#BTColumn – The return of the Taliban

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY Inc.

by Wayne Campbell

“Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan. ” – John F. Kennedy.

We have all seen the stunning and alarming images on our television; hundreds of Afghans both men and women running alongside a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane as it moves down a runway of the Hamid Karzai International airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The script was not supposed to end like this. The Taliban have moved with fighting speed to control Afghanistan. The United States of America-trained Afghan security forces hardly resisted the Taliban. This military manoeuvring by the Taliban has led many to wonder whether or not the United States and her allies miscalculated the capacity and capabilities of the Taliban. Many will view the surrender of Kabul as well as the other provinces in Afghanistan with some suspicion especially since the former president Ashraf Ghani fled before Kabul fell to the Taliban.

A significant number of us know very little about this country except regarding the Taliban. Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a mountainous, landlocked country in South-Central Asia at an important geopolitical location; it connects the Middle East with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

The country is bordered by Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan; it has a short border in the Wakhan Corridor panhandle with Xinjiang, an autonomous region of China. With a surface area of 652,000 km, the country is somewhat larger than the Iberian Peninsula, or slightly smaller than U.S. state of Texas.

Afghanistan has a population of 26.5 million people (in 2015). The capital and largest city is Kabul. The official languages are Afghan Persian or Dari (50 per cent), and Pashto (35 per cent). Afghanistan’s recent history is characterised by war and civil unrest.

The Soviet Union (Russia) invaded in 1979, but was forced to withdraw 10 years later by anti-Communist mujahidin forces supplied and trained by the US, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and others. It seems as if the fighting has never stopped among the various mujahidin (tribal) factions, which gave rise to a state of warlordism that eventually spawned the Taliban.

Who are the Taliban?
The Wall Street Journal states the Taliban were founded in southern Afghanistan by Mullah Mohammad Omar, a member of the Pashtun tribe who became a mujahedeen commander that helped push the Soviets out of the country in 1989.

In 1994, Mullah Omar formed the group in Kandahar with about 50 followers who rose up to challenge the instability, corruption and crime that consumed Afghanistan during the post-Soviet-era civil war.

The Taliban quickly captured Kandahar and seized the capital, Kabul, in 1996 as Afghans grew disenchanted with the country’s insecurity. The Taliban swiftly imposed strict Islamic rules that banned television and music, barred girls from going to school and forced women to wear head-to-toe coverings called burqas.

The 2001 destruction of the two giant Buddhas in Bamiyan by the Taliban showed the international community the lack of respect they have for the historical and cultural heritage of Afghanistan. The Taliban provided Osama bin Laden with sanctuary while he planned the September 11 terrorist attacks.

When the Taliban refused U.S. demands that they hand over bin Laden, American forces invaded Afghanistan and quickly toppled Mullah Omar’s government. Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders found sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan while they mounted an insurgent campaign to regain power in Afghanistan. bin Laden who founded Al-Qaeda was eventually killed in Pakistan in 2011.

In February 2020, the Trump administration and the Taliban signed a historic deal in Doha, Qatar that laid out a 14-month timetable for America and NATO allies to withdraw all of its forces from Afghanistan.

Under the agreement, the Taliban agreed not to allow al-Qaeda or any extremist group to operate in the areas they control. The Taliban now control the entire country. It will be interesting to see whether the Taliban live up to this agreement.

To say that Afghanistan has been politically unstable is an understatement. The government of current president Ashraf Ghani has been widely supported by the United States of America and Western powers. After 20 years of occupying Afghanistan President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of all US troops by September 11, 2021. The Taliban used this announcement to their advantage to regroup and retake Afghanistan.

The cost in lives
The Associated Press states the Afghans have paid the highest price. Since 2001 at least 47, 245 Afghan civilians have been killed in the war as of mid April, according to the Cost of Wars Project at Browns University. The United Nation states the war has forced 2.7 million Afghans to flee their homes mostly to Iran, Pakistan and Europe. The number of US troops killed stands at 2, 442 with 20,666 wounded. Approximately 1,144 personnel from the 40 nation North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) coalition have also been killed. Additionally, a significant number of US private contractors have also lost their lives in this conflict. Undoubtedly, there are associated costs of a war such as the cost to resettle those who fled their homeland as well as the humanitarian crisis that is inevitable with any war.

Cost in dollars
The Cost of Wars Project estimates that United States has spent $2.2 trillion. The United States of America Defence Department states the war- fighting costs over the years in Afghanistan total $815.7 billion; from food for troops to fuel; to Humvees, weapons and ammunition; from tanks to armoured vehicles to aircraft carriers to airstrikes. This is clearly not pocket change in any imagination. The anguish and longterm suffering of those involved in any war is oftentimes immeasurable. How can we quantify the pain of those families whose sons and daughters died in this war?

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
What will the role of women be under Taliban rule? Will women be allowed to participate in governance and all spheres of public life as stipulated in the United Nations Sustainable Goals, especially goal #5 which speaks about Gender Equality? Goal 5 speaks to the achieving of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

Given what we already know of the Taliban it is far-fetched to believe that a Taliban government will protect the rights of women and girls. Sustainable Development Goal #4 speaks to Quality

Education in terms of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all. The Taliban is an all-male group, the interests and rights of women and girls are immaterial.

Additionally, goal #10 speaks to Reducing Inequalities Within and Among Countries. To what extent will the Taliban be concerned about reducing inequalities especially in areas such as income inequality between the sexes.

The Taliban of the past punished women who sought to assert their rights, the same leadership is in place, it’s foolhardy to think that the leopard has changed its skin. Will Afghan women be forced to wear the burqa? The burqa is a symbol of control over a woman. The protection of boys is just as important as the protection of girls.