World Insights: Problematic U.S. legacy leaves Afghanistan in distress

By Xinhua News Agency Last updated Jun 25, 2021

Though the White House touts its commitment to a lasting peace in Afghanistan, the grim reality on the ground shows that by exporting turmoil first and then seeking a hasty military withdrawal, Washington is irresponsibly creating a security black hole in Afghanistan. U.S. President Joe Biden announced in April that all U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan…

BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) — As Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani is visiting Washington on Friday, his country is undergoing a new phase of instability and turmoil.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced in April that all U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan before Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks which involved the United States in its longest war. The U.S. military said earlier this month that it had completed more than half of the withdrawal.

Since the start of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan on May 1, the security situation in the war-torn country has worsened significantly.

The Taliban, according to its spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, has captured more than 70 districts over the past month, and in the latest development, it occupied Khash District in the northern Badakhshan province on Wednesday.

In her stern warning on Tuesday over the security situation in Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, the top United Nations (UN) envoy for Afghanistan, told the UN Security Council that the recent Taliban assaults suggested the Taliban militants are positioning themselves to try and take these capitals once foreign forces are fully withdrawn.

“For the Taliban to continue this intensive military campaign would be a tragic course of action. It would lead to increased and prolonged violence that would extend the suffering of the Afghan people and threaten to destroy much of what has been built and hard-won in the past 20 years,” she said.

The Taliban advances have also prompted the U.S. intelligence community to conclude that the government of Afghanistan could collapse as soon as six months after the complete withdrawal of the U.S. military from the country, according to a Wall Street Journal report, which cited sources with knowledge of the new assessment.

On Monday, however, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said at a briefing that military commanders overseeing the region have not changed any withdrawal plans.

“What’s really critical here is that nothing has changed about two things. One, we will complete the withdrawal of all U.S. forces out of Afghanistan, with the exception of those that will be left to protect the diplomatic presence. And two, that it will be done before early September, as per the commander-in-chief’s orders,” said Kirby.

Washington’s decision of a complete troop exit before Sept. 11 may have contributed to a possible security vacuum in the war-torn country. However, it was Washington’s overbearing and destructive obsession with intervention that has sowed the seeds of turmoil and instability in Afghanistan and created a quagmire of war in the country.

The White House sent its troops to Afghanistan 20 years ago and started its longest war overseas in the name of counterterrorism. However, the U.S. military intervention has since then caused high civilian casualties and turned Afghanistan into a breeding ground for terrorism.

According to reports, over the past two decades, over 30,000 civilians in Afghanistan have been killed in shooting and bombing by the U.S.-inflicted war. More than 60,000 were wounded and around 11 million became refugees.

In a recent interview with U.S. media, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that extremism is at its “highest point” and Washington has failed in both fighting extremism and bringing stability to his country. Enditem