As a Pakistani-Canadian, I find myself in a strongly privileged position to observe and judge the world based on the positive values my education and upbringing has instilled into my mind. With these values, I can assess the state of life in countries where terror is an everyday part of life. I can assess them in a manner in which life holds little meaning outside of getting by the basics of sustenance everyday. The country of Afghanistan is such a place, a society with a rich history over the course of millennia but undermined through foreign interference from the USSR and USA superpowers fighting over Afghanistan through an ideological war. A war fought directly by the Soviets and indirectly through local extremist militias funded and armed by the Americans through the Pakistanis.
Afghanistan: The Crossfire between the USSR and the USA
Foreign interference in any capacity is not the answer. The Soviet invasion of 1979 led to the deaths of millions of Afghan civilians over the course of a few years. The American response to the communist forces by funding and arming local anti-communist forces - the Mujahideen - had successfully over the course of the war had defeated the Red Army in 1989 and strongly contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union (Al-Jazeera). According to accounts from Afghan victims of the war, the invasion had completely transformed Afghan society. With communist propaganda being heavily promoted in schools in USSR controlled territory. (Al-Jazeera). A rebellion against the Soviets ensued, the Mujahideen were born as a force to repel the Soviet invasion. However, such a force had the Americans chip in with their support for the fighters. In this instance of time during the Soviet invasion, the Mujahideen - which later branched off to become the Taliban and Al-Qaeda - were supported and allied with the Americans (DemocracyNow). President Ronald Reagan had later called the Mujahideen to be “freedom fighters” and his government (through the CIA) had secretly sent billions to the Mujahideen to fight against the USSR forces (DemocracyNow). The CIA at the time had coined the covert operations as ‘Operation Cyclone’ (Jessica Evnans)
In fact, according to President Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski at the time, the US was attempting to bait the USSR to invade Afghanistan by providing aid to Afghan anti-communist groups prior to the invasion to threaten the USSR aligned Afghan government to drain the Soviets of economic and military resources through an invasion (Al-Jazeera). As stated by Brzeniski in his memo to President Carter, the goal was Afghanistan to be the Soviet Union’s vietnam (Al-Jazeera).
The Taliban and Al-Qaeda: An American Aftermath of the Soviet Invasion
Nonetheless, the Mujahideen had fought the Soviets for 10 years and forced the Soviets to withdraw in 1989, a defeat against the resource deprived Mujahideen and poverty stricken Afghanistan. The years following the Soviet withdrawal saw Mujahideen fighting amongst themselves for control over Afghanistan. By 1996, the Taliban had cemented itself as the dominant militia and controlled most of the country (Al-Jazeera). From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban had implemented draconian laws that restricted the way of life of many Afghans. Women in particular were especially discriminated against by limiting their education, restricting employment, and mandating a way of life for women that effectively rendered them as domestic child-rearers at best, and victims of violence at worst.
Al-Qaeda, another terror organization stemming from the American sponsored Mujahideen, had catalyzed and conducted the attacks on the twin towers on September 11, 2001. Al-Qaeda - headed by Osama Bin Laden - had successfully conducted the worst terror attack on US soil in its entire history. Following 9/11, President Bush had initiated the ‘War on Terror’, the US increased its presence in Afghanistan and invaded directly to find and kill Bin Laden and severely weaken the Al-Qaeda terror group. The US toppled the Taliban government and established an interim government that could resist the Taliban forces permanently (ForeignPolicy).
The following 20 years in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks can be described as a fumbling on the war on terror that the US had propagated. Although the Taliban and Al-Qaeda had been pushed back by American forces at first. By the 2010s, the Taliban had once again taken control of most of the country once again (Al-Jazeera). And finally in 2021, the Biden administration’s formal withdrawal from Afghanistan marked the return of the Taliban within a week of the US exit. The Taliban’s return was no less draconian and extreme as it was in 1996-2001. In the end, the Americans had effectively changed nothing in Afghanistan over the course of 20 years and only temporarily halted the reign of the Taliban. As a result, Afghanistan will continue to be the US’ greatest foreign policy failure for generations to come.
By the Numbers: Death and Suffering of Afghanistan
This section will specifically provide statistical facts that break down how devastating foreign invaders were to the people of Afghanistan. While invasions on a broad level provide context to a country’s struggling history; out of the Soviet Union’s collapse, the Pakistani as accomplices, and the US’ post 9/11. Throughout this decades long conflict, the Afghan people were suffering the greatest with mass poverty, famine, violence, war, and destitute hope for a better future.
According to Brown University influential ‘Costs of War’ project. Nearly 50,000 civilians had died in Afghanistan between the beginning of the US invasion in 2001 and the withdrawal in 2021 (Al-Jazeera). However, indirect deaths from hunger, disease, and poverty are estimated to be much higher to the tune of hundreds of thousands (Brown University). According to the same report, direct war deaths in major war zones in the US ‘War on Terror’ balloon to 900,000 deaths across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and other post 9/11 war zones. Again these numbers only account for deaths as a direct result from war, and not other consequential effects of war as mentioned previously. Brown's University has compiled a broken down table of the death toll in the major war zones which includes military forces, civilians, journalists, humanitarian workers, and others. .
According to the United Nations, an estimated 6 million Afghans are at risk of facing famine and 19 million are facing food insecurity (APNews). For reference, the country is home to 24 million people. While foreign from the UN and NGOs has provided support in the millions, foreign aid will never replace support from the governmental system itself, according to the UN.
The economic struggles of the Afghans has only increased as well, the UN reports that the Afghan GDP has declined by 35%, the cost of a basic food basket rose by 30%, and unemployment rose by 40%. The UN also reports that 75% of incomes are spent just on food (UN). The economic crisis has come to such a point that Afghans are selling their property; there have even been reports of families selling their children to buy food for survival (Human Rights Watch).
Out of all of this, women in particular have been hit hard by the Taliban's reign. Women have been barred from higher education, and the Taliban has restricted education for girls after grade 5. They have banned women from seeking employment, even in women-dominated sectors such as healthcare and education. Women are banned from attending public parks, gyms, beauty salons, travelling alone in public, and even having windows in their homes. Women are banned from showing their faces in public, they cannot recite/speak/sing/read loudly in public, and are required to wear a full veil and must avoid looking at men (CNN). A full list of the Taliban’s prohibitions on women can be found here.
Afghanistan is a gender apartheid state in which women are treated as less than human. Simply put, women cannot live a life in Afghanistan.
Contemporary Afghanistan
Interference through military incursions or supporting local militias is not a viable foreign policy method for peace, stability, or coexistence between nations. Afghanistan is the greatest example of how foreign policy through direct interference by neighbouring countries and/or foreign superpowers can affect a country for decades. As a result of actions directly taken by Soviet and American adversaries during the cold war, the Afghan people were the greatest to suffer as a result of this ideological war. Today, Afghanistan remains as one of the most desperate places for human beings to live with destitute struggles for basic sustenance, a hampered economic, and social life that has been suppressed from extremist religious ideology. Women have been banned from participating in public life and have become the ultimate victims of the Taliban takeover.
