Taliban came into being with the active American financial and materials support during the cold-war days to counter the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. The U.S. initially funded the Mujaheddin, a group of warlords, who, with the huge money and arms received from the U.S., helped drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan.
The Soviets withdrawal made the Americans discontinue funding the Mujaheddin, who were already armed to the teeth. The Mujaheddin started fighting each other when the U.S. Army helped the birth of the Taliban. Taliban initially helped the Americans but grew big for any U.S. control armed to the teeth during Reagan’s tenure. The Taliban grabbed power in Afghanistan eventually.
Though claimed a conspiracy, the U.S. Army trained the Taliban, including Osama Bin Laden, the latter masterminding the 9/11 attack. The U.S. realized that the monster of terrorism has reached their home and decided to root it out. But, in a complete lack of vision, they relied on Pakistan to reach arms to the Taliban. The classified U.S. aid, running to billions of dollars, was the main lifeline for struggling Pakistan’s economy. Yet Pakistan betrayed the U.S. by secretly helping the terror and caused damage to the American plans to be on the good books of the Taliban.
I had written earlier that America solely thinks for its benefit and reportedly found the Afghan war a fruitless exercise. The Chinese, in the South China Seas, had become a more severe threat. The U.S. secretly engaged with the Taliban a few weeks ago and decided to exit from Afghanistan. The Taliban agreed to allow safe passage for the U.S. Army, the NATO forces, and other foreigners in exchange for the Americans leaving back billions of dollars worth of lethal arms.
The list of arms left back by the U.S. in the hands of the Taliban includes 2,000 armoured vehicles, including U.S. Humvees, and up to 40 aircraft, including UH-60 Black Hawks, scout attack helicopters, and ScanEagle military drones. They also handed over 600000 rifles, almost six rifles for each Taliban soldier. The U.S. has gifted 208 aircraft, of which between 40 and 50 reportedly could have been flown out by the Afghan air force to neighbouring Uzbekistan. Between 2002 and 2017, the U.S. had given the Afghan military an estimated $28 billion in weaponry, including guns, rockets, night-vision goggles and even drones.
The U.S. may have extracted some concessions from the Taliban with a non-attack on each other. However, a weaker and defeated U.S. cannot ensure adherence to commitments by the opponent. The sanctions from the West against the Taliban will lead to speedier cashing their arms to many terrorist outfits across the world. Pakistan will happily take them, funded by China. The American arms industry will be delighted at the prospects of a war in the Kashmir region, while the U.S. government heaves a sigh of relief from China’s SCS diversion to Afghanistan and POK.
I am not thrilled and feel dismayed.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
