Featured Photo Credit: Photo by Rr016 from Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0. Source.
For the past few days I have been observing the quickly unfolding events in the now former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as the unprecedented advance of the Taliban took place in the midst of the US and NATO withdrawal from the country. The speed at which the Taliban have retaken appears to have even been unrealized in its scope by intelligence services.
In short, this is a complete disaster, no matter what those currently in charge are saying. I do believe that we should have withdrawn, but the way in which it has been done appears to have had little sound planning and has led to complete and utter chaos, along with current worrying reports coming out of Kabul Airport, the current last place to escape the country from as the Taliban now control everything else.
It seems 20 years in Afghanistan simply leading to this is really a demoralizing failure, and all those who have presided over this should be held fully responsible, and quit playing down this major failure that is still unfolding. I have never seen such a level of incompetence by our own Governments in the handling of the situation in Afghanistan, even when the situation appeared to be dire, we still had some Western nations thinking they could wait just a few more days before conducting evacuations. How could they have gotten this so wrong?
This event is history and we have witnessed it basically live from beginning to end and I have never seen anything like it, witnessing the collapse of a country in this way was both terrifying and breathtaking, and still hard to believe. It will be in the history books, and I do not think history will look so kindly on those leaders and administrations currently in-charge and involved militarily in Afghanistan, and those who also preceded the current administrations involved. This will be studied for decades to come, just as the events of the Cold War and the two World Wars were.
The Taliban have captured many weapons and some vehicles that were given to the now defeated Afghan National Army by the US, these weapons could now very well fall into terrorist hands, and honestly how many times has this happened? We don’t seem to learn.
The Taliban faced very little resistance during their offensive, and can we really blame the ANA for mostly retreating without a fight? Considering the corrupt people they themselves were fighting for? Corrupt warlords and a mostly unpopular President. Perhaps the ANA could have won if things were done differently, if circumstances were different, they certainly had the numbers and superior firepower, but in a country that is fractured along tribal lines, is corrupt at almost every level, and which is heavily demoralized by two decades of endless war, that is incredibly difficult to do.
I most feel the tragedy for those who fought bravely in Afghanistan and those families who lost loved ones there, I can only imagine their thoughts on what has happened and is currently still happening. The war should never have gone on for this long, and all for what?
It really is just a terrible and awful reality that is now unfolding. We shall see its consequences in the coming weeks, months, and years, as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan rises again.