opinion | Life is brutal under Taliban rule after a year
To some, the Taliban have been unable to stabilize Afghanistan’s economy and that the harsh nature of the Taliban’s regime has frightened both foreign aid and potential investors. Taliban leaders are subject to sanctions and, while they have experience controlling extremism, know little about financial markets or the management of the modern economy. About 40 million people in Afghanistan are at risk of falling below the poverty line.
Related to the economic collapse, half of Afghanistan’s population is facing severe food shortages and acute hunger. During the winter, there were credible reports about Afghan families selling their children to get money to survive.
Meanwhile, an area where the Taliban actually has the experience and skills – fighting and armed conflict – is not enough to keep an aggressive insurgency at bay. Islamic State Khorasan (ISK), the Afghan branch of Islamic State, has wreaked havoc across Afghanistan, launching a guerrilla campaign of bombings, killings and suicide attacks that the Taliban have not been able to counter. ISK has also carried out a relentless campaign of bombings targeting Afghanistan’s Shia Hazara minority.
Although Afghanistan has not immediately developed into a failed state from which international terrorist groups can launch attacks without penalty, senior US defense and intelligence officials are concerned that jihadist groups such as al Qaeda and ISK will shed those capabilities in the coming months. can develop. Several assessments, including that of General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, set a time frame of between 12 and 36 months for jihadist groups to rebuild their external attack capabilities. In late June, CENTCOM commander General Michael Kurilla claimed that the US had intelligence confirming that the terrorist group Construction of training camps inside Afghanistan.
In addition to declining economic and material security, human rights have been eroded under the Taliban regime, especially for women and girls.
The fact that Jawahar was comfortable traveling to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, shows how close Al Qaeda and the Taliban are. Despite the vague statements that came with the Doha Agreement that the Taliban would break up with al Qaeda, this has not happened, and in fact many argue that the two groups are as close as ever.
In addition to declining economic and material security, human rights have been eroded under the Taliban regime, especially for women and girls. The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan released a report detailing nonjudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and myriad other violations of fundamental freedoms by the Taliban. Girls have been banned from attending secondary school, while women see their right to access the workplace and participate in public life significantly reduced.
Afghan girls read the Quran at Noor Mosque outside Kabul. , AP
There has been a steady increase in forced marriage and sexual slavery since July 2021, when the Taliban tightened their control over large areas of Afghanistan. Afghans who identify as LGBTQ have been forced to flee the country. Those left behind were electrocuted, tortured and in some cases murdered. The Taliban have also cracked down on independent media in an effort to suppress or even report dissent on these issues. Lynn O’Donnell, an Australian journalist who writes for Foreign Policy and other outlets, was “detained, abused and threatened” by the Taliban’s internal security apparatus.
Taliban leaders often try to blame the United States for its failure as a government over the past year. The Taliban’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claims that, “as far as recognition by foreign countries is concerned, I think the United States is the biggest obstacle” to the official recognition of Afghanistan as the government of Afghanistan by the wider international community. To get.
But it would be wise to look at the Mujahid and his comrades in the mirror. In general, life in Afghanistan has become much more difficult for ordinary Afghans. Additionally, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the June earthquake that killed more than 1,100 Afghans and displaced countless others have only added to the misery and suffering.
Now that the United States has withdrawn its troops, Washington has little leverage to determine the course of future events in Afghanistan. The fate of the Afghan people is in the hands of the Taliban, a group of hardline religious fanatics with little experience as a governing force.
Without question, there are many ways in which the US occupation made Afghanistan a more unstable country. Billions of dollars flowing through various ministries and chieftains were easy prey for corrupt politicians and compromised government officials. As someone who spent time serving in an anti-corruption task force in Kabul in 2011, I experienced it a lot.
But despite some corrosive second-order consequences, on balance, a US military presence gave ordinary Afghans the opportunity for a better life. This included ethnic and religious minorities such as the Shia Hazaras and traditionally marginalized segments of society, especially women. Of course, that’s why the Americans weren’t in the first place. On September 11, 2001, US forces invaded Afghanistan in response to the terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda.
And Jawahar’s presence suggests that al Qaeda is active in Afghanistan and may very well be moving towards reconstruction, soon to be activated by the selection of a new emir, who has been the group’s leader in more than a decade. The first group. The administration points to the strike as evidence that its “over-the-horizon” counter-terrorism strategy may be working. But the bottom line is, to keep the United States safe and prevent Afghanistan from returning to its pre-9/11 form as a terrorist safe haven, Washington must continue to combat terrorism in Afghanistan.
The administration should make every effort to prevent humanitarian disaster in the country left behind. Afghanistan has faded from the spotlight, but its citizens are being treated unfairly on a daily basis. Even though Biden thinks he did what was best for the United States, Afghans still need our help.
