Afghanistan: 'We have won the war, America has lost', say Taliban
The us (US) and its allies’ nearly two-decade-long war in Afghanistan is finally drawing to an in depth after US President Biden announced that American troops will initiate their full withdrawal by May 1st and symbolically complete it before the 20 th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Some residual forces will remain to guard diplomatic facilities and it can’t be discounted that some private military contracts might stay also , but this announcement marks the top of an era and therefore the beginning of a replacement future for the region. It’s therefore worthwhile to reflect on why the US did not accomplish any of its goals aside from eliminating Al Qaeda’s reported capability to plan international attacks from Afghan territory and therefore the superficial creation of a so-called “democratic” government in Kabul (even if the latter is merely upheld by foreign forces and might soon fall).
Baryalai, an area military commander with a ferocious reputation, points down the road, "the government forces are just there by the most market, but they can not leave their bases. This territory belongs to the mujahideen".
It's a similar picture across much of Afghanistan: the govt controls the cities and larger towns, but the Taliban are encircling them, with a presence in large parts of the countryside.
The militants assert their authority through sporadic checkpoints along key roads. As Taliban members stop and question passing cars, Aamir Sahib Ajmal, the local head of the Taliban's intelligence , tells us they're checking out people linked to the govt .
Some have speculated, and not without reason, that the US was also clandestinely pursuing ulterior strategic goals through this war associated with its desire to destabilise the Central-South-West Asian region surrounding Afghanistan. These concerns are supported the well-known work of the US’ late National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski from 1997 titled “The Grand Chessboard” where this geopolitical mastermind proposed doing everything in America’s power to divide and rule the Eurasian supercontinent, particularly through the externally provoked “Balkanisation” of what many American strategists subsequently described because the so-called “Greater Middle East” (North Africa-West Asia-Central Asia). Official statements from a number of the reportedly targeted governments and their countries’ analytical community over the years added credence to those fears.
This speculative scheme spectacularly failed for several reasons, the primary of which was Pakistan’s success in being the primary nation to defeat proto-ISIS-like territorial-terrorist threats, which it accomplished with none foreign support whatsoever and within the midst of what was then an unprecedentedly intense information war against it. This was followed by the Central Asian Republics more seriously preparing themselves to affect similar such threats consistent with a good array of credible scenarios, which they planned for in close coordination with their historic Russian partner, including through the peace Treaty Organisation (CSTO) mutual defence pact between a number of them and Moscow. This proved to be extremely prescient considering what Central Asia would soon face.
Haji Hekmat was a part of the Taliban within the 1990s. While the younger fighters milling around us are happy snapping photos and selfies, he initially moves to hide his face together with his turban when he sees our camera. "Old habits," he says with a smile , before later allowing us to film his face. Under the Taliban's old regime, photography was banned.
Did they create mistakes when in power, I ask him? Would they behave within the same way again now?
"The Taliban before and therefore the Taliban now are an equivalent . So comparing that point and now - nothing has changed," says Haji Hekmat. "But," he adds, "there are changes in personnel in fact . Some people are harsher and a few are calmer. That's normal."
The Taliban have seemed to be deliberately vague about what they mean by the "Islamic government" they need to make . Some analysts see that as a deliberate plan to avoid internal frictions between hardline and more moderate elements. Can they both accommodate those with different views and not alienate their own base? Coming into power could prove their biggest test.
As we eat a lunch of chicken and rice, we hear the rumble of a minimum of four separate airstrikes within the distance. Haji Hekmat is unperturbed. "It's distant , don't be concerned ," he says.
Airpower, particularly that provided by the Americans, has been crucial over the years in holding back the Taliban's advance. The US already drastically crop its military operations after signing an agreement with the Taliban last year, and lots of fear that following their withdrawal the Taliban are going to be placed to launch a military takeover of the country.
Haji Hekmat derides the Afghan government, or "Kabul administration" because the Taliban ask it, as corrupt and un-Islamic. It's hard to ascertain how men like him will reconcile with others within the country, unless it's on their own terms.
"This is jihad," he says, "it is worship. we do not roll in the hay for power except for Allah and His law. To bring Sharia to the present country. Whoever stands against us we'll fight against them."
For all latest News Updates, stay hooked on to Fever Of News.
0 comentários: