Daily Times

The Afghan comedy of errors continues. The latest instalment saw President Ashraf Ghani once more cast in the role of tragic hero. A man forced to go all the way to Washington to seek an audience with the Biden White House, which holds the fate of the country in its paws. As if this were not humiliation enough — Ghani was informed that Afghans were going to have to decide their future. Elementary, our dear Watson.

This sudden chatter about self-determination underscores just how cheap American talk really is. After all, the US never once showed any respect for Afghan agency when it launched Operation Enduring Freedom back in 2001, in the absence UN Security Council authorisation for the use of force. Similarly, the Afghans, including the Kabul regime, were left out in the cold as President Biden unilaterally revised the unconditional exit plan. Thereby ending the war in the same way it began. To add insult to injury, the man at the top then lectured his Afghan counterpart on how the senseless violence had to stop. Dr Watson may have left the building.

Of course, everyone and their cat knows that on the table should have been a strategic withdrawal plan, negotiated between Washington and Kabul; with Pakistan, China, Russia and Iran in consultative roles. Not least because of recent chitchat about Taliban plans to transport US military equipment to this side of the Durand Line. In addition, the Americans should have come up with a Marshall Plan-type comprehensive compensation package for Afghanistan. Admittedly, much has been made of how much cash has been splashed on getting the country on its feet. But this pales into significance compared to the relentless devastation that Afghanistan has endured over the last two decades.

Instead, Ghani, as if suffering from a bout of Stockholm Syndrome, was left confirming that Kabul would just have to deal with consequences of the ill-thought out American departure plan. While Abdullah Abdullah, head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, tried to make the most of things by stressing that the regime remained open to talks with the Taliban unless the latter saw fit to pull the plug. Effectively putting them firmly in the intra-peace driving seat.

That the US has been able to hit-and-run just like that makes a mockery of the global system that stood by as Dubya perfected his Bush Doctrine and pre-emptive strike showstopper. It also highlights the failure of international law — which remains overwhelmingly consensual in nature — to keep pace with global threats from aggressor nations that hold many purse strings.

The Afghan saga is far from over. Even if the US puppet master is now off-stage. Hiding in the wings. *