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Meral Çiçek
“The Afghan people in six provinces of the country came out in protest when ISIS was on the verge of invading Kobanê in 2014. Today, we must respond to the Afghan people by showing the same meaningful support,” writes Meral Çiçek for Özgür Politika.
The United states had launched an operation, or an invasion better to say, in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime. The war was dubbed “Operation Enduring Freedom,” resulting in almost 200,000 deaths.
What “Enduring Freedom” meant for Washington became clearer this February. It officially initiated a process that would give power back to the Taliban, whose governance Washington had allegedly fought against for so many years.
Co-founder of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation at the US State Department, Zalmay Khalilzad, signed the “peace treaty” in the capital of Qatar. Khalilzad, a US diplomat of Afghan origin, signifies for the Afghans what James Jeffrey signifies for the Kurds.
This is not the only similarity between the situation in Afghanistan and that in Kurdistan, or Rojava to be more precise. The US came to accord with the Taliban in defiance of Kabul’s political will, even resorting to blackmail. It saw to it that the most fierce Taliban militants, captured in countless operations within the past 20 years, were released from prison one by one.
As the forces of the international coalition began to withdraw rapidly in May, the Kabul administration -though a puppet, still some sort of government – was forced to “make peace,” within the context drawn by the US, with the Taliban who are now intensifying their attacks against government forces.
To translate: The Taliban, considered an illegitimate force till only yesterday, is provided by the US itelf with the means to occupy the country, and the government is forced by the US to accept this, while a horrible situation for the peoples is permitted to emerge before the eyes of the whole world.
In the process, following the alleged peace treaty, more civilians have been killed than during any phase of the war. There has been a dramatic rise, especially in the assassinations targeting women, journalists, law professionals and human rights activists. At least 573 civilians have reportedly been killed and 1,783 wounded within just the first three months of 2021.
The Taliban have been capturing the cities of Afghanistan, one by one. They’ve recently gained control of the northern province of Kunduz. They had previously started encircling the province following the withdrawal of German army units who were based there for years.
While 250,000 Afghans have fled the country, those who had taken refuge in the European countries after 2001 have now started to be deported based on a conclusion that “the question is now solved.”
How the situation in Afghanistan resembles, in essence, the situation during the occupation of Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî! Washington even has a plan of delivering the control of Kabul airport to the Justice and Development Party-Nationalist Movement Party regime, thus stationing the fascist Turkish state in Central Asia as a forward operating base. In other words, it seeks to have control over the armed Islamist gangs in Afghanistan through means of the Turkish state, just like it did in Rojava and North-East Syria.
Washington’s policy of forcing the Afghanistan government to “choose between death and plague” has been complemented by Germany and the other NATO states.
NATO released some joke of a statement yesterday, calling upon the Taliban to stop its occupation, and expressing “deep concern” over the recent developments! The Taliban had to understand that the international community would never recognise it as long as it didn’t integrate in the political process and tried to invade the country by force, the statement said. What familiar infamy and hypocrisy! Remember how the Western states had called upon the Turkish state during the occupation of Afrin, Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî, how they’d expressed their “concern!”
Afghanistan has been treated as the chess board of invasion in the power struggles between the hegemonic powers for the past 150 years. First, it was a buffer zone in the war between the British and Russian empires; then, it has been the theatre of the proxy war after 1979 for ten years between the Soviet armed forces and the mujahideen, supported by the US, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. In 2001, it was occupied by NATO forces, led by the US.
The recent developments are grave for those who have been dreaming of living in peace, freedom and democracy. This can be felt most strongly by the Kurds. The Afghan people in six provinces of the country came out to protest when the Islamic State was on the verge of invading Kobanê in 2014. Today, we must respond to the Afghan people by showing the same meaningful support.
