Hyderabad: In 2001, the United States launched operation 'Enduring Freedom' in Afghanistan, to launch a war for attaining peace. The US has initiated this operation with the help of NATO nations, to put an end to the al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Though Osama Bin Laden had been assassinated during Obama’s regime, leaving al-Qaeda without a head, the Taliban continued their terrorist activities.
While the former US Vice President Dick Cheney had said that the Afghan war was unlike the Gulf War and that it would go on relentlessly, the US recently made a pact with the Taliban, putting an end to the 18-year old bad blood.
The agreement signed by the US and Taliban representatives in Doha, is giving rise to hopes of a lasting peace. The peace deal was signed on four main issues, where the Taliban guaranteed that Afghanistan will not be used by any of its members, other individuals, or terrorist groups to threaten the security of United States and its allies. The US agreed to reduce its number of troops in the country within stipulated time. Beginning March 10, discussions between several parties with the ultimate agenda of establishing peace, charting down the country’s future roadmap and preparation of joint mechanisms for its implementation are some of the key issues in this agreement.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced that he will not accept the release of 1,000 Taliban prisoners as part of this deal. Nobody could predict what the peace deal holds for Afghanistan, where bomb blasts and Kalashnikov firings are a norm.
Earlier in July 2019, the US President Trump had said that he could have had Afghanistan wiped off from the face of earth but he did not intend to kill 10 million people. Though India has been lamenting about the rise of terrorism, the US paid no heed to its fears. It decided to act only after the flames of terrorism engulfed the US in the twin towers attack.
The erstwhile President George Bush termed the war as a pursuit to conquer a latent enemy. In the following 2001 war, hundreds of innocent citizens were killed in Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Herat. Though the United Nations had signaled the end of Afghan War in 2014, 717 civilians were killed at the hands of government and foreign military forces in the first six months of the war and 531 civilians died in Taliban attacks.
In the after-war reviews, Trump had seriously condemned lakhs of dollars spent as war expenses and the martyrdom of 2,400 American soldiers and decided to put an end to the war. The super power’s ambition is to somehow get out of the Afghan trap and re-establish its dominance in the world even though the Taliban has not stopped its heinous bloody acts.
Even if the majority of American troops are withdrawn over the next four months, it is doubtful whether the war hungry Taliban forces will refrain from disturbing peace in Afghanistan.
A security council report of April 2018 states that al-Qaeda had almost integrated with the Taliban and that the Taliban is securing the interests of at least 20 terrorist organisations. Trusting Taliban who rule almost half of the Afghan land, with the peace accord is nothing but foolishness.
The Taliban, which has ensured that their country will not set the stage for international attacks as the US sought, have questioned what terrorism meant in the peace deal discussions. When the UN itself cannot properly define terrorism, the US forcibly forged a peace treaty leaving Afghanistan to its fate.
India, which has spent more than Rs. 75,000 crores on developing infrastructure in Afghanistan with the intent of restoring the nation, had been paying steep price for terrorism. It is evident as to what might happen to India in case the Taliban takes over Afghanistan. 90 percent of the world’s heroin supply comes from Afghanistan. Almost 60 percent of the Taliban revenue is from drug trafficking alone.
The International Narcotics Control Board revealed that the key chemical needed for heroin production was being supplied from India. India must carefully tread with the mission of curbing the domestic drug mafia, thereby putting an end to the Taliban’s rule.
