US withdrawal from Afghanistan, diplomatic failure, or a military setback?

Recently, the US government released a summary of classified reports on the US troop’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. The US officials as well as so-called reports hailed Biden’s decision regarding the troops’ evacuation because the mission to avenge perpetrators of the 911 attacks was accomplished a long time ago. Meanwhile, the horizon operation of the US military also widely triumphed which successfully haunted the top Al Qaeda leader Al Zawahri in Kabul in recent months.

About 20 months after US chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration has come up with a summary of classified documents that mostly portrays the politicization of the historic events and blatant coverup of American failure in Afghanistan despite an investment of trillions of dollars, human casualties, and economic losses during the decades-long occupation of Afghanistan. Although, Americans have had a bulk of successes they achieved over the years following the 9/11 attacks but what they gained through withdrawal from Afghanistan is nothing. In fact, all US gains vanished in the air as the last American soldier left Afghan soil, the Taliban took over the country, American allies were on the run, and Afghans witnessed the repeat of the scenes of the Soviet’s withdrawal from Afghanistan dating back in the 90s.

Realistically, the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan was highly ill-organized, messy, and an isolated move that did not coincide with the diplomacy of the Biden administration, whereas the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation (SRAR) Zalmey Khalil Zad, despite his Afghan origin and long diplomatic experience, failed to conceive a consensus between rival Afghan Republicans and Taliban regarding an inclusive political setup in post-US Afghanistan. Thus, a unilateral US withdrawal not only overturned all American successes in Afghanistan but also pushed the Afghan nation into chaos and political instability again. According to a recent report by the US Department of Defense, the US military has left behind worth $ 7.2 billion of modern weapons and specialized equipment that directly fell into the hands of the ruling Taliban, and other terrorist groups including the Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). While Pakistani-banned outfits are blatantly using those American weapons against Security Forces in Pakistan. Interestingly, Pakistan the longstanding US ally in the war on terrorism was a vocal opponent of US withdrawal from Afghanistan in absence of any political settlement between Afghan warring groups but the Biden administration totally ignored Pakistan’s concerns and unilaterally pulled out its troops while plunging the country into a fresh wave of civil insurgency and causing instability in the region and beyond.

Surprisingly, Biden aides are jubilating about US withdrawal from Afghanistan which was not only a stigma for US military top brass that failed to assess the Taliban threat or could not judge the weakness of their Afghan allies. At the same time, it was a severe setback for US diplomacy which could not forge an inclusive setup ahead of US withdrawal and Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The global community even US intelligentsia categorically criticized the US withdrawal strategy, handling, and appreciation of the situation by the US strategists that clearly contradict the current claims of the Biden administration.

Apparently, the Biden administration could not get anything out of the famous Doha agreement except a safe withdrawal from Afghanistan as the Taliban regime not only diluted the effects of the American legacy including the promotion of human and women rights, freedom of media, and civil liberties while the United States failed to get assurance from the Taliban that the Afghan soil would not harbor transnational terrorist groups and will not pose a threat to the United States any time in future.

Historically, no nation accepts its failures and defeats and jubilates triumph over its successes. Although Americans ruled Afghanistan with dignity, but could not fully grasp their manifesto during their stay in the country. However, the world must appreciate the resilience of the American nation that courageously stood against all odds and never gave in throughout history.