If the people of Afghanistan forgive them, may God not forgive the people of Afghanistan.
Author: Ahmad Saidi, an analyst on Afghanistan and regional issues (Germany), especially for Sangar
After the fall of the republic, thousands of articles were written about the reasons for the fall of the republic.
Some call Ashraf Ghani a "national traitor" and a "traitor to the motherland", and some consider the Doha Agreement and Zalmay Khalilzad's mission to be the reason for the fall of the republican system. Some also believe that the US wanted to bring Afghanistan into a similar situation due to the war in Ukraine. Everyone has their own opinion. Some even say that all high-ranking officials of the previous government of the republic should be punished, especially the ministers of defense, foreign affairs, internal affairs, and the head of the security service because they were the cause of the suffering of the Afghan people.
But what I want to share with you in this article is my personal opinion.
In my opinion, after 2001, Afghanistan was under the attention of the international community, especially the United States of America. We believed that our country would move towards democracy, the rule of law, and political, economic, and cultural development with the help of the United States and the international community. Evidence of this assertion included semi-freedom, an army equipped with military equipment, relatively modern structures, the media, schools, and universities.
But, unfortunately, the train of development and modernization in Afghanistan has been on a downward path since 2008, and on August 15, 2021, it completely collapsed and fell.
According to Abbas Stanikzai, one of the senior Taliban officials, the Americans began negotiations with the Taliban in 2007. It was the beginning of behind-the-scenes negotiations that led to the collapse of the system. Because the Americans played a double game, sometimes they encouraged the Afghan government, and sometimes they sat behind the scenes with the Taliban.
On the other hand, some political theorists of the world consider the current century, that is, the 21st century, to be the most destructive century in history, considering the war between Israel and Palestine, the war in Ukraine, and the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. I think that from the point of view of destruction, yes, the 21st century is the century of destruction. Still, from the point of view of construction, the 21st century is the century of mass information, the growth of audio and video media, and the world of technology, and is the most vibrant century. But unfortunately and to our misfortune, this century has brought nothing to the Muslim people of Afghanistan except humiliation, immigration, destruction, bullying, and wandering.
On the other hand, for half a century now the people of Afghanistan have been burning in the fires of war. A war organized in the absence of people and named in the name of Islam. Although these wars are neither Islamic nor human, they continue to this day and will continue for many years to come.
The existing Taliban government and the post-2001 government, that is, the previous and current governments, have not properly defined friend and enemy. The leaders of the current and previous governments both imagined and continue to imagine that we alone can do everything. No, no, that's never possible.
If the previous government saw the Taliban as a tool to suppress competitors and ultimately as a nuisance unable to destroy the system, now the Taliban also do not consider their opponents as a force or a challenge, instead, they say: “Wherever they are, we will destroy them”.
Ashraf Ghani's government suffered from pride, and so did the Taliban government. They must know that pride and power belong to God and not to His servants. Everything has a peak, and no matter how high it rises, there must be a decline. But the Americans also discussed the future of the region with the Taliban behind the scenes and supported them.
On the other hand, Karzai in 2008 divided the Taliban into good and bad, and Khalilzad repeatedly spoke about the good and bad Taliban and said this to the people of Afghanistan. Now the truth is clear that there was no problem of good and bad Taliban. Talib is talib who was, is, and will be so. Because Talibanism is an ideology, a thought, and a belief. If the Taliban follows this strict ideology and the beliefs that it has applied to the people of Afghanistan for two and a half years, the life of its mission will be short.
On the other hand, the partners of Ghani's government did not have good relations with the countries in the region, and now the Taliban do not have good relations like Ashraf Ghani. Both of them - the Taliban and Ashraf Ghani - thought and still think that one-day such powers as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Russia, China, one after another, will join hands and help us. The Taliban do not know that these same powers are also contributing to their downfall and will bring their opponents to power.
For this reason, when the system suddenly collapsed, many leaders of these countries were stunned, and with the fall of the Taliban, most of them who are now beating the drum of friendship with the Taliban will also be greatly stunned. What bad days await them when they immigrate to Pakistan again?
I consider the escape of the Americans to be one of the factors in the fall of Afghanistan, and on the other hand, the Doha Agreement, in which behind the scenes there were decisions by the United States and American mercenaries in favor of the Taliban, which all respectable people know about this.
But the stone of blame must first be cast on Ashraf Ghani and the Doha Agreement, and the second time this stone of blame must be thrown on the heads of the ministers of the Republican period, especially the ministers of defense, foreign affairs, and interior, the head of the security services, because they were the ones who did not understand that is happening or were part of the plan themselves.
The people of Afghanistan should and cannot ever forgive them.
However, none of the Jews or Christians committed the injustice to the Palestinians that Ashraf Ghani committed against the Afghan army and the collapse of the system.
During Ghani's reign, Afghanistan has become one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Poverty and deprivation were rampant during this period. Ghani deliberately fired all the seasoned and experienced generals and instead appointed inexperienced and decorative people to head decision-making in the security forces. History will not forget the betrayal that Ghani and his associates, and members of his government committed against Afghanistan in the changes, transformations, and work of the national army, as well as the suffering they and the big politicians of the Republican era inflicted on the people of Afghanistan.
If the people of Afghanistan forgive them, may God not forgive the people of Afghanistan.
In any case, the shame of history lies with those who forced the people of Afghanistan to suffer this bitter and unfortunate fate, and let those who treacherously played with the fate of the Muslim people of Afghanistan be cursed.
Their children should be ashamed of their fathers, and future generations should look at their policies with contempt.
