Afghanistan Withdrawal Was Two Years Ago
Tuesday marked two years since the Taliban took control of the Afghan government, and leaders of the terrorist organization celebrated with events around the country. The anniversary comes on the heels of former American President Joe Biden’s decision to extend America’s 20-year war in the country, leading to the Taliban’s rise in power in August of 2021.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid granted the Qatari outlet Al Jazeera a rare profile in which he details his typical workday, noting his oversight of the former presidential palace had been secured and maintained by the Taliban. In a statement, Mujahid congratulated “the mujahid nation of Afghanistan” for the “great victory.”
Events featured assemblies of terrorists carrying their weapons, speeches by top jihadist scholars, and a poetry recital. August 15 is now a formal holiday in Afghanistan, marking a day to celebrate the defeat of America and the imposition of the group’s fundamentalist version of sharia, or Islamic law.
Since the Taliban takeover, the group has firmly remained in control of the country. Afghanistan’s former President Ashraf Ghani still claims to be president from abroad but has made no attempts to exercise any presidential power. The Taliban’s rule has marked a return to the brutal Islamist rule of the 1990s, with any attempts at political dissent silenced and women effectively erased from Afghan society. Afghanistan's robust national press has also been either silenced or turned into Taliban propaganda.
The Taliban’s rule has been funded significantly by international aid, with the US acting as the “largest donor to the Afghan people”. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) warned in a report this month that the Taliban are further benefiting by diverting this money and taking public credit for the aid.
The Biden administration made the decision to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan early, in July of 2021, following an agreement made under previous President Trump that was set to have US troops leave on May 1. The Taliban responded to Biden’s decision with a staggering 22,000 attacks within just 4 months, and their arrival in Kabul on August 15 prompted the then President Ghani to flee the country and hand the palace over.
Two years later, the Taliban have secured their hold of Afghanistan, with no feasible attempts to remove them. While leaders of the terrorist organization promised a more “inclusive” version of the reign of terror when they arrived in Kabul, they have so far failed to fulfill their promises. As the US and international community remain helpless to oust the Taliban, it appears Afghanistan’s future will remain deep in turmoil for the foreseeable future.
Statement of the Islamic Emirate on the Second Anniversary of the Conquest of Kabulhttps://t.co/3JlwuOVCBw pic.twitter.com/6n1kNXTUQ1
— Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) August 15, 2023