Reason Two: The inevitable reemergence of terrorism, cont'd.
Then there is this warning from a United Nations report released on June 1, 2021:
“A significant part of the leadership of al-Qaida resides in the Afghanistan and Pakistan border region, alongside al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent. Large numbers of al-Qaida fighters and other foreign extremist elements aligned with the Taliban are located in various parts of Afghanistan.
The primary component of the Taliban in dealing with al-Qaida is the Haqqani Network (an officially listed terrorist group). Ties between the two groups remain close, based on ideological alignment, relationships forged through common struggle and intermarriage.
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan remains diminished from its zenith, following successive military setbacks that began in Jowzjan in summer 2018. However, since June 2020, it has had an ambitious new leader, Shahab al-Muhajir, and it remains active and dangerous, particularly if it is able, by positioning itself as the sole pure rejectionist group in Afghanistan, to recruit disaffected Taliban and other militants to swell its ranks.”
In his speech, Biden, in defense of his opting for a full withdrawal, said, “We conduct effective counterterrorism missions against terrorist groups in multiple countries where we don’t have a permanent military presence. If necessary, we will do the same in Afghanistan.”
Wait, what? Mr. President, what do you mean by “if necessary?” Less than one week after the Taliban captured Kabul, your own national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the threat of the Islamic State “is real. It is acute. It is persistent.”
Wake-up! Anyone with eyes and a television can see that U.S. counterterrorism missions in Afghanistan are already needed right now. Today! The Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) — the Islamic State’s Afghanistan and Pakistan arm — just killed 13 of our soldiers. Plus, ISIS-K considers the Taliban an enemy also, which means that, even if the Taliban wanted to, they cannot control them.
Worse, ISIS-K aside, it’s clear the Taliban remain thicker than thieves with other terrorist groups, and they have been from the moment the Trump administration started the sham negotiations with them for a “peace” agreement.
In truth, these terrorists have been ten steps ahead of the U.S. government the entire time. Being outfoxed by a bunch of radical fanatics is embarrassing enough but, to make matters worse, terrorists are now so indifferent to the United States that they don’t even try to disguise the cozy relationships between themselves.
The February 2020 “peace” agreement that Trump administration officials signed in Doha, Qatar was countersigned by an organization led by the Haqqani Network. In fact, at the time, the Haqqani Network’s leader, Sirajuddin Haqqani, was the Taliban’s deputy leader and military commander. Now, he was just announced as their new Interior Minister.
The Haqqani Network is designated as a foreign terrorist group by America, and Sirajuddin Haqqani — who has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head — is wanted for questioning in conjunction with, among other murderous acts, a hotel bombing in Kabul, a failed assassination attempt on former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and attacks on the Afghanistan U.S. embassy and NATO bases.
Because of their close ties to the Haqqani Network, al-Qaeda were on hand to coach the Taliban throughout the negotiations, even though part of the Taliban’s ultimate agreement with the United States was that they would sever all ties with them. Yeah, right.
Several points of agreement were established between the Trump administration and the Taliban, but the essence of the deal was this: Taliban insurgents assured U.S. officials that Afghanistan will never again be a harbor for international terrorism in exchange for a full withdrawal of American troops. Yeah, right.
It’s understandable that war weary Americans were encouraged by this “groundbreaking” agreement, but not so fast. Setting aside the fact that we should never believe a word that comes out of these murderers’ mouths, to close the deal, the United States capitulated on practically everything. The United States even agreed to drop the word “terrorist” when describing al-Qaeda, which is just a jaw-dropping concession.
The United States also agreed to help convince the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners, while the Taliban was only required to release 1,000 and agreed to what the Taliban called a “reduction in violence” instead of the total cease-fire that the United States had demanded at the beginning of the negotiations.
The United States also agreed to support the gradual removal of Taliban leaders from international sanctions blacklists, including the lists of the United States and United Nations. Zalmay Khalilzad, the Afghan American diplomat leading the negotiations for the Americans, consistently said that the United States was not looking for a withdrawal agreement but “a peace agreement that enables withdrawal.”
Give us a break. This entire episode is humiliating enough. Let’s at least have the dignity to call this what it really is: Surrender.
The Taliban certainly has no problem calling it what it is. At the Doha Sheraton hotel where the United States and Taliban signed the February 2020 agreement, the Taliban’s press guy gleefully called the agreement “the defeat of the arrogance of the White House in the face of the white turban.” Hmmm…catchy!
At one point, Sirajuddin Haqqani proudly said that “no mujahid ever thought that one day we would face such an improved state, or that we will crush the arrogance of the rebellious emperors and force them to admit their defeat at our hands.”
These statements undoubtably sent chills up and down the spine of every Afghan. Keep in mind, the Afghan government didn’t even attend the February negotiations because the Taliban refused to negotiate with them. If ever there was a flaming red flag, this was it. How in the world could anyone believe that peace and cooperation were possible between the Afghan government and the Taliban after our exit if the Taliban wouldn’t even sit at a table with them?
Of course, the incendiary statements from the Taliban came as no surprise to the Afghans, who have seen this play before. Afghanistan and her people have already lived through at least one brutal civil war, which is the reason they were living under the tyrannical rule of the Taliban when U.S. forces arrived in 2001 to stop the ruthless Islamic regime.
In September 2020 — after multiple delays over the terms of a prisoner swap the U.S. had negotiated with the Taliban without the input of the Afghan government — the Afghans and Taliban did finally sit down at the same table to engage in “peace” talks.
This was a historic moment to be sure, but it’s important to remember what happened between the signing of the peace agreement in February 2020 and the September joint “peace” talks.
Between these two meetings, the Taliban conducted multiple targeted attacks on Afghanistan’s security forces, members of the government and judiciary, activists, journalists and religious leaders. They also attacked Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security — an Afghan intelligence complex located in the northern city of Aybak — killing 11 people and injuring over 60 more. On March 9, 2020, Afghanistan’s presidential inauguration day, the Taliban unleashed a barrage of mortar shells.
Meanwhile, the Islamic State Khorasan — now famously known to all of us as ISIS-K — continued its suicide bombing routine, including one at a funeral for a local police commander in the province of Nangarhar that killed 25 people and injured 68 more.
There were other mass casualty attacks — both before and after the meeting between the Taliban and Afghan government — like the one at a tutoring center that murdered 44 people, one at Kabul University that killed 21, a truck bomb that killed 27 people in Kabul, and an attack on a Kandahar airfield.
Then there was this: Sayed Ul-Shuhada, an Afghan high school in Kabul, was bombed, killing at least 90 civilians and injuring almost 150 more — during the holy month of Ramadan, no less. Most of the victims were teenage girls innocently leaving class.
There was also a mass casualty event so evil that neither the Taliban nor ISIS-K would take credit for it: An attack on a maternity ward supported by Doctors Without Borders that killed brand new mothers, their newborn babies, medical staff, and a police officer.
On June 16, 2021, at least 24 members of an Afghan elite force and five police officers were killed by the Taliban in Faryab Province. Ferdous Samim, whose best friend — a major in the Afghan security forces — was killed in the attack, spoke for many Afghans when he said: “We mourn. The Taliban celebrate. And it hurts too much.”
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported 1,783 civilian casualties between January 1, 2021 and March 31, 2021 alone. This was a 29 percent increase from the same period in 2020. The number of women casualties increased by 37 percent and child casualties were up 23 percent. There was a 38 percent increase in civilian casualties in the six months after the beginning of the Afghanistan “peace” negotiations in September 2020 compared to the same period the year prior.
President Biden has tried to distance himself from the hell that was unleashed in Afghanistan after the U.S. announced its withdrawal because, after all, he “inherited a deal that President Trump negotiated with the Taliban.”
While it is true that the Trump administration signed a ridiculously flawed, joke of a deal with the Taliban, in my opinion the Biden administration didn’t have to abide by its terms because the Taliban was in breach of practically every provision of the agreement.
By now, you know how important it is to us for the United States to honor our commitments, even bad ones that are passed from one presidential administration to the next. But the Taliban’s egregious actions — happening in real time and in plain sight — are in such violation of the agreement that, in our mind, it’s void. The Taliban’s failure to reduce violence and refusal to sever ties with al-Qaeda alone justifies this view.