Afghanistan Times
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The outgoing US President Donald Trump, who apparently lost election, is still opting for a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. After years of rough discussion, eventually the US came to a conclusion with the Taliban, a group that American troops fought for nearly 20 years, to some issues, including withdrawal of its troops. Finally, the US signed a deal with the Taliban that sets the stage to end America’s longest war. Now with the end of his tenure, Trump is in a rush to honor his commitment to bring troops home back from Afghanistan before his tenure comes to an end within some days. Trump would stay at office for another two months, and he has full authority to use it for good or ill. One thing he always insists on is for a hasty withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, leaving mistrust and uncertainty on all sides, where some US officials oppose such a move. Trump seemingly frustrated that some of his advisers have sometimes opposed his attempts to finish endless wars as parts of his 2016 campaign pledge.
One day all the foreign troops have to go. No country on this planet wants to have foreign troops in its soil. This is considered as some sort of occupation however, it is not in case of Afghanistan. It was based on international convention with the purpose of fighting the evil groups. That was an important move in that time to molest the terrorist groups and let Afghanistan become a country free of terrorism as it was before war and aggression. Also to let the Afghan masses breathe once again in a peaceful environment. We will never be willing to return back to the darkest era of the past. That was brutal, but still such brutality continues to grasp this country as terrorist groups are yet to be demolished. Rather it has been increased to over 20 small and big clusters, threatening the world’s security in addition to Afghanistan. The pullout troop is a good move, but it should be well-calculated and in a responsible way. Such hasty withdrawal could create vacuums the terrorists would be delighted to fill. Violence affecting the Afghans is still rampant, and a premature foreign troop exit would likely be even worse than former US President Obama’s withdrawal plan from Iraq back in 2011.
The ongoing peace talks in Qatar have to be succeeded and both sides (Afghan and Taliban negotiating teams) have to agree to a common ground to kick start the intra-Afghan talks and provide a safe passage to the US troops to withdraw. But that condition is yet to be met and reduction of violence still highly persists. The risk of plunging Afghanistan into another civil war is quite probable. The Taliban are thinking of making a comeback through military ways once the US forces depart – a significant signal toward another deadly civil war that benefits nobody, including the Taliban itself.
