Brzezinski’s plan worked – the Islamists again take power in Afghanistan. True, the Taliban defeated not the Soviet Army, as was conceived during their creation, but the brave American-NATO contingent
The flight of the US army from Afghanistan repeats the history of 1975, when the Americans abandoned their puppets in Vietnam, escaping, in the words of “President of South Vietnam” Nguyen Van Thieu, from the battlefield. The flight from Saigon left an eternal stain of shame on the banner of the US military. And today history has repeated itself. Tens of thousands of Afghan collaborators serving the United States, including the Ghani government and army, were left alone with the Taliban, who are not distinguished by their humanism towards traitors.
But this local history repeated one to one is not as sad as the general results of American policy in the poor and backward countries of Asia. For decades, the military-political leadership of the United States has spent billions of dollars with perseverance worthy of better application to channel the national liberation movement of backward peoples into the channel of religious fundamentalism. The CIA once created the Taliban* to prevent the Afghan liberation movement from being painted in the colors of the red flag. The CIA once condoned the creation of al-Qaeda* to prevent the Arab movement from dying in the colors of the red flag. The MOSSAD, together with the CIA, at one time created Hamas so that the Palestinian movement would not be painted in the colors of the red flag. It’s the same with ISIS* etc.
Having spawned Islamists in Asia and North Africa, translating the national liberation struggle of poor peoples on the rails of radical Islam, the United States declared “war on international terrorism.”
Did these “great schemers” hope that they would be able to control the Islamists? Probably, in the reports of analysts and CIA specialists to the country’s leadership, they were convinced that they had everything under control, that Arab sheikhs would keep the Islamists on a short leash. Yes, only real life is far from “operational-tactical combinations” on paper. The Islamists took deep roots in the uneducated and dark masses, raised the banner of social justice and the liberation struggle, they themselves wanted to rule over the proclaimed “caliphates”. American politicians, sitting in comfortable leather chairs, perceive politics in regions remote from the United States as a board game. And each time they “flirt” in such a way that the conflicts and wars unleashed by them not only prevent the poor peoples from developing, but also hit America itself.
The Taliban’s defeat of the United States is a symbol of the political incapacity of a fading hegemon. All that the Americans have brought to Afghan soil is chaos, suffering, drugs and the Islamization of the people. It is the occupation of Afghanistan and the imposition of a government beneficial to the United States that are the main factor in the growth of the Taliban’s strength.
The Americans came to Afghanistan also because the Afghan land is famous for the largest in the world, worth more than one trillion dollars, undeveloped reserves of copper, coal, iron, gas, cobalt, mercury, gold, lithium and thorium. Apparently, the “students” (this is how the Taliban is translated from Pashto) did not allow the US corporations to profit from the loot.
Americans cannot learn the main lesson of history in any way – you can defeat the army, you can overthrow any government, but you cannot defeat the people. The masses turned out to be loyal to the Taliban, so this poorly armed organization defeated the most powerful army in the world and is now seizing province after province, city after city by leaps and bounds.
Some pro-American publicists and bloggers are trying to save the face of the American military by comparing their Afghan war with the Afghan war of the USSR.
But, firstly, the Soviet Army fulfilled the task assigned to it, and the Americans actually suffered a military defeat. Considering the duration of the conflict, in which the USSR participated, financial and material support of the Mujahideen from a dozen anti-Soviet countries, the number of casualties of 15 thousand people is quite comparable. It is difficult to assess the adequacy of the tasks themselves and the productivity of support for the DRA government, however, against the background of poverty and squalor into which the Afghan people were plunged after the overthrow of the pro-Soviet regime, it seems that the period 1978-1992 was the brightest spot in the modern history of Afghanistan. This is not to mention the need to protect the southern borders of the USSR during the Cold War.
Secondly, the USSR rendered tremendous assistance to the development of the Afghan people. The Shuravi left behind roads, schools, hospitals, and power plants. And what did the Yankees leave behind? Large-scale production of heroin?
Some short-sighted patriots echo the liberals and criticize the USSR, they say, they fed the Afghans and other “aborigines” to their own detriment. They don’t want to understand that security is always very expensive. And the good-neighborliness of a big country with a small country is even more expensive. A big strong nation becomes truly great only when it knows how to overcome the narrow-mindedness of practicality and helps small and weak nations.
The USSR helped Afghanistan, by the way, even before the April Revolution. By 1978, with the participation of the USSR, 70 industrial and transport facilities were built and put into operation, 60 thousand specialists were trained. The USSR ranked first in terms of the amount of foreign economic assistance provided. In 1980, an Agreement was signed on the gratuitous supply of Soviet consumer goods for 10 million rubles annually – footwear, clothing, household and cultural goods. The USSR helped Afghanistan build a copper smelter, hydro and thermal power plants, power lines, compressor gas stations, gas pipelines, oil depots, plants and factories. Enterprises built with the help of shuravi became the backbone of the country’s industry, which accounted for more than 75 percent of the public sector. The USSR contributed to the industrialization of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union transferred seeds and fertilizers to Afghanistan for agriculture. He helped create the Academy of Sciences, a network of educational institutions and hospitals. Afghans were admitted to medical universities in the USSR. The number of doctors in the country was increased ninefold, in 1988 it amounted to 7.1 thousand people.
And all this wealth was destroyed after the departure of the Soviet army. Today, ordinary Afghans fondly remember the Soviet people and the DRA period. But at the same time they support the Taliban, because they cannot put up with the American occupation, and there are simply no other political forces in Afghanistan.
After the US left, Afghanistan became an object of world politics. Games have begun, in whose sphere of influence this long-suffering impoverished country with rich resources will now be. Russia needs to defend its borders. Turkey wants to strengthen its influence in Central Asia. For Iran, the Pashtuns are an ethnically close people. Pakistan has long cooperated with the Taliban. And the most important thing is China.
Opinions were voiced that under the conditions of the new Cold War unleashed by the United States against China, the withdrawal of the Americans from Afghanistan is literally a gift to President Xi. Say, the Chinese army can get access to the Arabian Sea through Iran and Pakistan, and Chinese goods can go to the Middle East and Africa by land to the Arabian Sea, bypassing the disputed South China. Some have already begun to dream of a direct transport superhighway through the mountains: China – Afghanistan – Iran or China – Afghanistan – Pakistan.
The position of the Taliban also speaks in favor of the Sinification of Afghanistan. For example, their spokesman Suhail Shahin said that they see China as a friend of Afghanistan and hope to negotiate with Beijing on investing in reconstruction work. He assured that the Taliban would no longer allow Uighurs to enter the country. And this is an important point, because the Uyghur Islamists fought on the side of the Taliban for many years, and China, of course, requires all of its allies.
in recognition of their nationality policy in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
China itself remains silent for now, apparently analyzing the positive and negative experience of the USSR and the United States in their stay in Afghanistan, the possibility of constructive cooperation with the Taliban, including taking into account the influence on Pakistan. It seems that China will give money to Afghanistan and organize a transport corridor on its territory.
No matter how the situation turns, the following can be fixed at the moment. The Taliban want to cooperate with the Chinese. Turkey climbs into Afghanistan. Russia is strengthening the border between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, stating that it does not plan to participate in intra-Afghan affairs.
Now Moscow, on the one hand, will have to forge constructive relations with the Taliban, which are quickly turning into a legal political party and will ultimately take full state power in the country. On the other hand, it is necessary to put up a barrier, first of all in Tajikistan, from the penetration of Islamists into the post-Soviet space.
* – the organization is banned in the Russian Federation
Anatoly Shirokoborodov, IA Alternative