Afghanistan has long been known for its increased levels of terrorism across the whole land, which is the primary reason for the US government’s decision to assist the country’s administration. In fact, the government of the USA and Afghanistan deemed it reasonable to unite their effort to decrease terrorism on the land. However, the massive collapse of this alliance and the Kabul seizure by the Taliban forced the US government to withdraw its forces completely. As a result, the effort put into counter-terrorism strategies was wasted, and to this day, Afghanistan remains a safe harbor to many individual terrorists and terrorist groups.
To begin with, the US government focused on liberal peacebuilding that was primarily based on the creation of a centralized Afghan state and, naturally, a system that is purely liberal and democratic. Yet this idea was not accepted, and the painful experience of this part of history still has its consequences. Toby Dodge (2021) described the past of the failed US-Afghanistan alliance and the aftermath of America’s withdrawal from the country.
As stated, the primary reason and the problem of the country, which is high levels of terrorism, prompted the US government to help overthrow the Taliban. However, in 2021 upon the seizure of Kabul, this hazardous terrorist group resumed its political movement after being stopped for 20 years (Dodge, 2021). In other words, the effort of the US government failed tremendously, not only because of not defeating and stopping the activity of the Taliban but allowing it to rule the whole country.
Even though its government has not been recognized, the Taliban still managed to seize more control over the country than before the US-Afghanistan alliance. In fact, in 2001, the Taliban ruled around 75% of the country, and now the whole country is dependent on this group’s terrorist activity (Dodge, 2021). Thus, it is evident that such development in the country’s governance is likely to negatively impact not only Afghanistan but other countries as well.
Unfortunately, the Taliban’s activity is not advantageous to any country, and the US specifically, even though the terrorists, as well as America, share the same goal of defeating the Islamic state in the country. This joint interest is of no meaning to the Taliban as they keep actively helping the worst enemies of the US. Dodge (2021) explains that the Taliban assists in the survival of many terrorist groups which are located on the land of Afghanistan. In fact, Dodge (2021) added that they are not only sheltered but they are also supported with resources. If it was not bad enough, some of these groups have global ambitions, including al-Qaeda but others also aim at regional targets like Central Asia, Pakistan, or India.
Unfortunately, it appears pretty challenging to preempt the terrorist attacks due to the neutrality of most of the Central Asian states. As a matter of fact, only Tajikistan shows its opposition to the Taliban, while others are doubtful of supporting counter-terrorism strategies. Nonetheless, the successful recent attack on the leader of al-Qaeda. Ayman al-Zawahiri shows that the resources of the counter terrorism operations are capable and intact.
Still, Dodge (2021) argued whether it is wise to draw conclusions from a single successful operation in Afghanistan. Furthermore, Dodge’s (2021) complete description of Afghanistan’s terrorism-related problem was full and clear; his closings remained somewhat hesitant because of the inability to predict how this situation would unfold. The US’s insufficient resources to successfully lead that counter-terrorism campaign should also be taken into account when talking about tackling the issue of terrorism in Afghanistan.
Reference
Dodge, T. (2021). Afghanistan and the Failure of Liberal Peacebuilding. Survival, 63(5), 47–58. Web.