The battle between the (The National Resistance Front (NRF))Panjshir forces and the Taliban is another indicator that almost all the belligerent forces are non-state actors in Afghanistan. There is no single notion of identity of state so tribal feelings overwhelmingly dominate. The US’s twenty years of failed struggle to “construct” a state shows why that job is not tough but probably impossible. As the Western media cheers on the followers of Ahmed Shah Masoud, it misses this basic point. The West was always wrong on Afghanistan. The only task left now is to cheer on the enemy’s enemy is a display of impotence and frustration.
Meanwhile thousands of people looking to flee the country continue to head to Afghanistan’s borders after the withdrawal of U.S. forces put an end to a massive airlift. It’s another example showing why the West lost. The Taliban wasn’t much of a fighting group, the US forces and policy makers were so inept, they were enough to inflict defeat on itself.
The United States and its allies evacuated no more than 123,000 people out of Kabul but tens of thousands of Afghans who had helped the West during the 20-year war remained behind. It was both bad planning and at one level, a betrayal.
In a resolution, the UN Security Council has urged the Taliban to allow safe passage for those seeking to leave Afghanistan. Taliban has promised to let Afghan’s wishing to leave go, but now they owe debts to none except Russia and China and these two are mum on the matter.
The Islamist militia focused on keeping banks, hospitals and government machinery running after the final withdrawal of U.S. forces on Monday brought an end to a massive airlift of Afghans who had helped Western nations during the 20-year war.
Afghanistan is a tribal caucus not a conventional Western state. While the West is waiting for a more liberal Taliban, which it can live with, Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah had wrapped up a three-day consultative meeting with tribal and religious elders in the southern city of Kandahar.
Talibans have promised amnesty to the occupation force Afghan workers but reports of summary executions and house to house searches are occurring across the country. Given that the US was so disorganized and failed to carry with them those they had promised to do so, this was only to be expected. The lesson may be is to be more cautious with Western collaboration in future.
Meanwhile, some Gulf and Arab states are beginning to send support. Qatar is one. “While no final agreement has been reached regarding providing technical assistance, Qatar’s technical team has initiated this discussion based on the other sides’ request,” AFP news agency has quoted.
A senior board member of the Afghan central bank urged the U.S. Treasury and the International Monetary Fund to take steps to provide the Taliban-led government some access to Afghanistan’s reserves, telling Reuters that the country risks an “inevitable economic and humanitarian crisis.”
If the US holds back Afghan money as political ransom, its stock as a human rights supporting country, essential for its international branding may further decline causing more problems than it wants.
