DailyPost 1787
DESCENT INTO CHAOS!
It could not have been more prophetic. Ahmed Rashid authored a book Descent Into Chaos in 2008. The theme of the book was ”How the war against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.” Thirteen years down the line, with the Taliban taking over levers of power in Kabul and Afghanistan, the smoldering volcano has finally erupted into a terrorist group taking over the reins of a country. Does it mean Descent Into Chaos only of Afghanistan or with it would it portend spread of violent terror in the adjoining countries, in the manner and ease with which they have done in the past. IC 814 is not a forgotten past. The scenes of that aircraft parked at Kandahar Airport are still fresh in our minds. Recent video footages are clear cut reminder of the same.
Is the world any better at understanding and reacting to situations and countries which are in the process of a downslide to chaos? The rock-solid response to 9/11 in a variety of ways and the final killing of Osama Bin Laden made us believe that we were moving towards a much saner world. Given the fact that powerful nations were leading the war on terror, one presumed that terror was finally brought under control, if not eliminated. Losing a whole country to a terror outfit is the biggest setback the world has faced since 9/11. The outcomes might be different for different countries, with the exact repercussions unknown, there is no denying that fact that it has been a major setback for the world. Undoubtedly, the more proximate you are, and with the terror geopolitics of the subcontinent known, India has to be on guard.
The reactions would be surreptitious as we all know. It can create festering wounds for our country once again. Exporting terror in the packing required is an expertise, they are masters of. Before getting into the fast changing security scenario, one is forced to think; was the descent into chaos so easy. For sure this would not have been possible after the American forces withdrawal from Afghanistan, had there not been a well-oiled terror machine already in the pink of health. The US began its final withdrawal on the 1st of May and on the 6th of July 2021, it evacuated Bagram Airfield, the largest military installation in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion. Given the timing, it seems that Taliban was waiting in the wings, for the Americans to leave.
Was 20 years not enough to understand the bloody body politic of Afghanistan? If yes, then it should have been made known to the world. And if not, then is Taliban so professional that it could build up and maintain an organization fit enough to battle a national army and nobody knew of it. What has come out of the whole process of empowering an Army; the training, resources and handholding of every type has been done by the US Army. Have they missed the trees for the woods. Or has the uneasy calm been missed by the US and the rest of the world. What has been the fate of $89 billion spent so far by the US to usher in peace, rebuilding, security, governance, wellbeing, business and for sure democracy? It is a huge amount to pull out a country of Afghanistan’s size out of misery. In a terrorist infested country, no one knows in whose hands the money lands up.
IS IT GLOBAL INDIFFERENCE OR DESTINY, THAT LED AFGHANISTAN’S DESCENT INTO CHAOS?
Sanjay Sahay