Three Years Since The Taliban Takeover In Afghanistan, Obscurantism Has Not Yet Delivered
Written By Tariq Aqil
The Taliban have been in control of Afghanistan for the last three years, in their second stint to rule this unfortunate country. The US and other NATO forces left Afghanistan in a hurry in August 2021 after being in the country for almost 20 years.?
In the first instance, the Taliban under their supreme leader Mullah Omar had taken control of the country in the fall of 1996 after a devastating civil war that had brought the country to the brink of total annihilation. Mullah Omar ruled from Kandahar and had supported and protected the band of fanatics called Al-Qaeda under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden. The aim and objective of Osama was to manage the expulsion of the USA from Asia and the Middle East. Osama managed to launch the spectacular attacks of 9/11 destroying the World Trade Center and damaging the Pentagon building in Washington DC. The US hit back with everything they had and managed to uproot the Taliban Government of Mullah Omar in Kabul.?
After this, the country was ruled by a Western backed government with the military presence of the United States and some other NATO countries to prop up their proxy government in Kabul. After decades of efforts in Afghanistan the American forces were totally unable to destroy the power of the Taliban in fact the power and popularity of the Taliban kept on increasing during the American occupation of the country. As in the case of Vietnam, the Americans decided to end their involvement and leave the country but again like Vietnam it was a sudden unplanned hasty and disorderly departure, leaving behind billions of dollars’ worth of military hardware including aircraft and helicopters. Ashraf Ghani the American-installed president fled the country in a hurry and in August 2021.