Afghanistan has been witnessing more blood with every sunrise. The Taliban’s thirst for blood keeps growing and the state of insurgency seems like a never-ending story. The USA, NATO, Russia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and other parties have battled for years in Afghanistan but the situation keeps worsening only. Understanding current events, one question comes naturally. Who is responsible for the Afghanistan insurgency? Why, after the intervention of so many nations, is the situation still out of control? With whom help, how did the Taliban gain control of a major part of the country? How other states have only taken advantage of Afghanistan and left the country to burn? Let’s find out.
Tuesday, September 11, 2001, in the morning, two commercial planes American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the north and south towers of the world trade center in Manhattan, USA. Both 110 stories towers collapsed, taking down other surrounding buildings along with them. On the same morning at 9:37, a third plane American Airlines Flight 77, bumped into the west side of the Pentagon. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93 which was heading towards Washington D.C. with the possible target of the White House or Capitol building got diverted and hit the ground in a field in Pennsylvania.
This was the biggest terrorist attack by far and the reaction was obvious. All four planes were hijacked and all fingers pointed toward the terrorist group Al-Qaeda running from Afghanistan and its leader Osama Bin Laden. Then British prime minister Tony Blair met George Bush and helped him convince the other nations to support the USA against terrorism. Many European nations, Australia, and NATO pledged to assist the USA militarily. On October 7, 2001, the war in Afghanistan began with aerial bombings on possible Taliban and Al-Qaeda hideouts. Even Iran sent its Quds force to fight along with the USA in a war that was never going to end. US fighter planes and drones attacked targets but they also blew up more than half of Afghanistan which was already burning. They couldn’t kill Osama Bin Laden until 2011 but the goal of abolishing the Taliban was never achieved. Afghanistan is now even witnessing its worst insurgency caused by the Taliban.
Origin of Taliban and Involvement of USA and Russia
Mohammad Sardar Daoud Khan overthrew the royal family of Afghanistan in 1973 and declared it a republic. He revoked the constitution and started some reforms as well. But he could not enjoy the power for long. A Marxist Leninist political party named the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power and Mohammad Daoud was assassinated. PDPA was established in 1965 influenced by the USSR involvement which was begun a few years earlier. Afghanistan people enjoyed democracy under the PDPA regime too but they slowly started implementing Marxist-Leninist non-religious or anti-religious ideology that was quite different from their local and Islamic identity. Extreme implementation of these policies created a stir among people. The USSR helped the PDPA government financially and sent contractors to make hospitals, roads, schools, etc. in Afghanistan as the government brought socialist reforms and moved to state atheism. PDPA went too far to curb religious practices and jailed several religious leaders, preachers, and followers. They reportedly killed thousands of people who just simply wanted to follow their religion in their own way. Rather than applying a systematic process PDPA used aggressive and violent measures to turn the whole population to liberal and atheist from their Islamist ideology.
These moves kept making the government unpopular and forced religious people to come together to form groups and fight against these atrocities. As the repression of the government increased, more and more people stood against the regime to restore their Islamic identity. An open war has begun between Islamic groups and the government. Now the Soviet Union decided to intervene and sent its Red Army to Afghanistan in 1979. Over 100,000 Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan with the support of the Afghan military. The term Afghan Mujahideen came into the light to represent various rebel fighters struggling against the Soviet Union and the Afghan military. They were groups of many tribes united under the banner of Islam. The military intervention of the Soviet Union triggered the USA which did not want Afghanistan to become a Soviet Union territory. Amidst the escalating cold war, the USA took this as an opportunity to make a dent in rising USSR supremacy and establish itself closer to the USSR. They started sending weapons and other support to the Islamist group Afghan Mujahideen. Saudi too supported the cause, which was interested in establishing an Islamic rule in Afghanistan to gain an advantage against Iran. Pakistan took this opportunity to come closer to the USA for more funding and let them use assets of their spy agency ISI. Afghan Mujahideen now were no longer rebellion tribal fighters, and with the major support from USA, Saudi, and Pakistan they grew stronger and more structured. It was the origin of an Islamist organization that later branched into the Taliban. Now they could face the Soviet and Afghan armies with the latest US weapons and eventually Soviets withdrew in 1989.
First, the Soviet invasion and then the USA intervention turned out to be major turning points that altered the history of Afghanistan and the whole world.
It is not a coincidence that major conflicts around the globe from the 18th 19th century trace back to Colonial rule of England. And it’s also not a coincidence that major modern day conflicts can be traced back to the USA.
The same leaders the USA supported against the USSR nurtured the Taliban which grew stronger with Saudi and Pakistan support that years later outlined the deadliest and biggest attack on the USA by far. It is ironic that the US fought in Afghanistan for more than a decade to cut the same tree which they nourished when it was a mere seed. That tree has now become so deep-rooted since 2001 that it could swallow the whole of Afghanistan.
A brief ancient history of Afghanistan
Almost 52000 years ago Neanderthal walked this land as the discovery of Darr-e Kur by Louis Dupre revealed. Around 34000 years ago indigenous people formed communities among the first in the world. Around 3000 BCE urbanization began. Somewhere around 1000 BCE Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest religions, came to this land. Indus Valley civilization was also nurtured in this area from around 19000 BCE to 13000 BCE. Vedic people walked here during the Gandhara kingdom from 1500-535 BCE which marked the presence of the Hindu religion. Buddhism came here with the kingdom of Kamboj(1200-300 BCE). At the downfall of the Kamboj kingdom, Alexander came along with his forces and named several cities after him. Alexander departed and Chandragupta Maurya and his successors including Ashoka ruled this land around 300-200 BCE and built several Buddhist stoops. Greeks ruled there until around 100 BCE followed by Kushans who were originally from Northwestern China and settled in ancient Bactria. During that period (1st – 2nd century AD) this land was heavily influenced by Buddhism, especially under Kanishka rule, and several Buddhist idols and monuments were established. The ancient Persian empire ruled the land somewhere around 500 AD which was followed by Islamic conquerors. The word “Afghan” or “Abgan” was first used in the Persian empire and later termed people of the land which is now known as Afghanistan. In 642 CE Islam entered Afghanistan with Arabs. Mongols, Mughals, and Hotaki also ruled there followed by the Barakzai dynasty who flourished there in the kingdom until the British arrived. They successfully confronted British invasion even in the first British attempt known as the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842) Barakzai brutally crushed the Britishers which marked the destruction of Elphinstone’s army. (Elphinstone was the major general in the British army). However British defeated Barakzai in the second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1881). However, they did not rule directly and appointed their own Amir who worked as a buffer between the Russian and British empires. The status quo remained with peace until the USSR influenced the region.
Afghanistan has witnessed the footsteps of Neanderthals in the glorious Indus Valley civilization. It became the cradle of several religions as Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. They were also influenced by Iranians, Indians, Mongols, Turks, and Greeks under their rule. The diversification of this kind led them to divide into several tribes that could never unite as a nation even until modern times. That gave an advantage to the Taliban and other groups to impose their atrocities.
Current situation
The USA had started a war against the Taliban in 2001. Since then they killed several big leaders of the militant group but even after 20 years, they could not win this fight. Domestic pressure forced the USA to withdraw its forces and the process was already started in the Obama period. Now an official date has been announced by Joe Biden and 31st August will be the end of combat involvement in Afghanistan. The announcement has come at a time when the Taliban has become the deadliest in years. They have taken control of a major part of the country including several border crossings.
A little hope of peace was seen in 2016 when the Taliban agreed to talk with other parties for a settlement. They talked with Russia, the Afghan government, and the USA as well. After several proposals from other parties and the Taliban, a final and important treaty was signed between US and the Taliban on February 29, 2020. In the provisions of the deal Taliban pledged to prevent all Al-Qaeda activities in Taliban-controlled areas and in return, the USA would withdraw all its force within 14 months. The deal did not involve the Afghan government but made a promise to release 5000 Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government which never took place after the govt denial. The USA was hopeful for peace in the area but the world has seen the worst form of Taliban after the deal was signed. Every day dozens of people are killed and the Taliban move ahead inch by inch to the various parts of the nation.
The only goal of the Taliban has been to take full control of Afghanistan and impose a Taliban-constituted Islamic rule. There is a small fraction of Taliban who want this to happen with peace by signing treaties with the USA and other countries and a large part of the Taliban wants to acquire power with force. Either with the force or with talks the outcome will be horrible for the world and for Afghanistan. World’s most advanced military power, the USA, pledging in front of their citizens to win every war with any nation if needed could not overthrow a militant group in 20 years. Sorry to say that but there is no hope for a bright future for Afghan people in the near term. Everybody played its part in Afghanistan to take more and more strategic advantage over their rival nations and the Taliban grew stronger with every passing year.
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