A total failure of US war on terror in Afghanistan

Whatever is the views of analysts regarding evacuation of NATO or US troops from Afghanistan and letting Taliban to occupy power corridors in Afghanistan through Doha Qatar Peace Accord but it could be considered part of America spy master’s strategies for exposing the “hidden militants and militant groups” in the region. In fact, the US made changes in its Afghan policies after 2009 and gave it final touches after targeting Osama Bin Laden on May 2, 2011 last.

In fact, for a very brief period after 9/11, Pakistan, considered a major stakeholder in Afghan conflict, extended visible support to US led allied troops but internally Pakistan’s intelligence agencies remained busy in patronization of Taliban, especially its faction called Haqqani network. Both Haqqani Network and its patrons Pakistan’s secret agencies remained very careful in its acts of carrying out deadly terror acts against the NATO troops throughout Afghanistan. And the US after thorough consultation and in connection with its strategies, offered office in Doha, Qatar. The move remained very successful and now not only Haqqani network but even Al Qaeda fugitives are visible in Kabul and other areas of Afghanistan.

On the other hand, the US has stakes not only in Afghanistan but also in Central Asian Republics, Middle East and especially in Iran. Iran since the failure of US in Syria war, becoming a serious threat to US influence in the region. In particular, Chinese attempts to get occupation of all trade routes in the region is also a serious threat to the US interests in the region. At the moment, Pakistan is in a dominant position in Afghanistan and Pakistan is in close links with Iran. So far the US is very careful in its strategies for tackling the situation that erupted in Afghanistan.

US invaded Afghanistan on pretext of war on terror 

In 2001, the USA invaded Afghanistan in pursuit of the war on terror with the support of NATO and over 40 countries. On September 11, 2001, 19 members of al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into the World Trade Center in NYC, and the third into the Pentagon. In NYC, nearly 3,000 people lost their lives and over 2,500 others received injuries.

US blamed al-Qaeda for the attacks and decided to send troops to Afghanistan on the pretext of war on terror. The US was in Afghanistan for the last 20 years and eventually withdrew in August 2021.

20 years of US involvement in the Afghan conflict is considered the longest war in the history of the USA.

The highest number of US troops in Afghanistan was in 2011 after then-President Barack Obama decided to increase the number of US forces, which reportedly around 140,000 US and NATO troops were present in Afghanistan.

NATO officially ended its military mission in Afghanistan in 2014 and handed over security responsibility to the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANDSF).

Unwinnable war in Afghanistan

Realizing the fact that war is not winnable in Afghanistan, the former US President Donald Trump pursued the path of reconciliation and appointed Afghan-born US veteran diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad to continue the peace negotiations with the Islamic Emirate’s Qatar-based political office.

After more than 10 rounds of negotiations, Khalilzad reached a peace deal on February 29th, 2020, in Doha.

When the incumbent president Joe Biden won the election, echoed Trump’s policy and openly said they are not interested in nation-building in Afghanistan and stressed on the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan no matter even if it resulted into the collapse of western-backed government they supported in the last 20 years.

Finally after spending trillion dollars on training and equipping hundreds of thousands of (ANSDF) and with casualties of 2,448 US forces while another 20,722 were wounded, US accepted defeat and went out of Afghanistan.

Former Afghan National Army and US forces in Afghanistan.

Reality check:

The main reason behind US presence in Afghanistan was to fight against terrorist group, but is that happened so. With one word we can describe that US not only waged a flop war against terrorist group, but many other groups emerged under the very noise of US presence and the most terrible example is the emerge of the Islamic State (IS), also known as Daesh.

In its July report, the UN Security Council warned that the Daesh group has expanded to other provinces, including Nuristan, Badghis, Sar-e-Pul, Baghlan, Badakhshan, Kunduz, and Kabul, where fighters formed a slipper cell.

The report said: “In its efforts to resurge, ISIL-K has prioritized the recurrent and training of new supporters and to recruit fighters from the Syrian Arab Republic (Assad regime) Iraq and other conflict zones.” Daesh has strength of some 500-1500 militant in Afghanistan and its three key commanders namely Sanaullah Ghafari, a key commander of the terror group, and two so-called spokesmen of the group Sultan Aiz Azam, and Maulaw Rajab were placed on the US specially designated global terrorist list.

The US left Afghanistan at the mercy of Daesh, with many experts believing that the US has been deliberately supporting Daesh to use it as a pressure tool against the current Taliban government. The US reportedly also started supporting the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) aimed at further destabilizing Afghanistan and from there to destabilize its rival countries in the neighboring Afghanistan and regional countries.

US aim of Afghanistan occupation

Afghanistan is located on the heart of Asia. It has borders with most rival countries of the US. Afghanistan has borders with Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and a tiny border with China. Afghanistan is also very near to Russia, another biggest rival of US. There is believe that US tried to penetrated  into these countries through its 20 years of presence, but these countries were smart enough to prevent any such designs. At one hand, US was trying to pretend that Washington is in Afghanistan to fight terrorist groups, but covertly they were pursing secret agenda, in other hand, the Afghans were very hopeful that US presence is for the betterment of the country, which proved false. US time and again said they were not in Afghanistan for any nation-building purposes, but a simple question arise that why US interfered into internal affairs of Afghanistan, especially in elections and appointing top ministers, especially the Interior, Defense and  head of intelligence department. Once US realized they can’t reach its goal to these countries from Afghanistan, they changed their policy in which Afghanistan gradually become insecure after 2006, and many more terrorist groups started emerging. The neighbors and regional countries, especially Iran, the Central Asian states, China and Russia started to strengthen its intelligence department to avoid any terrorist activities inside their soil from Afghanistan.

Jeopardizing regional security

US has a scenario to destabilize Afghanistan similar like Iraq and Syria, to threat its rival countries and now after withdrawing from Afghanistan they still did not recognize the Taliban, and indirectly supporting Daesh to change Afghanistan into a ruin just to reach its goal of destabilizing other countries from the Afghan soil.

Afghanistan and regional countries in map.

Afghanistan Overview map, ColorIn July, five rockets presumably fired from Afghanistan fell on the border town of Termez in the south of Uzbekistan, a move that raised speculation that the US is pursuing a different agenda. Taliban should also be very careful in its relation with US because Washington abandoned its 20 years allies and let the Taliban to took control of Afghanistan, the same US can support other groups, probably Daesh is in the line, against the Taliban just to reach its goal.  The US has approximately left behind $7 billion of military equipment in Afghanistan after withdrawal from the country in August. The equipment is now in a country that is controlled by enemy the US was trying to drive out over the past two decades. This is shocking reality that US has a very secret agenda behind this. US is trying to support other groups, most likely Daesh, and once the terrorist group took control of Afghanistan with $7 billion of military equipment, they can easily threat any country they want and this the long-term policy of US.