue; he had been made a minister of finance, dean of Kabul University, candidate for the UN secretary general position, and brought to lead the transition process from ISAF to ANSF launched in 2011, so he was being prepared and finally got to power in 2014, where he failed. Ghani mostly relayed on his Western Afghans who are neither well educated nor have a political insight and/or have a clue about the Afghan culture and norms, but badly involved in corruption, which further paved the road towards isolation in and outside Afghanistan.
The United States failed to make Pakistan cooperate the way it was needed; the United States could not put the required pressure on Pakistan to use its influence on the Taliban for the peace process that had taken at least three years. Finally, the United States directly signed an agreement with the Taliban, which, of course, lacks legitimacy and enforcement. However, currently, Afghanistan faces a critical situation; the entire world watches and waits, and most regional and international media outlets portray the country as the drowning Titanic. However, the defense and security forces that have been fighting the most significant war all alone since 2014, except for some air support from the international forces, can defend this incredible country. The children of 9 and 10 went to school the following day, where they had been injured and lost 100s of their fellows in a terrorist attack on their school just a day before, but for them, education prevails; a mother who has lost her three young sons fighting against terrorism proudly sends her fourth one to the army as well. This is not the country of just those few who came from the West and are in power today and those known as warlords. Still, of the 40 million people who have already seen all the ups and downs and have the potential and commitment to make this country go forward, this country and nation will survive, and Afghanistan will never be ruled by extremists again.
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