Pak Sahafat – An American writer stated that Washington should learn many lessons from its withdrawal from Afghanistan and said: Unfortunately, the US government has not shown any ability or even desire to learn the lessons of history.
This American-Canadian analyst and writer added in an exclusive conversation with media on Tuesday: “It seems that the United States is never interested in anything other than imposing its will on other countries by force.”
In 2001, the government of George W. Bush attacked Afghanistan with its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) in the wake of the fake incident of September 11 in the twin towers of the New York business center under the pretext of revenge against “al-Qaeda”, but during the 21 years of occupation not only destroy its self-made terrorist group, but it destroyed all the political, economic and social structures of Afghanistan so much that because its presence was costly without any achievements, it was finally forced to leave it in disgrace on August 15, 2021.
About 21 years of the presence of the American occupation in Afghanistan, which was accompanied by the implementation of thousands of military programs such as bombing urban and rural areas under the pretext of fighting against terrorists and looting the country’s internal resources, as well as humanitarian gestures, can be considered the first domino pieces that brought the White House into the abyss of infamy and brought dishonor at the international level; A strategy that not only cost a lot to the American people, but its final result exposed the hollowness of the slogan of the global fight against terrorism.
On the first anniversary of the escape of the American occupation and its allies from Afghanistan, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid has announced that nearly 25 million people in Afghanistan live in absolute poverty and another 900,000 job opportunities may be lost in the labor market this year.
The description of the conversation with Robert Fantina is as follows:
On the first anniversary of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, this country is involved in the war in Ukraine and increasing tension with China. What are the lessons of the messy exit from Afghanistan for Washington’s aggressive foreign policy around the world?
There are many lessons for the US to learn from its withdrawal from Afghanistan, but unfortunately, the US government has shown no ability or even desire to learn the lessons of history.
The United States invaded Afghanistan to keep the Taliban out of power, but after a 20-year war, the Taliban remained in power. This should definitely signal the US to at least put diplomacy and not military action on its agenda. However, the United States has never seemed interested in anything other than imposing its will on other countries by force.
Afghanistan is the latest example of the unfortunate failure of this method. The United States is currently escalating tensions with Russia, China, and Iran. This escalation of tensions is not only unnecessary but full of danger for the whole world.
Instead of provoking China, which we saw during the visit of American officials to Taiwan; Instead of threatening Iran with nuclear annihilation and instead of sanctioning Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine, there should be diplomatic interaction with China, Russia and Iran. The US government should look for common ground with these countries. But the United States has never acted this way.
The United States recently announced that in a drone strike, Ayman al-Zawahiri killed al-Qaeda leader in Kabul and accused the Taliban of “hosting and harboring” the al-Qaeda leader in Kabul. Does this attack indicate the rising tension between the Taliban and the United States?
The United States government would like to forget the existence of Afghanistan altogether, but the country’s officials know that they have sown the seeds of tremendous hostility among the Afghan people, which has resulted in actions against the United States and its imperialist interests.
Read more:
American Commander: In the Ain al-Assad attack, the Iranians hit wherever they wanted
So the US will take whatever action it deems necessary to combat the resulting “terrorism”. The killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri may not signal an escalation of tensions between the Taliban and the United States, but it is certainly a sign that those tensions did not end with the end of the US war against the Afghan people.
Despite the commitments it made, the Taliban has limited the rights of Afghan women. Tens of thousands of girls have been denied secondary school education, and women have been barred from returning to many government jobs. How do you see the international community’s reaction to these policies?
This is a sad situation for Afghan women, but we cannot rely on the international community to solve it. That society ignores violations of international laws and oppression of people’s human rights in two situations: either that country is not geopolitically important or it is so important that no other country wants to criticize it.
We can look at Myanmar as the first example. We see crimes against the Rohingya people there, and Western countries may occasionally make critical statements, but Myanmar is not of significant importance to Western countries, so its crimes are generally ignored.
An example of the second case of geopolitical importance is the occupied territories. Despite the flagrant violations of international law, the daily crimes against humanity and the terrible suffering it inflicts on the Palestinian people, many world governments ignore all these crimes because Israel is a profitable trading partner.
Afghanistan has no significant natural resources that the United States and other Western countries aspire to. Therefore, what the Taliban does to its people is not considered a worrying issue. If so, if Afghanistan had large oil reserves, or was located in a place of global importance to the United States, the United States would have condemned the Taliban’s actions.
A UN report has described the future as very dark for Afghans, despite such warnings, why do you think America continues to put economic pressure on Afghanistan and its people?
US government officials never consider the consequences of their actions. For example, the United States has severely embargoed the Cuban government for several decades. The Cuban people certainly suffered as a result of the embargo. Although the Cuban people have now largely adapted to these conditions. It is the same in Venezuela and Iran.
People always suffer from American policies and this has increased hostility towards the United States. Another problem that the United States has is that its government officials always misunderstand the people of other countries. American leaders naively think that, for example, the people of Iran will be so angry because of the problems caused by the American sanctions that they will eventually start a rebellion. The statesmen of the United States do not know that the Iranian people are proud of their revolution and have not forgotten that the United States overthrew a democratically elected government in 1953 and restored and supported the repressive Shah of Iran for several decades. They have not forgotten that it was the United States that violated the JCPOA.
The Taliban would likely welcome foreign aid from the United States, aid that could be tied to reforms. But despite the possibility that aid could have an effect on improving the situation, the United States has not taken steps in this direction. Diplomacy with the Taliban could bring positive benefits to the suffering people of Afghanistan, but unfortunately, the United States is not interested.
Robert Fantina is the author of several books about US foreign policy and the country’s militarism in the world arena. He also writes about the occupation of Palestine.
He is the author of a novel about the Vietnam War called Look Not unto the Morrow.
Fantina’s two books, “Empire, Racism, Genocide: “Empire, Racism & Genocide: A History of U.S. Foreign Policy” Foreign Policy and ‘desertion of American soldiers from the army’ Desertion And the American Soldier examines the internal roots of American wars in the world and the reasons for the desertion of American soldiers from serving in this country’s army and how the American government responds to it.