Afghan Capital Falls: Biden Administration Bears a Heavy Responsibility

The Taliban Islamic fundamentalist group has captured Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, and taken power in the country. In a video statement, the Taliban leadership proclaimed that they had won a “swift and unparalleled victory.”

Taking power through military means is never acceptable. The international community should make clear that it will not recognize this “Taliban government.”

In merely 10 days following their capture of the capital of the southwestern province of Nimruz on Aug. 6, the Taliban were able to expand their control to every corner of the country. President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan, and the democratic government abruptly collapsed.

For now, the main concern is a deterioration of public order. The Taliban should not be allowed to use force against the Afghan people, and the Japanese government should do everything it can to safely evacuate its citizens from the country.

The Joe Biden administration, which misread the Taliban’s movements and was unable to stop their advance, bears a heavy responsibility. The administration fixated on the withdrawal of the U.S. military from Afghanistan, which began in April, and was planned for completion by the end of August.

This outcome could have been avoided, whether through warnings carried out via military action or through a reconsideration of the withdrawal plans. The deployment of additional troops at the 11th hour to facilitate the evacuation of Americans from the country left a bad aftertaste.

Following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, America and its allies attacked Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban government.

The U.S. military then became bogged down by terrorist and guerrilla attacks waged by the Taliban, leaving morale low, despite the continued training of Afghan government forces. It is true that the “longest war in [American] history,” which incurred huge fiscal and human costs, needed to come to an end. Fixating on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as the conflict’s end date, however, was never realistic.

Nation-building in Afghanistan became a common enterprise shared by the entire international community, and Japan was a critical partner in this mission. Having hosted meetings of foreign donors to Afghanistan in Tokyo during 2002 and 2012, Japan poured $6.8 billion in aid into the country. It also facilitated the construction of infrastructure, and promoted the development of human resources through such initiatives as training the Afghan police.

All of these actions were carried out in order to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a hotbed of terrorism. It was precisely because of its lawless state, the product of years of civil war, that Afghanistan became a den of terrorists and the base for the 9/11 attacks.

In order to break through the deadlock created by the Taliban’s victory, it will be necessary to think firstly about the war on terror. We cannot accept the way the Taliban came to power, but at the same time, we also want to avoid Afghanistan’s international isolation.

We would like America, as well as the U.N. Security Council, to open a dialogue with Afghanistan’s foreign donors, including Japan, to discuss the path forward.