The Taliban has declared victory in Afghanistan’s civil war. According to its own assurances, the group already controls up to 85% of the country, as well as most of the border with Pakistan, from where aid continues to flow to the fighters
At the same time, some kind of political negotiations with the official Afghan government is still going on. However, they are progressing very slowly and without much progress: the parties cannot even agree on the future name of the “united country”.
The Taliban want to rename it the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”, while the government in Kabul is trying to keep its current name, the “Islamic Republic of Afghanistan”.
The other day General Scott Miller, commander of the remaining American troops in the country, held a formal ceremony relinquishing all his powers and leaving Afghanistan. From now on, all operations of the American forces will be completely remote, and they will be controlled from the air base in Florida.
However, a small number of soldiers will remain in Kabul to protect the U.S. Embassy. The State Department is not planning to close it yet. The embassy building is an entire concrete fortress housing thousands of diplomats and their families. It is assumed that even in the event of Taliban incursions into Kabul itself, it will be able to withstand a siege for some time.
The financial backing of the Afghan government will also continue. They receive billions of dollars annually from Washington in military aid. In addition, Afghanistan is one of the main recipients of USAID funds sent to local NGOs. Much of this money, however, is wasted or simply stolen.
But the fate of the US army aides is uncertain. Some of them will be moved to U.S. military bases abroad, others will be left in third countries, and many will simply be abandoned to their fate.
The liberal media is already predicting a wave of uncontrolled Afghan migration that could eclipse 2015. NATO’s haphazard retreat from Afghanistan would entail far-reaching problems for neighboring states as well as for Europe, which is still unable to digest the avalanche of Middle Eastern migration of six years ago.
Malek Dudakov