Home ›› 24 Aug 2021 ›› Editorial
Finally, on last Sunday, the Talibans entered Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, brandishing their weapons and their weather-beaten countenance to the world. They poured out of those cold Afghan mountain cracks and crevices, and inaccessible valleys and mountain passes, where they lived for the last 20 years.
It is an amazing tale of endurance, determination and tenacity that do justice to support the story that none could conquer Afghanistan over a long period. This may be mentioned that the fall of Kabul marked the final chapter of America's longest war, which began after the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks.
There was plenty of drama surrounding the fall of Kabul which is somewhat similar to the fall of Saigon in 1975. There also the main actor on the centre stage was the United States of America. Let us have a brief look at what led to the fall of Saigon. Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, was captured by the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the dreaded Vietcong after over a decade long guerrilla warfare with the allied troops led by the USA. Viet Cong guerrillas hid in the forests of North Vietnam and carried out bloody raids on US troops. The casualty on the side of allied troops increased on a daily basis. Protests against the Vietnam War on the roads of US cities often turned violent as police tried to disperse the protesters. Even dropping thousands of napalm bombs on North Vietnam, allied troops could not flush out the guerrillas. It is said that every inch of North Vietnam has been bombed by giant US bombers.
With the evacuation of US troops from South Vietnam, the PAVN, under the command of General Van Tien Dung launched the final attack on Saigon in April 1975, with the support of Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), commanded by General Nguyen Van Toan. With the fall of Saigon there ensued panic amongst the common people who scrambled to reach the airport to escape the wrath of the Viet Cong guerrillas, who were infamous for their brutality. Tens of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians who had worked for the government and the Americans, lived in terror and were desperate to escape. Many army helicopters were deployed to evacuate the civilians. The iconic photographs of civilians climbing ladders to reach a helicopter are now found on the net.
In Kabul, the fall also happened almost overnight as the bulk of the US soldiers left the country abandoning everything behind. The local staff members who had worked in support of the US, and the 300,000 strong Afghan army found themselves stranded in the arena as prey to advancing blood-thirsty Taliban fighters. They fled to different directions to save their lives. Taliban fighters are now going house to house in search of the locals who had worked with the Americans. Already a number of people have been shot dead by the Taliban fighters under one pretext or the other. Terrible stories go around that on the very first day a college going girl was shot dead for not going out accompanied by a male relative. The fighters are going house to house in search of people who had worked with the government. In the house of one such man, they shot his close relative as they could not find him.
A dozen civilians have been shot dead on the roads as they were going towards the airport. When such news with photographs started to fill the pages of world media, the Taliban central leadership sent messages to the fighters in the streets to show restraint. They warned that they will investigate reports of reprisals and atrocities carried out by their members. But, this remains to be seen as gun-toting fighters are still gunning down people on the roads, especially in the remoe areas.
Reuters report that because of criticism coming in from all corners of the world, the Taliban are now inclined to improve the situation and “provide a smooth exit" to the fleeing people. And it seems, the Taliban are making progress in forming a government in Afghanistan as soon as possible. It is significant that last Saturday, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the top Taliban political leader in Afghanistan, arrived in Kabul to set up a police force. He is known as a good negotiator.
Have all fronts gone quiet since the arrival of the Taliban fighters in Kabul and disappearance of the president Ashraf Ghani? Not really. There is a glimmer of hope of resistance from the anti-Taliban forces and the brave people in various parts of Afghanistan. Anti-Taliban forces claim to have taken control of three districts in the north, close to the Panjshir valley. A local television station said Bano district in Baghlan was under the control of local militia forces.
The spirit of the people will get a boost to learn that former Vice President Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud, son of former anti-Soviet Mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, have pledged to resist the Taliban everywhere. Reuters further reports that more than 6,000 fighters, made up of army personnel and special forces units as well as local militia groups, have gathered in the valley.
Meanwhile Russian president Putin said that the priority was counter-terrorism and efforts to tackle drug trafficking. But the EU says no to recognizing the Taliban, and no political talks. In another development, Indians detained in Kabul airport were allowed to go home to India in special flights.
As expected, the Taliban have special plans for women. They have imposed a ban on co-education in private universities in Afghanistan's Herat province saying it was the 'root of all evils in society'. This is considered the first 'fatwa' issued by the Taliban after its swift takeover of Afghanistan last week.
On the other hand, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban's spokesman, promised the Taliban would honour women's rights within the norms of Islamic law. He also said female lecturers would be allowed to teach only female students but not the male ones. There is a clear indication that harsher fatwas are going to be handed down to the womenfolk of Afghanistan once the warlords settle down and form the government.
The writer Associate Editor at The Business Post
