The big news this past week was the very fast taking over (again) of Afghanistan by the Taliban.
For the first time since Vietnam, the departure of American military forces is replaced by the violent takeover of what is considered a hostile regime. That of course happened in Vietnam, where the Vietcong took over fairly quickly after American forces withdrew. The whole reason that we were there was to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam, but it seemed that the American government just kind of shrugged it off once this happened, not wanting to get American troops back into a quagmire.
This time, the takeover of the hostile regime that we have been fighting for two decades seemed to come incredibly quickly. Not too long ago, the Taliban seemed to make some gains that appeared stunning, but which in retrospect were quite modest by way of comparison to the lightning quick takeover of the country in recent days.
And so, America’s military involvement in Afghanistan came to a humbling end, with enough similarities to what happened in Vietnam that the comparisons with the evacuation of Saigon just before the Vietcong took over have become almost relentless. That is not a comparison that anyone particularly wants, of course, but it sure seems to fit. Yet, American officials are dismissing these comparisons, such as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken:
"This is not Saigon. We went to Afghanistan 20 years ago with one mission, and that mission was to deal with the folks who attacked us on 9/11 and we succeeded in that mission," he told CNN's State of the Union.
Afghanistan, of course, used to be ruled by the Taliban, an extremist regime that infamously harbored terrorists. These were really bad guys. How bad? I added a link to an article who, against his will, was made to assist with the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan back in early 2001. If you read that, you might be forgiven to see close resemblances to how the Nazis would treat those considered undesirable elements once they took over a place. People essentially turned into slave labor, made to work hard, grueling physical work against their will, with some shot on the spot if they proved unable to continue.
Yet, rather amazingly, given how bad this man's recollections of being forced to serve the Taliban against his will is, that account illustrates something of the least of their crimes. After all, it was while Al-Qaeda was based in Afghanistan that they, under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden, orchestrated the September 11th attacks. One of the major fears now is that the country could become a hotbed of extremism and terrorist organizations once again, like they used to be.
Another concern was one that was widely publicized all of those years ago, when the Taliban ruled over Afghanistan with something of an iron fist. Back then, I remember, people were horrified by the extremism of the policies practiced by the regime. Public executions by the primitive method of stoning were commonplace. Men had to have beards that reached a certain length. Women had almost no rights whatsoever. They were not allowed to vote, but that was the least of it. They were not allowed to obtain an education, or to drive. In fact, were not allowed to go out in public without being accompanied by a man. And let us remember that the Taliban destroyed some historical heritage sites, particularly the Buddhas of Bamiyan, which had dated back something like 1,500 years ago.
Now, there are fears that the Taliban will exact a measure of revenge against those segments of the population who have been friendly and cooperative with the Americans over the past couple of decades. The reprisals are expected to be brutal, and the American government is under pressure to allow those people sanctuary within the United States. Whether or not they get it remains uncertain.
Indeed, concerns about severe human rights abuses inside of Afghanistan are an immediate concern once again.
There are other concerns about the return of Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Scott Neuman suggested four of them in particular, two of which (human rights abuses and harboring terrorists) I have already mentioned. But there is also the possibility that a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan will destabilize Pakistan, as it did all of those years ago. The other concern that he mentions, China gaining a foothold in the region, seems somehow a bit far-fetched. Afghanistan has been the graveyard of superpowers in it’s history. The British Empire, the Soviet Empire, and the American Empire were all severely weakened after engaging in combat in the country. China, an emerging superpower, should surely be aware and very cautious of this reality. The article suggests that Russia and China are working as a team, training together to possibly take action in Afghanistan, but that seems unlikely. Russia in particular has a past in Afghanistan, and I would be shocked if they had not learned to avoid Afghanistan particularly. It would be a little like if we Americans returned to Vietnam. It just would seem to be an obviously bad idea, and that would probably be clear across the political spectrum. It would b stunning if Russians were ready for military involvement again in Afghanistan. China seems more of a real possibility, but even then, the history of powerful nations going into Afghanistan and leaving, in time, seriously weakened should at least give them pause for thought.
As for economic cooperation and partnership in Afghanistan, that seems much more likely. Indeed, China apparently gave diplomatic recognition of the Taliban regime before they even had taken over in Kabul, so it would appear that they are likely to have some economic interests there. But if that is the case, what can be done about it? There may be despicable aspects to it, but we are powerless to do anything to prevent it. Also, western nations, and particularly the United States, is no stranger to having economic ties to horrific, despicable regimes with abysmal human rights records over the course of many decades. So maybe we should think twice before getting high and mighty about such things, and take care of our own hypocrisy in this regard first, before blasting China or anyone else for ties with a horrific regime replete with human rights abuses.
In any case, this has been the huge story as of late in the news around the world in the past week or so in particular. It seems to confirm that old adage about how the more things change, the more they stay the same. We patted ourselves on the back and declared victory when we managed to get the Taliban regime in Afghanistan months after the September 11th attacks. But like we showed in Iraq as well, we seemed to lack any long-term strategy, and we never did fully get rid of the Taliban, either. They continued to fight, even though we rarely heard about it in the news.
Now, I have a feeling, we are going to hear about them a whole lot more in the coming years. They will be a reminder of a foolish American regime that occupied the White House and had an aggressive foreign policy that was seemed to rely on violent solutions to problems rather than on wisdom. Many Americans, even a majority of Americans, supported that regime back in those days. It appears that we will be paying for our collective hubris now, every time we hear about developments in an Afghanistan once again ruled by the Taliban.
On Saturday, the militia's fighters took the last remaining government stronghold of Mazar-e-Sharif, followed quickly on Sunday by the city of Jalalabad, which lies just east of Kabul on a major road artery.
By Sunday, Kabul was a scene eerily reminiscent of the fall of Saigon in 1975 in the wake of the Vietnam War, as helicopters circled the U.S. embassy as its diplomatic personnel were under evacuation orders. The comparison to Vietnam was one that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was keen to dismiss: "This is not Saigon. We went to Afghanistan 20 years ago with one mission, and that mission was to deal with the folks who attacked us on 9/11 and we succeeded in that mission," he told CNN's State of the Union.
Here are the links to two NPR articles, both by Scott Neuman, who reports on the seemingly lightning fast takeover of Kabul by the Taliban, as well as another article where he explores four ramifications of this that the world might want to take note of:
Afghanistan Falls To The Taliban Again As The U.S.-Backed Government Collapses by Scott Neuman, August 15, 2021:
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/15/1027860324/the-taliban-win-control-of-afghanistan-as-the-u-s-backed-government-collapses?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&fbclid=IwAR1Gv34uKq9Ev5h8jfqugkrM5Vr_OxqigdqNtT6EDKrofGnq5NLaTK0MtUQ
4 Reasons A Taliban Takeover In Afghanistan Matters To The World by Scott Neuman, August 15, 2021:
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/14/1027375958/taliban-afghanistan-takeover-the-world-humanitarian-china-pakistan?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20210814&fbclid=IwAR0VByjY38gmIw9_-OgiJrggpHbTX9BSYTWU-11rktvYW2XC5ZJdX-MtrRA
Below is the link to that other article, dated from 2015, where a local man tells of the time when the Taliban forced him and others to do their dirty work in destroying the Buddhas of Bamiyan. It is a sad and alarming story, but it illustrates just how scary the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan really was:
The man who helped blow up the Bamiyan Buddhas by Nasir Behzad and Daud Qarizadah, BBC Afghanistan, Published12 March 2015:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-31813681
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