Daily Times

After the withdrawal of occupation forces from Afghanistan, a guessing game as to what next rages. Will Ashraf Ghani’s government survive? If yes, for how long? Otherwise, will Taliban and insurgent forces soon take control of Kabul and establish their writ over the entire country? The commentators of both mainstream media, controlled by corporate interests of the West, and the independent media look at the Afghanistan situation in their own way. Undisputedly, the most modern and brutal US army has lost its war against the insuperable resilience and willpower of the Afghan people.

BBC quoted Britain’s Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter saying we were withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan even though we were not defeated. He had to face an embarrassing situation when the mother of the youngest British soldier who had lost his life in Afghanistan, asked, “What did we gain out of all this?” She was referring to the attack on an impoverished country. A single mother, Lucy Aldridge, lost her son, William Aldridge, in Afghanistan. She had a right to ask for what purpose Afghanistan was raided and what the multinational raiding forces achieved in the end. Nevertheless, Afghanistan has maintained its history of being the graveyard of empires: the British Empire in the 19th century, the Soviets’ in the 20th, and ultimately the Americans – the good Samaritans – in the 21st century.

However, the emerging situation in Afghanistan is most grim for President Ashraf Ghani’s government, to say the least. The insurgent forces aka the Taliban are rapidly gaining ground and seem to face no resistance. They claim to control 80 per cent of the land mass. As far as Ghani’s Afghan National Army, it’s crumbling under the mounting pressure of insurgent forces.

More than 1,000 soldiers and officers crossed over to Tajikistan to save their lives, according to Tajikistan’s National Security Committee. Lately, 46 ANA soldiers, including five officers, crossed over to Pakistan in the Chitral area to seek refuge. These soldiers lacked the courage to face the onslaught of the insurgents and decided to abandon the border crossing they were supposed to guard. The US intelligence experts predict Ghani’s government would fall within six months. The prediction seems unfounded in view of the pace at which the insurgent forces are gaining strength and the Afghan army is losing its will to fight back. Fighting against its own people is always a losing battle for any army however equipped.

Undisputedly, the most modern and brutal US army has lost its war against the insuperable resilience and willpower of the Afghan people.

When the US forces vacated the Bagram Air Base, which had been the centre of its operations for the last two decades, it was a clear indication for the ANA that it had to survive on its own. Without the physical and financial support of the foreign troops, the Afghan army is bound to collapse sooner than later. Atta Noori, an analyst in Kabul, said: “Afghan forces have lost their morale. They are confused — in almost every district that the Taliban capture, they send a team of elders to talk to the soldiers and get them to surrender. It is an emergency situation for the Afghan government.”

Alternatively, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen was recently interviewed by Naila Mahsud on female education in Afghanistan. He said, there would be no restriction on teenage girls’ education as long as they wore Hijab in schools, colleges, and at workplaces. We will study in detail the system in other countries like Malaysia to ensure that outdoor activities of our women were not curtailed, he went on. One should support Suhail Shaheen if the will of the majority of Afghans is allowed to prevail.

In any case, no foreign power has the right to dictate an independent nation how to live. When George Bush ordered an attack on Afghanistan, it was part of the mission to emancipate the Afghan women. Were the women liberated or did they remain in their blue shrouds, as part of cultural and personal preference? A society changes its culture and values gradually with time and not suddenly under duress. Motives of imperial powers to occupy defenceless countries are always different from how they appear in print and other media.

Afghan people have won the two-decades war purely on the dint of their will power. Other nations, including the neighbouring ones, should desist from dictating how to govern themselves. Let the valiant Afghans find their own equilibrium. All they must ask of the intrusive nations: Leave us alone instead of demonising us, will you!

The writer is a Lahore-based columnist and can be reached at pinecity@gmail.com