22 April 2021

The Taliban Will Outlast America’s Longest War

Ruth Pollard

September 11 is the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. that prompted its invasion of Afghanistan, which was hosting al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. It is also the date this year that President Joe Biden plans to have withdrawn the final American soldiers from the country.

The hardline Islamic group is arguably more powerful in Afghanistan than at any time since it was ousted in 2001 given the territory it controls, and despite almost $1 trillion in spending by the U.S. on the country. And it is showing every sign it is ready to re-assert control.

While it struck an agreement during Donald Trump’s presidency to facilitate the withdrawal of U.S. troops, the Taliban has not severed ties with al-Qaeda and other Islamist militant groups and refuses to negotiate seriously with the Afghan government.

It pulled out of a U.S.-sponsored peace summit due to begin this month because Biden is allowing troops to remain beyond the May 1 deadline negotiated with his predecessor.

In Kabul, President Ashraf Ghani is looking increasingly isolated. The U.S. wants him to include the Taliban in a transitional government, a prospect that most ordinary Afghans oppose. They fear two decades of hard-fought progress for women — and the country at large — will be eroded.

Violence has climbed since peace talks started in September, including targeted killings of journalists, civil society members and politicians, with data out today showing a 29% rise in civilian casualties this year.

The withdrawal is a gamble for the U.S. that Afghanistan won’t collapse in disarray, and an even bigger one for the nation’s people.

With one of the youngest and fastest growing populations in the world, it is the citizens who’ve known nothing but war who’ll be left to pick up the pieces. — Ruth Pollard

Decommissioned tanks and armored vehicles sit outside an Afghan National Army base in Mazar-i-Sharif in October, 2015.

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