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Join on Telegram On August 15, the world watched in shock and horror as the Taliban swept into Afghanistan’s capital, effectively seizing Kabul on the heels of the US withdrawal from the country. With the exodus of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his inner circle guaranteeing the Taliban’s return to power, the Afghan people and the global community now watch with trepidation for the future this rapid power switch will bring.
In order to understand the significance of the Taliban’s advances and to better anticipate what may come next, one must first review the violent history that has led to this point, starting over two decades ago with the rise of the Taliban up until the US’s recent withdrawal from the still unstable nation.
1990s: The rise of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda
The Taliban was formed in the 1990s, rising from the rubble of an Afghanistan shattered by the Soviet invasion during the Cold War era and likely forming in religious seminaries that taught a strict form of Sunni Islam.
During their early years, the Taliban were a popular and attractive force within Afghanistan, promising peace and security in a country still racked by feuding warlords. However, the group was quick to expand their power and influence, first seizing control of Kabul – the Afghan capital – in 1996.
After seizing power, the Taliban became an increasingly harsh authoritarian regime. They began to enforce a strict and twisted form of Sharia Islamic law, with the introduction of harsh punishments like public executions and the amputation.Media organizations were either banned or heavily censored, and strict dress codes were implemented.
Women in particular suffered under the Taliban. They were forced to wear the burka, could not be out in public without a male relative as an escort, and girls above the age of 10 were not permitted to study or work.
While the many human rights violations committed by the Taliban were of concern to the International Community, Western intervention in Afghanistan did not occur until the 1998 Al-Qaeda bombing of two US embassies in Africa. The Taliban’s refusal to expel the terror group or its leader, Osama bin Laden, led the United Nations Security Council to declare the Taliban to be a terrorist entity and impose sanctions on both the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in 1999.
2001: The 9-11 attacks and the US War on Terror
On September 11, 2001 four US commercial airlines were hijacked by Al-Qaeda operatives and crashed into the World Trade Center (the Twin Towers) in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Around 3,000 people died in the terrorist attacks.
This tragic event was the spark to the US-led “War on Terror,” which opened with a bombing campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan on October 7 of the same year. The airstrikes officially launched “Operation Enduring Freedom,” as the US-led offensive was called. The first countries to back the operation were Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Germany, and France. In 20 years of war, a total of 50 countries would contribute troops to the US-led war effort in Afghanistan.
20 years of war
Under the combined pressure of Afghan opposition troops on the ground and US-led air strikes, the Taliban began to lose their footing in the country. Within months of fighting, the Taliban regime had officially fallen. However, with Al-Qaeda leaders such as Osama bin Laden still at large and Taliban fighters still hiding out in the mountains of Afghanistan, the war was far from over.
With the assistance of the International community, the groundwork for a new democratic government in Afghanistan was laid out and, eventually, implemented. In 2004 Hamid Karzai became the first democratically elected Afghan president. While marred by accusations of fraud, the kidnapping of three foreign UN workers, and threats of violence and intimidation, the election was hailed as a victory for a nascent democracy. Two additional Presidential elections have since been held in the country, with President Ashraf Ghani coming to power in 2014.
Mere weeks after the 2004 presidential elections, Osama bin Laden released a videotaped message taunting the US administration and taking responsibility for the 9-11 attacks. This message prompted US president George W. Bush and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai to officially declare their countries as strategic partners, with the goals of combating international terror and rebuilding Afghanistan’s economy and government.
The next 16 years of US and NATO engagement in Afghanistan would be a mix of violence, aid, and fragile nation building.
In 2006, the Taliban began a bloody resurgence marked by a spike in the number of suicide attacks and remote bombings in the country. Weaknesses in the Afghan central government, an unwillingness from foreign allies to follow through on their commitments in the war, and increasingly high civilian casualties further exacerbated the suffering of the Afghan people.
In May 2011, Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by US Special Forces in Pakistan. With bin Laden’s death, many within the US began to call for the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, while Afghan President Karzi called for the international troops to focus their “war on terror” across the border in Pakistan rather than in Afghan homes and villages.
But with the Taliban still unapologetically unwilling to settle the conflict through peace talks, the US stayed in the country and committed to the nation building process it saw as the best hope for peace and stability in Afghanistan. While US president Barack Obama did announce a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from the country, this timetable was not met.
Withdrawal of US troops
Under directions from the Trump administration in 2018, US military presence temporarily increased in Afghanistan. This came in light of the emergence of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, previously unseen levels of suicide bombings in Kabul, and an upsurge in violence by the Taliban.
By 2019, US-Taliban peace talks began to progress, though the talks were abruptly broken off by President Trump in September 2019 before resuming in 2020. In November 2020, the US announced the complete withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, with President Trump pushing for a deadline of May 1, 2021.
This decision came despite negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government being in deadlock and continued attacks from the militant group. Thousands of US troops had already been withdrawn from the country earlier in the year, and the Trump administration was adamant that an even higher number of US troops would be out of Afghanistan by January 2021.
On April 14 of this year, US President Joe Biden released a plan to have all US troops withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks that spurred the war in Afghanistan. Stating that it was “time to end America’s longest war” – regardless of the status or situation on the ground in Afghanistan – a deadline of August 31, 2021 was set for the complete removal of US troops.
The Taliban seizes control, August 2021
As US troops were withdrawn, Taliban forces went on a rapid offensive. Within days, the militant group had seized control of dozens of cities. On August 15, 2021, they seized control of the capital, Kabul, effectively taking control of Afghanistan as the country’s central government collapsed.
As the insurgents declared themselves as Afghanistan’s new leaders , Taliban spokespersons continue to insist that they have changed and are no longer the same violent, oppressive regime that seized control in the 1990’s. However, reports of Taliban fighters seeking out Afghanis that assisted the US military and the alleged, but unconfirmed, reports of women and girls being raped by or forcibly married to Taliban fighters indicate that the group’s claims of moderation may be empty words aimed at garnering more support.
Mere days after the Taliban seized Kabul, the Afghan people fearfully wait to see the future the Taliban regime will usher in. Many, particularly those who assisted the US during the war, are left feeling abandoned and betrayed. Facing the threat of violent retribution for supporting the US and Afghani government, many US allies now fear for their lives.
With US President Biden firm in his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, Kabul in chaos, and the Taliban in control, the future of Afghanistan – and how this will affect regional and global stability – remains uncertain.
After 20 years of a brutal war that killed 66 thousand Afghan military and police, over 47 thousand civilians, and over 36 hundred US and other allied service members, that the Taliban are again in power has left many around the globe furious, fearful, and wondering what it was all for.
