Although the United States has achieved the goal that al-Qaeda is no longer a threat to its security as in the past and has taken assurances from the Taliban that it will not use its territory against it, it has failed and Leaving Afghanistan with the impression of defeat.
Why has a power like the United States not been able to achieve the desired results in Afghanistan with its powerful NATO allies and why is it once again forced to withdraw by handing over Afghanistan to the civil war or the Taliban? The simple answer to this question is that the United States was forced to do so because of its own mistakes and folly.
Of course, the governments of Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani have also failed on many fronts, with Pakistan, Iran, Russia and other countries having links with the Taliban, but the fact is that the United States is responsible for its defeat in Afghanistan. The mistakes that the United States has made on the Afghan front, in my opinion, are as follows.
The post-9/11 Security Council resolution authorizing the United States and its allies to operate in Afghanistan was backed by Russia and China, and perhaps even by China.
Bob Woodward wrote in his book, Bush at War: President Bush feared that Russia might resist its action in Afghanistan, but when Colin Powell told him that Putin was ready to cooperate in any way, President Bush was overjoyed. But after his initial success in Afghanistan, President Bush first included Iran in the Axes of Evil and then allowed activities there against the interests of China, Russia, and Iran. Thus, angering Russia, China and Iran was the first major US mistake in Afghanistan.
Pervez Musharraf, under pressure, but after 9/11, fully supported the United States. Gave it land and air. Sharing intelligence about the Taliban, which led to the fall of the Taliban government before the Americans expected it.
The Musharraf government arrested former Taliban ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef and former Afghan ambassador Dr. Ghairat Bhair and handed them over to the Americans to please the Americans.
In response, Musharraf’s only demand was that India not be allowed to carry out anti-Pakistan activities on Afghan soil, but the United States did not fulfill its promise, which led to a proxy war between Afghanistan, India and Pakistan some time later, Pakistan also changed its policy towards the Taliban. Allowing India to operate was America’s second major mistake.
Pakistan has been urging the United States since the 9/11 attacks to reach a compromise instead of trying to wipe out the Taliban. Pakistan tried to invite the Taliban to the Bonn Conference but the Americans were not ready to hear the name of the Taliban.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai also supported the idea and set up a reconciliation council led by Sibghatullah Mujaddidi to reconcile with the Taliban, but the Americans did not allow the commission to function. This was America’s third major mistake.
In 2002 and 2003, Afghanistan was moving towards stability. Afghans were returning home. The Taliban did not resist. There were no suicide attacks in Afghanistan during that period, but without taking full control of Afghanistan, the United States launched the Iraq war, which caused the most damage to Afghanistan. The United States has deployed Special Forces and resources to Iraq.
After the US move, Iran saw that the US wanted to sandwich it by keeping its forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, so after that Iran also established relations with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
The Iraq war was opposed by US allies such as Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Hosni Mubarak, but then President Bush was in power. As a result, China, Russia and other countries in the region changed their minds about the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan, while al-Qaeda and the Taliban gained more evidence and footage such as Abu Ghraib after the illegal US operation in Iraq. This was America’s fourth and perhaps biggest mistake in Afghanistan.
US policies on Afghanistan have also been controversial. In many respects, it was clear on several occasions that the State Department, the White House, the CIA and the Pentagon were not on the same page. Similarly, the approach of NATO countries and the United States was sometimes different.
For example, President Obama, while announcing his AFPAC policy, on the one hand gave a timetable for the withdrawal and on the other hand intensified the war by bringing more troops to Afghanistan in the name of Surge. Similarly, after assuming the presidency, Donald Trump went first to one extreme and then to the other. At the beginning he kept saying that if he withdraws his forces then Afghanistan will become a stronghold of terrorists again but two years later he kept saying that he should go to Pakistan and other neighbors. Contradictory policy was America’s fifth biggest mistake.
The Americans looked down on Afghanistan in the mirror of Afghanistan and Afghanistan’s domestic politics continued to play a pivotal role in US policy towards Afghanistan. The Americans looked down on Afghanistan in the mirror of Afghanistan and Afghanistan’s domestic politics continued to play a pivotal role in US policy towards Afghanistan. Similarly, the presidential election was driven by Donald Trump’s haste to deal with the Taliban. This was America’s sixth big mistake.