America’s nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan came to a sudden end on Sunday as Taliban fighters poured into the capital Kabul, facing scarcely any resistance as the Western-backed president Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Desperate scenes of people trying to flee the country by thronging the Kabul airport went viral across the world. The swift return of the Taliban to power has sent shockwaves across the world. There is fear that the Taliban will impose their severe, fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, for example, insisting that women cover their hair in public and demanding that classrooms be segregated by gender. The US has failed the Afghan people.
Their decision to abandon the people of Afghanistan has been widely criticized across the world. President Joe Biden’s statement on Saturday, washing his hands off Afghanistan, deserves to go down as one of the most shameful in history by a commander-in-chief at such a moment of American retreat. As the Taliban closed in on Kabul, Biden sent a confirmation of US abandonment that absolved himself of responsibility, deflected blame to his predecessor, and more or less invited the Taliban to take over the country. The jihadists the US toppled 20 years ago for sheltering Osama bin Laden will now fly their flag over the US embassy building on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. The Taliban returning to power will have serious repercussions for India. It is a well-known fact that the Taliban are supported by Pakistan. Pakistan will try to use the territory of Afghanistan for anti-India activities. The terrorist groups will find a haven. The jihadists across the world will now use Afghan soil to carry out their activities. The world will be less safe now.