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Afghanistan: Troops’ withdrawal makes return to barbarism all but certain

As US and Australian troops leave Afghanistan, for ordinary Afghans the spectre of another collapse into civil war looms, with jihadist groups massing in the shadows.

Illustration: Johannes Leak.
Illustration: Johannes Leak.

Successive US presidents have grappled with the task of ending the war in Afghanistan without a repeat of the humiliating scenes that marked the exit from Vietnam.

There will be no desperate helicopter flights from the embassy roof when the troops pull out on September 11. The air of failure and the colossal waste of human life will linger, however. For most of Afghanistan’s 39 million people, the US withdrawal will only heighten dread of what will follow.

The Taliban have outlasted western firepower over two decades of bloody conflict and have now outlasted the US at the negotiating table.

Since joining the US-brokered peace talks in Qatar last year, they have conceded nothing. Conscious of Washington’s desperation for a fig leaf to justify its departure, they played along, pledging to cut ties with al-Qa’ida and disavowing its barbaric treatment of women during the Islamist government of the 1990s.

On the ground, however, the Taliban are paving the way for a return to power. Western intelligence agencies report that al-Qa’ida remains embedded with the insurgents. Girls’ schools have been bombed in Taliban-held areas. A wave of murders targeting journalists, judges, civil servants, scholars and rights activists has left scores dead, terrorising the educated classes. In recent weeks the militants have turned on professional women, to scare them out of the workplace.

Thousands of Afghans have gone into hiding or are seeking to emigrate. Long before the last US troops leave, the progressive elements of Afghan society that represent its best hope for a brighter future, are being hollowed out.

Joe Biden speaks to the press at Arlington National Cemetery's section 60, where many of those killed serving in Afghanistan are buried. Picture: AFP.
Joe Biden speaks to the press at Arlington National Cemetery's section 60, where many of those killed serving in Afghanistan are buried. Picture: AFP.

An embittered Afghan government has been pressured to concede more and more ground. President Ghani’s government is corrupt and incompetent, but reports of Washington leaning on him to step down or share power with militants who refuse to lay down arms risks fatally undermining the flawed but fledgling democracy, and with it, America’s legacy.

President Biden had no good options, inheriting the bargain struck last year that set the timetable for a final withdrawal. After a brief diplomatic effort, the opportunity to walk away has proved too tempting to resist.

For ordinary Afghans, the spectre of another collapse into civil war, with jihadist groups massing in the shadows, looms again.

The Times

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/afghanistan-us-withdrawal-makes-return-to-barbarism-all-but-certain/news-story/410fde467d931b1eae76c915f313a3fe