Afghanistan- War and Uncertainty
A twenty-year war and never-ending human suffering.
Imagine playing GTA in real life with no police cheat codes. Sounds strange?! Yeah? Well, it isn’t. Afghanistan, being the sole proof of the same. Remember how the very thought of second North Korea could bring shivers down your spine? Well, this ephialtes isn’t far away.
There is a key beauty and flaw in America’s desire to help nations establish freedom from tyranny. The beauty is that they do not attempt a takeover and expansion of US territory. The flaw is that they assume this freedom came from their political structure. Afghanistan’s free republic is a unique and powerful model, but the founders knew it would not work if there wasn’t a Biblical morality. So, trying to establish freedom and democracy in nations that do not first embrace Jesus and the Bible is destined to fail from the beginning. Afghanistan is a painful example of that.
Here a major question arises as to why the US invaded Afghanistan?
Let me give you all some brief theories for the same,
1. The geostrategic importance of Afghanistan was one of the compelling reasons for the US to invade Afghanistan.
2. The vast mineral resources (including lithium)
3. The belief that there were major oil reserves in Kazakhstan and the wish to build a pipeline to bring the Kazakh oil to the oceans
4. The wish to demonstrate that the USA was going to go batshit crazy in response to attacks on the USA
5. The enormous profits that would accrue to the American military-industrial-congressional-security-media-lobbyist-bankster complex from a quagmire war.
It is evident that the American invasion didn’t do as they had promised. For 20 years their front for the world was to help with infrastructure and other aspects of Afghanistan leading it to become sustainable for its inhabitants. But they left it in the same if the not worse situation they had started with forces creating mass destruction mercilessly. To combat this, the US felt fit to appoint the Taliban jihadists, getting their training from the Arabs and the neighboring Afghans had placed their whole trust in them. Afghanistan took this decision, as America could not allow the Soviets to take control over Central Asia.
Of course, the Afghan government also had its selfish gains to be fulfilled, therefore, they also deceived the people for which the price is hefty and is still being paid. As the Taliban got out of control after having a taste of “victory” and being the powerhouse of Afghanistan, Americans lost control over them. This means they had to fight and tame the evil they had created in the first place. As history unravels, Pakistan was a trusted face, so the Afghans welcomed their fighters with open arms hoping their hearts were of Muslims so they wouldn’t wrong us to this extent; sadly they were proven wrong. And the live demo of which is now flooding the media on a widespread basis.
Keeping the black history of Afghanistan slide, I cannot fathom the amount of pain and suffering innocent afghans need to face daily. Everyday war life with utter desperation and even painful sight of their relatives being brutality killed and massacred in front of them is something that is beyond all nightmares. To have war as one’s lifelong reality is not living.
It’s surviving just to die the very next moment. Parents put their hearts in a long agony while sending their children off to countries where they could see a meaningful life, this is not a choice of long-listed options, but an option between life and death. The situation there has been far more grotesque for even my words to elaborate.
An estimated 241,000 people have died as a direct result of the war since the US invaded Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands more, mostly civilians, have died due to hunger, disease, and injury caused by the devastating war. The Afghan military and police, who have fought alongside the US, are estimated to have lost between 66,000 and 69,000 soldiers. Between the 1st of January up until the 30th of June of this tragic year, the UNAMA documented 5,183 civilian casualties (1,659 killed and 3,524 injured).
The total number of civilians killed and injured increased by 47 percent compared with the first half of 2020. For five straight years, Afghan civilians have been faced with endless destructive attacks with no one to be questioned, to compensate or be held accountable for. ln 2020, 424 attacks spanning 235 days were recorded across the country. A thought to ponder upon, these aren’t just some numbers I lay before you, these are innocent people who have lost their lives. Not mere digits we skim through and forget about but mother’s who have lost their loved ones, fathers who will never be able to see their children again. It’s heartbreaking to think how these precious lives were lost and went unnoticed.
The country’s hunger crisis has reached alarming levels.
• An estimated 300,000 Afghans have been newly displaced inside the country since January 2021- primarily due to insecurity and violence — bringing the total uprooted population to over 3.5 million.
- At least 18.4 million Afghans require humanitarian assistance, including 3.1 million children at risk of acute malnutrition.
- Some 80% of the country is now classified as being in either a severe or a serious drought.
- Money from international donors is short because of the pandemic. The humanitarian situation seems sure to get even worse.
Currently, lakhs of refugees are surviving on bare minimum entities. With countless other women sexually harassed and forced to wear burkha to many others who are facing public executions if involved in any protest-related activities. Taliban claimed to be less strict this time but their contradicting actions speak a different story altogether as the latest news showed, women being forced to marry, women without burkha were publicly assaulted and much more. According to their claims, women are supposed to do anything under the “SHARIA” law which simply is Neanderthal.
Symbolically to signify, it’s basically taking as much oxygen as a particular person wants but under the water which in turn is fruitless efforts after all. Afghanistan doesn’t deserve this. Long ago this country had seen epic instances of sheer violence and brutality, barred nearly all girls and women from attending school, and harsh punishments to those who defied them.
The developments, as well as the growth, this country had seen in the past 20 years, have all now shredded onto mere dust of vagueness. And this merely calls for a severe humanitarian disaster to unfold in near future with its severity creating a catastrophic situation for the future of Afghanistan. The reign of utter barbaric instances isn’t just a concern for Afghanistan but it’s high time for other countries to realize what effects it can lead to.
Now we can also see that many other neighboring countries have kept their mouth shut even after seeing such nuisance happening in Afghanistan. Needless to mention what all impacts it can put onto INDIA itself.
Major Security Concerns
India’s foreign policies and strategic options are at stake, especially after the fall of major Afghan cities and provinces, as it will complicate the border situations after already countering hostilities at LAC with China and LOC with Pakistan.
The rise of an unfriendly government in Kabul will eliminate the hindrances of providing full-fledged support to the militant groups such as Lashkar-e-taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, who already have bases all around the southern provinces bordering Pakistan. Most probably, this may facilitate the militant as well as intelligence agencies of POK Kashmir to disrupt the developments made in the last two decades.
This may also ruin the chances of opening formal talks or backchannels with the Afghan Taliban which may route their paths from Karachi and Gwadar straight into Indian territory without giving India much leverage. The principles of backing a democratically elected government in Afghanistan will bring in clouds of terror over the Indian security concerns as it would hurt the sentiment of the Taliban as already stated by their spokesperson Suhail Shaheen.
Other major investment-related concerns
The major foreign policy failures and the significant move by Biden might concern the US and its allies to reconsider their interests in Afghanistan. The idea of the US New Silk Road along with Indian investments at Chabahar port at Iran and $3 Billion worth of investments including Zaranj-Delaram Road at Afghanistan might lose their importance. As of now, the focus may turn towards the BRI and CPEC infrastructures.
It will be a tough time for New Delhi to live with the threatening concerns of the advantages of Pakistan with the following encouragements from Afghanistan, ruining the 2011 India-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement alongside.
Its effects are not just specified to these impacts but many other uncountable risks that can’t even be predicted as such.
It doesn’t get easy, for any of them. This feeling- this gut-wrenching vulnerability and guilt of not being able to do anything is suffocating for poor afghans. This silent rue of never finding themselves back onto the track, back to the beautiful and peaceful nation is a dream that is now fading into oblivion.
The plight of Afghanistan isn’t just now their internal matter, it's something that’s a concern of the whole world and they should unanimously deliberate about how to curb the same. Its high time for UNHRC and other countries to extend their support and help Afghanistan.
This endless amount of misery and bloodshed inflicted upon them has to stop. And this being said that God also helps those who help themselves. Hence, Afghans also need to buckle themselves up for the rights that they have been craving.
It isn’t just for themselves but also for those mothers who have never seen the return of their children from war, for those women who never freely got the right to proper education along with basic humanitarian needs, for those people whose mere existence is at grave risk.
It’s no secret that the misery created is their hunger for power and the price is being paid by the poor and innocent Afghans. They should stop turning to others for assistance, stop waiting for people to arrive. They should also stand together to give them a fight; a fight for their women, a fight for their children, a fight that would remain etched in history forever, a fight for once and for all.
