In any case, the US-led war has made the world less secure, as the outbreak of international terrorism deepens.
On the day the United States marked two decades since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Taliban triumphantly hoisted their flag over the Afghan presidential palace to begin their new regime. The unprecedented 9/11 attacks prompted the US not only to invade landlocked, strategically located Afghanistan, but to launch a global war on terror. Yet, the US-led war on terrorism has yielded no tangible results.
A President’s ‘Mistake’
If anything, it has made the world less safe. The havoc of international terrorism has deepened and pervasive in the world. In fact, US President Joe Biden’s mistake in facilitating the terrorist takeover of Afghanistan raises the bigger question of whether the seeds of another 9/11 have been sown.
Mr Biden will be remembered for making the world’s deadliest terrorists in history – the Pakistan-funded Taliban – great again. Historians would be surprised that America spent considerable blood and treasure in a protracted war to eventually help its enemy triumphantly return to power. The war killed 2,448 American soldiers, 1,144 Allied soldiers, more than 66,000 Afghan security personnel and countless civilians.
The Taliban’s defeat of the world’s most powerful army represents the biggest victory for violent Islamists in the modern history of jihadism, with the Taliban calling it “the happiest day of our existence”. Victory over the “Great Satan” would certainly inspire other Islamic and terrorist groups around the world.
It’s a concern of the allies
America’s close ally, India, whose location is right next to the Afghanistan-Pakistan belt, is likely to be a major loser to Mr. Biden’s Afghan debacle. The rejuvenated epicenter for terrorism next door may leave India little room to counter an expansionist China, when Indian and Chinese forces have been locked in several border standoffs since last year.
Despite the Afghan fiasco, Mr Biden plans to withdraw from Iraq this year, which he announced in his address to the nation on 31 August: “This Verdict on Afghanistan It is not just about Afghanistan. It’s about ending an era of major military operations for other countries to remake.” This reassessment of strategic objectives is troubling allies – from Taiwan to Ukraine – who fear that the way the US has just The Afghan government was thrown down.
Afghanistan may not be the last mistake of the Biden presidency. Robert Gates, who served as Secretary of Defense under US Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, wrote in a 2014 memoir that Mr. Biden “was wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” Huh”. Mr. Gates has been proved right.
In fact, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, in a letter received after he was killed by US forces at his Pakistan compound in May 2010, advised al Qaeda not to target then Vice President Biden, in the hope that he would be a Day would become president. Bin Laden wrote, “Biden is completely unprepared for a position that will put America in danger.” That too has proved right to the happiness of all jihadis.
confusing distinction
Mr Biden, like his predecessors since 2001, has disregarded the lessons of 9/11. This is evident from Mr Biden’s efforts to portray the Taliban as “good” terrorists and ISIS-K (Islamic State Khorasan), Al Qaeda and the Haqqani network as “bad” terrorists. He also claimed that “ISIS-K terrorists” are “sworn enemies of the Taliban”, ignoring the Pentagon’s acknowledgment that one of the Taliban’s first actions was to free thousands of ISIS-K prisoners from prisons in Afghanistan. .
The misleading distinctions Mr Biden has tried to make between interconnected terrorist groups are part of his administration’s public relations campaign to downplay the implications of a Taliban victory. In fact, expanding its good-terrorists-versus-bad-terrorists thesis, Team Biden has sought to project the Taliban as America’s new ally to help contain the “bad” guys. , United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has publicly stated that the U.S. Ready to “combat terrorism” with the Taliban.
This flies in the face of an important lesson of 9/11 – that a viper reared against one state is a viper against others. Distinguishing between those who threaten US security and those who threaten others is a sure recipe for failure, as terrorist cells and networks must be targeted on a permanent basis in order to achieve lasting results against the forces of global jihad.
interrelationship of terror
In fact, the Taliban are closely associated with other terror groups. As the UN Security Council report noted, “the Taliban and al-Qaeda are closely linked” and cooperate through the Haqqani network. Since their victory, the Taliban have not only refused to speak a critical word about al Qaeda, but have also claimed that there is “no evidence” that bin Laden was responsible for 9/11.
The Taliban and the Haqqani Network are not “two separate entities”, as the State Department has claimed, but closely integrated, as the new cabinet ministers line-up shows. And, although Mr. Biden tried to shield the Taliban from the Kabul airport bombing (26 August) by blaming ISIS-K, the fact remains that ISIS-K has little to do with the ISIS founded by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Is. . Instead, ISIS-K draws its cadres from the largely Haqqani network, as part of Pakistani intelligence’s deceitful operation to make a pragmatic denial in terrorist attacks.
Under an all-male regime dominated by former Guantanamo prisoners and UN-listed or US-designated militants, Afghanistan is again set to become a haven for international terrorists, including the interim prime minister who served as the Bamiyan Buddhas. He was instrumental in the destruction of 2001. The world is reaping the bitter fruits of a geopolitically driven war on terrorism.
on the anniversary
The 20th anniversary of 9/11 should have been an opportunity to reflect on the forgotten lessons of those attacks, including the importance of not coding pro-terrorism regimes. With the derailment of the global war on terrorism, the anniversary was also a reminder of the imperative to build a new international consensus to help clear the terrorism-breeding swamps. It was not too late for the Western powers to draw lessons from the national policies that gave rise to Frankenstein’s demons.
Brahm Chelani is a geo-strategist and author of nine books, including the award-winning ‘Water: Asia’s New Battleground’.
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