Hyderabad: A resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan after US forces made a retreat from their major airbase in Bagram city of Parwan province confirms that the US had made a deal with the Taliban that they won’t come in their way to regain the power in the country and in return the Taliban will allow a safe exit for US forces.
After the process of withdrawal of foreign forces — US and NATO — began, the Taliban started intensifying their advances in most of the southern and Eastern provinces, forcing soldiers of the northern alliance to either flee into a neighbouring country Tajikistan or give up their arms before the Taliban. Afghanistan is bordering Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the East and Pakistan falls in the south whereas Iran in the North.
The latest fight between the government forces and the Taliban refreshes the memories of how soldiers of the northern alliance killed the Taliban fighters after US forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001. The country has mass graves one of them in Bamiyan, a province in the north, which hosted hundreds of the corpses.
Now the country is again driven by infighting between the northern alliance — government forces earlier supported by the US and NATO — and the Taliban. US army entered the country after the Taliban refused to hand over Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the attacks carried out on the twin towers of the US in 2001.
US forces and the NATO army virtually controlled the entire country for about 20 years. Bagram airbase in the north of Kabul, which used to be the hotbed of the Taliban, was left by the US army in the dead of night a few days ago leaving the entire region to fall under Taliban’s control. It was the Bagram base from where the US forces would launch major operations against the Taliban. The air force headquarters in Bagram always remained in the headlines as it attained the media attention for journalists as they would find it safe to operate from.
It was in search of Osama Bin Laden that the US forces made an entry into Afghanistan. Taliban, then in power, refused to help or hand over Osama to US forces thus entering into the full-fledged war against the western forces led by the US. The US and allied forces launched a fierce attack forcing the Taliban to withdraw from the northern belt. They consolidated their base in the southern part of the country where they had a stronghold. The western forces made a sustained military campaign against the Taliban for more than a decade, but it did not bear any desired results. The situation for US forces continued to deteriorate, though reinforcements kept creeping into the region to intensify the counterattacks.
The attacks on the Taliban by the US and other western allies gave the Taliban international recognition particularly after the US government led by Donald Trump entered into talks with the Taliban in Doha. Though the talks initially were kept secret as both sides had a trust deficit. Taliban negotiated for the release of their prisoners while the US somewhat sought a safe and honorable exit of their forces from the region. US and NATO have developed long-term human assets — people who have worked for them against the Taliban in the region — are feeling unsafe and have nowhere to go if the Taliban comes into power. Such assets are spread across the length and breadth of the country.
Major districts of Badakshan province bordering Tajikistan fell in the hands of the Taliban. The troops of the northern alliance had to flee to Tajikistan.
Taliban is making all the efforts to take control of key strategic locations like Imam Sahab district of Kunduz province bordering with Uzbekistan where they control the key trade route.
The decades of war have ravaged Afghanistan and people of Afghanistan are worried about the future of their country in the backdrop of NATO and US troop's withdrawal. When the Taliban was in power before the US invasion the women in Afghanistan were denied education and were not allowed to work. Although, the Taliban has publicly announced that they will ensure human rights are respected and girls will be allowed to go to schools.
Apart from the parochial mindset Taliban showed during their rule in Afghanistan it is the security threat which neighbouring countries may feel for they have been the ones which facilitated freedom of Kandhar hijackers and the insurgents who were released in the exchange of passenger of IC 814, the Air India plane, hijacked from Amritsar. Now the question is whether US forces invading Afghanistan was a mistake or they deliberately wanted to keep the pot boiling for others to burn their hands too.
