Taliban in Kabul after two decades

Smoother than the transition of presidential powers in Washington, the Taliban¹ entered Kabul, witj no single bullet fired, no one killed, no one injured, no one arrested. It was a war welcome by the local residents with no resistance at all.

Source: Reuters

The world has witnessed the peaceful entry of the Taliban into Kabul. The city is very much normal. People on the ground are reporting that shops are opened, bakeries are working, traffic on the roads is as usual, ATMs are functioning, Mobile and Internet services are uniterepted. Government offices are functioning, bureaucracy is working regularly. Women are going to their work and girls are going to school as usual. Only Ashraf Ghani has fled the country while the Taliban has taken over the presidential palace.

The U.S. attacked Afghanistan twenty years ago, under a plan and the lame excuse of staged drama “9/11” and pushed the Taliban out, although no concrete evidence of Afghan involvement in the “9/11” incident has yet been provided. But Afghanistan was completely destroyed. Millions of people were killed, injured, and made homeless, mostly the innocent citizens. Infrastructure was damaged, the economy destroyed, life was made uneasy for Afghans. The U.S. has spent billions of dollars and yet have to face “Saigon like fate.”

The U.S. embassy has burned all sentitive information and assets, leaving no evidence behind and closed. It is a normal practice that a defeated army eliminates all possible evidence before surrendering.

President Joe Biden linked the withdrawal with “9/11” to mark the day as a memorial, but faced failure that may mark American defeat like Saigon, once again. The U.S. is planning to send more troops, which is aimed to spoil Afghan peace and sabotage the stability in Afghanistan. The countries around Afghanistan suffered a lot due to war in Afghanistan and were struggling to bering peace and stability in Afghanistan. The U.S.—in an attempt to harm China and Russia—may continue spoiling peace in Afghanistan.

After the staged drama “9/11” incident, American and their allied forces began an invasion of Afghanistan called Operation Enduring Freedom, to push the Taliban from Afghanistan.

On December 7, 2001, the Taliban lost its last major stronghold as the city of Kandahar fell. Since then, the Taliban have attempted to gain ground in Afghanistan throughout the time U.S. forces have been there and throughout multiple U.S. administrations.

In January 2017, the Taliban sent an open letter to then-newly elected U.S. President Trump, calling on him to withdraw U.S. forces from the country and restore peace in Afghanistan. Between 2017 to 2019, there were attempts at peace talks between the U.S. and the Taliban that never finalized into an agreement.

During a surprise Thanksgiving trip to Afghanistan in November 2019, President Trump assessed that the Afghan war was unwinnable and prolonging the war further would mean more loss to the U.S. President Trump announced that peace talks with the Taliban were restarting. The peace talks resumed in Doha, Qatar, in December of that year.

The U.S. and the Taliban signed a historic agreement in February 2020, which set into motion the potential of a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan before May 2021. The Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan outlined a series of commitments from the U.S. and the Taliban related to troop levels, counter-terrorism, and the intra-Afghan dialogue aimed at bringing about “a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.”

In August 2020, Afghanistan’s grand assembly of elders, the consultative Loya Jirga, passed a resolution calling for the release of the last batch of some 5,000 Taliban prisoners, paving the way for direct peace talks with the insurgent group to end nearly two decades of war. The release of the 400 prisoners was part of the agreement signed by the U.S. and the Taliban in February.

In April 2021, President Biden deviated from the Peace deal signed under the Trump administration and announced that the U.S. would withdraw forces from Afghanistan by September 2021. In August, just months after the U.S. began withdrawing forces, the Biden administration sent in 5,000 troops into Afghanistan after the Taliban began gaining control across the country.

On August 15, after the Taliban seized control of every major city across Afghanistan, apart from Kabul, in just two weeks, the Taliban engaged in talks with the government in the capital over who will rule the nation.

The Taliban is now in full control of the country and has seized the presidential palace in Kabul after President Ghani fled the country. Talks to form a transitional government are underway, soon expected to reach a deal.

A general amnesty has been granted to the general public and asked to give up guns and join them in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The Taliban has declared that they are not biased and will not punish anyone. They are allowing any foreign national to leave Afghanistan, airport is properly operational.

The Taliban is reformed and refined. They have learned bitter lessons and improved. Although the Western media is over-engaged in defaming the Taliban and projecting a negative image, spreading fake news and fabricated news, the Taliban are well-educated and sensible people. Russian foreign ministry has also termed the Taliban more reasonable and smart. Some of them are educated from the reputed universities in America and Europe. They are equipped with all sorts of modern knowledge in addition to religion. They know how to rule their country. Let the people of Afghanistan decide their fate. All external interventions must come to an end.

The international community is satisfied, most of the embassies are functioning well and decided to remain there, except the few like America and its close allies. Russia has clarified to keep its embassy functioning. The Taliban are in contact with many countries, hoping to get recognition from more than a hundred countries in the coming few days. The Taliban are willing to maintain good relations with all nations and exected to be reciprocated accordingly.

The UN SC has called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. It is expected that China and Russia, along with all peace-loving nations, will support peace in Afghanistan. Peace in Afghanistan is a prerequisite for regional peace, security, development, and prosperity. The international community must respect the will of Afghans. The public in Afghanistan is with the Taliban and has offered zero resistance—instead, welcomed them. The Taliban are the real pillars of the power and representatives of Afghanistan. The Taliban are protecting Afghan interests and will rule their country in the best possible manner. They are the son of the soil and loyal with their country. The U.S. grabbed power from Taliban and must return back to them.