Withdrawal Gives Wings to the Taliban

290

August 16, 2021

Published in El Mundo
(Spain) on 11 August 2021
by Editorial (link to original link to original)

Translated from by Sergio Ferreras. Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.

The promised U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan allows the Taliban to ramp up its offensive in Afghanistan. They have taken over six cities in a week while Washington and NATO stick to their plans. The Afghan forces alone, with their incompetent commanders and dependency on the U.S. military, have been unable to stop the Taliban, who are responsible for committing repeated human rights violations and imposing Sharia or Islamic law in its strictest form.

Two decades after the intervention of a U.S.-led international coalition to overthrow the Taliban, Afghanistan is once again threatened by the group, as the coalition could not be trusted to keep its promise to keep the Islamic State or al-Qaida at bay.

Unlike Iraq and Syria, where President Joe Biden found a strategy to maintain a U.S. presence, Biden plans to withdraw from Afghanistan mainly for economic reasons. The war on "global terror" unleashed by George W. Bush after 9/11 cost $1.9 trillion. The Taliban resurgence adds up to a failure of such huge amounts of money to rebuild Afghanistan. In this context, the withdrawal ordered by the White House adds even more uncertainty to the situation. The U.S. risks creating a scenario of further destabilization and a refugee crisis.

La retirada de EEUU da alas a los talibán
El repliegue de EEUU, comprometido por Biden, deja vía libre a los talibán para redoblar su ofensiva en Afganistán. Se han hecho con el control de seis ciudades en una semana al tiempo que Washington y la OTAN mantienen inalterables sus planes. Las fuerzas afganas, con mandos insolventes y dependientes del ejército estadounidense, son incapaces de detener a los talibán, responsables de continuas violaciones dederechos humanos y de la aplicación de la sharía, la ley islámica, en su forma más rigorista. Dos décadas después de la intervención de una coalición internacional liderada por EEUU para derrocar a los talibán, Afganistán vuelve a estar amenazado por un grupo que ni siquiera es fiable en su promesa de mantener a raya el terrorismo del Estado Islámico o Al Qaeda.
A diferencia de Irak y Siria, donde ha buscado fórmulas para prolongar la presencia, Biden piensa cumplir la retirada de territorio afgano, fundamentalmente, por razones económicas. La guerra al «terror global» desatada por Bush tras el 11-S ha costado 1,9 trillones. A ello se suma la resistencia de los talibán, lo que muestra el fracaso de la ingente cantidad de fondos movilizada para la reconstrucción de Afganistán. En este contexto, la retirada ordenada por la Casa Blanca añade aún más incertidumbre. EEUU se arriesga a un escenario de mayor desestabilización y a una crisis de refugiados.

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