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Capital Falls. President Runs. What’s Next for Afghanistan?

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By Zhihui Zou

August 16, 2021
6:06 pm
Los Angeles, CA

"If you’ve been waiting for an invitation, this calligraphy is it. Commissioned by Facebook, this is a hand-lettered design for a poster. Quote is Facebook mine "

- Massimo Vignelli

Afghan Ashraf Ghani fleeing from his Presidential Palace and Taliban fighters entering Kabul on August 15, 2021 signals the end to an era in Afghanistan, the era first began on September 11, 2001. According to a Brown University study, in these two decades, over 171,000 lives have been lost, both of the Afghan people and citizens of foreign countries. When the United States military began its withdrawal from Afghanistan in May, the Afghanistan armed forces. General Jack Keane, a retired United States four-star general, commented on Fox News that the United States’s military withdrawal is “ill-conceived,” which caused the drastic worsening of resistance on the Afghan military’s side. The United States and other NATO countries poured almost $1 trillion into training and providing resources in the past two decades,

When the United States military began its withdrawal from Afghanistan in May, the Afghanistan armed forces. General Jack Keane, a retired United States four-star general, commented on Fox News that the United States’s military withdrawal is “ill-conceived,” which caused the drastic worsening of resistance on the Afghan military’s side. The United States and other NATO countries poured almost $1 trillion into training and providing resources in the past two decades, but the Afghan military held little influential resistance against the fast-advancing Taliban fighters.

Now, Taliban fighters have stormed the streets of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Photos of Taliban members sitting in President Ghani’s office have already been released by The Associated Press. The United States deployed 6,000 soldiers on August 14 and the United Kingdom 600 troops on August 15 to secure the evacuation of their embassy staff and other citizens in Afghanistan.

However, it does not seem like the newly deployed troops will be used in operations that can change the worse situation faced by the Afghan government. Foreign countries have urged all parties in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, to “bear responsibility—and accountability—for the protection of human life and property, and for the immediate restoration of security and civil order,” according to The Associated Press.

The Taliban has released a statement saying they promise a peaceful transition, but many Afghan people, and people around the world, do not trust such statements. Members of the Afghanistan armed forces, such as pilots, and interpreters who have worked for the U.S. or other NATO troops are desperately trying to leave the country in fearing the Taliban revengement. The Afghan public fear that the Taliban will reinstitute the brutal rule, which consists of the elimination of women’s and children’s rights, sex slavery and killing. “80% of nearly 250,0000 Afghans forced to flee since the end of May are women and children,” said Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson of the UN Refugee Agency.

Footages of Taliban fighters examining Black Hawk and other United States military aircrafts were released to social media on August 15. The Afghanistan Air Force, which was sought to be a key symbol in the assistance from the United States in helping the Afghan government defending the Taliban, is now almost a figurehead. Situations are also worse regarding the Afghan army. Many Afghan soldiers in Kandahar and outside of Kabul have surrendered without resistance.

It is clear that, without immediate, determined and direct foreign military support, the Afghan government is highly unlikely to turn the tide of this war, now with their capital lost. The United States’ evacuation of embassy staff, which includes using helicopters to transport staff out of the diplomacy area, have been compared to the the U.S. withdrawal from Saigon, Vietnam. However, the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on ABC’s This Week said, “This is manifestly not Saigon,” said

Regardless of whether the evacuation was or was not similar to Vietnam in 1975, the Afghan public does not have the privilege to be transported away from the war zone by military helicopters. Afghanistan’s acting defense minister, General Bismillah Mohammadi, wrote that “They tied our hands behind our backs and sold the homeland, damn the rich man and his gang,” after knowing President Ghani has already fled from the country, according to CNN.

The Taliban’s statement of peaceful transition in government power throughout Afghanistan, just like the Taliban’s statement for ensuring a peaceful post-war society, is difficult for the Afghan people to believe, now that the Taliban holds absolute military initiative. An Afghan official in Kabul who negotiated with the Taliban during the “handover” described the process to be “tense,” according to The Associated Press.