Last night, Taliban fighters sat on the desk of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled to Tajikistan when the jihadist footmen were standing expectantly at the gates of the Kabul. They were demanding for a “peaceful transfer of power” to them. It isn’t what you call a peaceful or negotiated settlement because Taliban fighters already controlled most of the country, including most of the countryside, border posts, all important cities and provincial capitals, and by last night, the Presidential Palace in Kabul.
I don’t blame Ghani for fleeing. It was like Abu Darda standing on Abuja’s AYA flyover, waving a white flag and asking State House bosses to “peacefully” transfer power to al-Barnawi, while Boko Haram fighters were strategically stationed at Karu, Mpape, Kubwa, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Lugbe.
The rapid American withdrawal from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years, the sweeping Taliban offensive that captured most of the country in two weeks, the equally speedy disintegration of the Afghan armed forces and the collapse of its Western-installed government, have shocked the world. We have not seen anything quite like it since 1975, when American Marines escaped in helicopters from the roof of their embassy in Saigon as Viet Cong troops closed in. Ashraf Ghani only borrowed a leaf from South Vietnamese President Nguyen van Thieu, who fled Saigon when the Communists closed in.
It all came down to this, after 20 years, with 2,448 US soldiers, 3,843 US military contractors and 1,144 other NATO soldiers dead, 66,000 Afghan soldiers and police dead, 47,000 Afghan civilians dead, 51,191 Taliban fighters killed, 444 aid workers and 72 journalists all killed.
As for money, the Pentagon jumbled up the costs of the Afghan and Iraqi wars. Together they cost an estimated $2 trillion, most of it borrowed. Together with interest, this will cost the bankrupt US Treasury $6.5 trillion by 2050. In addition, US Treasury must pay 4 million war veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan another $2 trillion in health care, disability, burial and other costs. An American child born today will still be paying this debt until he is 30, even though Taliban is back in power in Afghanistan.
Many people around the world will be wondering if aligning with USA against its terrorist enemies is worth the risk. Compare what US did in Afghanistan to what Russia did in Syria. Vladimir Putin was a 28 year-old small-fry KGB agent when the USSR signed a strategic alliance pact with Bashir al-Assad’s father, Hafez in 1980. Yet, when Western and Sunni-Arab sponsored rebels rose against Bashar Assad in 2011, USSR’s main successor, Russia, rushed in with military help, alongside Iran and Hezbollah. After ten years, Assad has effectively won the civil war [at a terrible cost].
Many people around the world who were looking West for patrons would now be looking North and East instead.
