Afghans feel US is leaving them at mercy of Taleban insurgents
Many Afghans believe that the United States is putting them at the mercy of hardline Taleban insurgents after President Joe Biden’s announcement that US troops will leave the country by September 11.
The withdrawal date was pushed back four months from the May 1 deadline agreed to between the Washington and the insurgents last year — but, this time, there have been no conditions attached to the pullout.
“International forces’ intervention was like a light in a dark night,” Amina, 32, a teacher at a girls school in the northern province of Kunduz, said.
Amina, who was a child when USled forces toppled the Taleban in 2001, feels Washington should not leave without making the Taleban agree to accept the changes that have occurred in the country over the past two decades.
Washington is pressing for a settlement between the Afghan government and the Taleban at a conference in Turkey next week, where they hope to reach an agreement on a ceasefire and a power-sharing interim government.
The Taleban announced a boycott of the event in reaction to Washington’s announcement that foreign troops would stay beyond May 1.
However foreign capitals are push
ing the Taleban to attend and reach some sort of agreement that would save the country from another bout of civil war.
“It would have been better if foreign forces had not come at all... At least we could have found a way in the past 20 years, which I think are now just wasted,” Amina said.
Ahmed, 26, who works at an international organisation in Kabul, said he and many others had been living in fear of the Taleban returning to power.
“Now foreign forces are preparing to leave us in the hands of the Taleban,” he said, but added it was up to Afghans to overcome their fear.
Munira Harir, 30, a government employee in Kabul, criticised the decision to withdraw at a time when unrest was at its peak.
Afghan women, young government employees, and rights activists have, over the last few months, faced increased attacks, which no group has claimed but the Afghan government blames on the Taleban.
Women have found much more space in public than they did during the Taleban’s puritan rule, which included contempt for women’s rights, blocking their education, forcing nearly all to quit work, restricting their movement and brutally enforcing a strict dress code. —