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The 20-year old US occupation army has at last been forced to quit Afghanistan, for good. This is a victory gained by the Afghan people in their war against the western imperialist alliance led by the USA which also included India as a ‘politico-economic’ partner.

After the ignominious exit of the US army and the armies of the allied countries the puppet regime led by Ashraf Ghani fell like nine pins and Ghani himself literally fled the country with his loot. The so-called Afghan National Army did not put up even a semblance of resistance and there was no stopping the Talibans in their march on Kabul, the capital city.

Of course, the Talibans were known in the past for their reactionary and obscurantist policies. They may or may not have learnt their lessons in the last 20 years or so, but that has to be mainly taken care of by the Afghan people themselves. The American or Indian imperialists cannot claim to have any civilizing role in Afghanistan. The Islamism of the liberators of Afghanistan, we understand, is not the same as that of the ISIS or the Al Qaeda in that the Talibans stood for liberating their land from all kinds of foreign occupation. In this respect they are more akin to the Hamas of Palestine. The pan-Islamist forces such as the ISIS or the Al Qaeda do not support the liberation movements of Kurdistan, Palestine or Kashmir.

We can fail to see that Afghanistan, historically, is more than the Talibans, the Mujahideens, the Al-Qaedis, and the ISISists of several brands, only to our own peril.

Whatever the future may hold for them, it is a giant step forward for the people of Afghanistan that the foreign occupation has come to an end after so long years without being replaced by another. To take this success forward to a democratic consummation is a huge task before the Afghan people in which they should have the solidarity and support of the peace-loving, democratic and progressive forces of the world. The international institutions like the UNO should come forward to facilitate the process of normalization and stabilization after the long war. 

The Afghan people, we hope, will be cautious of the pitfalls of the geo-political games played by the big and mighty powers around and do well to join the forces of justice, peace and amity in this region.

- Thiagu

(This article was published in Fortnightly Magazine 'Abel', August 31, 2021)

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