US President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan by September 2021, thus ending the long battle for two decades. The clashes started when Taliban, a regional Islamic band political and military force running Afghanistan denied to hand over Osama Bin Laden to America who was the planner of the deadly 9/11 attacks in USA.
America spent around one trillion dollars in fighting against the Taliban to rebuild Afghanistan and 2400 troops and 3800 private soldiers have lost their lives. The USA didn’t want to further invest this much capital now because it wasn’t a prudent decision at this time, especially because of the pandemic. Even domestic support went away from the Americans due to which considerably troops were lessened in 2012 and 2016.
Biden did not deal with the situation well in Afghanistan and both the countries failed each other. Taliban has already captured a series of districts in Northern Afghanistan majorly in Badakhshan and Kandahar provinces. Taliban seizing power could lead to a civil war. US retreating in its finality will localise the issue in many ways and also other countries will be affected. It has been highly predicted that Taliban will take control soon as the NATO troops leave Afghanistan. The Taliban has been known for a lot of violence and it will lead the country to another civil war due to the unstable Afghan Government after the USA’s retreat which will be disastrous and hinder every progress the place has made.
The Taliban also said that they would abandon violence but it hardly seems so. Their differences with the Afghan government suggest that Taliban has a greater possibility of taking over. The Taliban has already issued harsh social and political restrictions on women who have to necessarily cover their face, and have restrictions on access to education, health care and jobs. They aren’t allowed to go in public without a male member of the family. When the USA was there, conditions were a lot better but now that it has retreated there’s been a bad toll on the people of the country.
There are many countries which are affected by the Peace Deal as well.
For Russia and China, it will be a huge opportunity. China will take advantage of the instability and make strategic inroads in a war zone country. A stable Afghanistan will benefit China to improve its access to trade markets, and less western interruption.
Regarding the case of India, the effects can be positive and negative, which entirely depends on what happens next. Earlier, when the Taliban was overthrown, India established ties with the new democratic government and provided and took part in reconstruction efforts, support and collaboration rebuilding of a power plant, investing in health and education sectors. If the Taliban comes to power, the only option for India would be to talk and develop ties with the Taliban.
It is very inconclusive of what happens next in Afghanistan. The decision of the US makes the issue more concerning given that the Taliban is already making policies that are not good enough for human rights. This decision has made the issue more regional and as well as international. There might be a need for a fresh new policy after this counter-terrorism step taken by the US. Right now, there are only questions but no answers.
