What is happening in Afghanistan?
Written by Sukeerthi and Akash
Refugees in Afghanistan are flooding into Kabul as the country's U.S.-trained forces appear to be collapsing in the face of a concerted push by Taliban forces. Names and places that became familiar to Americans during their country's long involvement there — including Kunduz and Kandahar — have fallen like dominoes in recent days as the Taliban sweep toward the capital.
The wars in Afghanistan between the US and the Taliban date back to 2001, where nearly 3,000 people were killed. Officials identified Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, and its leader Osama Bin Laden, as responsible for the war. Bin Laden was in Afghanistan, under the protection of the Taliban, the Islamists who had been in power since 1996. When they refused to hand him over, the US intervened militarily, quickly removing the Taliban and vowing to support democracy and eliminate the terrorist threat.
The Taliban emerged in the civil war that followed the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989, predominantly in the southwest and the Pakistan border areas. They took charge of fighting corruption but followed an austere way of Islam. They ended up taking control of Afghanistan by the year 1998. From then, they have enforced various laws on the land and have made life very complicated for the people of Afghanistan. There are many threats that the Taliban poses to Afghanistan and the world. To discuss a few, the country will once again become a training ground for terrorism; the future of women is uncertain; the Taliban and al-Qaeda are inseparable, with the latter's fighters heavily embedded and engaged in training activity; etc.
The US army has maintained peace and stability in the nation of Afghanistan, but with the Taliban back in power, As the United States has withdrawn its remaining forces from Afghanistan, the Taliban has increased attacks on civilians, seized control of critical border crossings, and dramatically expanded its presence throughout the country. By midsummer 2021, sixteen of the country’s thirty-four provincial capitals were at risk of falling under Taliban control.
This has stirred up many riots. People have no clue of what they can expect. Many innocent lives are being lost, many women are being mistreated, many people have become deployed in homes and shelters, and many other saddening riots have been caused.
Now the fighters have captured much of northern, western and southern Afghanistan in a breakneck military operation less than three weeks before the United States is set to withdraw its last troops, raising fears of a full takeover or another Afghan civil war. With the Taliban in control of two-thirds of the war-torn country, thousands have fled via the capital’s international airport. The US and European countries also started evacuating their embassy staff as the Taliban moves closer to the capital, Kabul.
The Taliban captured two major Afghan cities, the country’s second and third-largest after Kabul, and strategic provincial capital, further squeezing the embattled government just weeks before the end of the American military mission in Afghanistan. The seizure of Kandahar and Herat marks the biggest prizes yet for the Taliban, who have taken 12 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals as part of a week-long blitz. The capture of the city of Ghazni, meanwhile, cuts off a crucial highway linking the Afghan capital, Kabul, with the country’s southern provinces, all part of an insurgent push some 20 years after U.S. and NATO troops invaded and ousted the Taliban government.
Taliban’s rapid advance towards Kabul is not only causing concern about Afghanistan’s future but also about the impact on other countries in the region and their economies. Iran and then
Iraq lies to the west of Afghanistan. Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are to the north. But the immediate focus for financial markets and investors is Pakistan to the east. Pakistan has a large public debt, a sizable equity market and is dependent on a $6bn IMF programme. The prospect of years of violence and waves of refugees will add pressure to its fiscal repair plans. “It is a very troubling situation and unfortunately has set the region back many years,” said Shamaila Khan, head of emerging market debt at AllianceBernstein. “I think the neighbouring countries will have to deal with an influx of refugees in the coming months/years”.
In the provinces they've captured so far, there's strong evidence that the Taliban of today and the Taliban of 20 years ago are not much different. A war that started between the US and Taliban, has today become a war of the innocent lives in the nation of Afghanistan. People are living their lives hoping that they’d make it throughout the day, the danger posed there is at its peak level. Although much of the violence goes unreported, big attacks in the cities tend to make the headlines. Such attacks are occurring with greater frequency and the Afghan security forces appear unable to stop them.
Sources: Reuters - NY Times - BBC - Al Jazeera