The Fall of Afghanistan: 5 Essential Reads

Afghanistan experts offer insight into the Taliban鈥攖hen and now鈥攁nd explain the United States鈥� role in Afghanistan鈥檚 collapse.

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By Catesby Holmes

4 MIN READ

Aug 16, 2021

Panic and turmoil grip Afghanistan after Taliban insurgents and .

There would be 鈥渘o transitional government in Afghanistan,鈥� news service. The insurgent group 鈥渆xpects a complete handover of power鈥濃€攖hough a Taliban government that took power through armed struggle rather than by continuing the now-failed internationally mediated peace negotiations.

Fearful citizens aiming to escape the rule of radical Islamic fighters were 鈥渓ining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings,鈥� , and overrunning the Kabul airport鈥檚 tarmac as U.S. military evacuation flights tried to take off.

The fall of Afghanistan came just three months after the U.S. began to withdraw its troops from the country after a 20-year war that .

For Afghans and international observers of a certain age, history is repeating itself in Afghanistan.

The Taliban鈥攚hich means 鈥渢he students鈥� in Pashto鈥攕eized control of Afghanistan in 1996 after capturing Kabul in the Afghan civil war. They established a government based on their extreme interpretation of Islamic Sharia law and ruled for five years. The Taliban regime was then toppled in 2001 by the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Here, Afghanistan experts offer insight into the Taliban鈥攖hen and now鈥攁nd explain the United States鈥� role in Afghanistan鈥檚 collapse.

1. The Taliban regime

Have the Taliban changed since 2001?

That鈥檚 the question , director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, set out to answer in his .

Ahmadzai, who is from Afghanistan, explained that, 鈥淒uring the Taliban鈥檚 five-year rule, women were prohibited from working, attending school, or leaving home without a male relative. Men had to grow beards and wear a cap or turban.鈥�

Anyone not abiding by this code could be lashed, beaten, or humiliated.

The rhetoric of the Taliban has moderated since 2001, Ahmadzai wrote, but their extremist beliefs have not changed.

鈥淎ll evidence suggests the Taliban still believe in restoring their old system of emirate, in which an unelected religious leader, or emir, was the ultimate decision-maker,鈥� given authority from God.

Already, in Taliban-controlled parts of Afghanistan, Ahmadzai wrote, Taliban have rulers 鈥渉ave asked families to marry off one girl per family to their fighters; said women should not leave home without a male relative; and ordered men to pray in mosques and grow beards.鈥�

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2. Women under 鈥渇undamentalist鈥� rule

Afghan women may have the most to fear from the Taliban鈥檚 victory.

Scholars and over the past year. Few of them felt the Taliban believed in gender equality.

鈥淩eform of the Taliban is not really possible. Their core ideology is fundamentalist, particularly towards women,鈥� one 40-year-old women鈥檚 rights activist from Kabul told Hoodfar and Tajali.

In international meetings and on social media, Taliban leaders suggest only that women have rights 鈥渁ccording to Islam.鈥�

A teacher in northern Afghanistan told the researchers, 鈥淚n the beginning, when we saw the Taliban interviews on TV, we hoped for peace, as if the Taliban had changed. But when I saw the Taliban up close, they have not changed at all.鈥�

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3. A 鈥榤oral tragedy鈥�

The United States for the human rights abuses and violence that Afghans will likely face under Taliban rule, according to University of Washington philosopher .

鈥淭his ought to trouble the politicians who defend the withdrawal, and those voters who gave power to those politicians,鈥� he says.

Calling the collapse of Afghanistan 鈥渕orally tragic,鈥� Blake says the U.S. may have an obligation to provide refuge to Afghans who bear particular risks because they were part of the U.S. war effort. That includes Afghan translators, who have been targeted by the Taliban for their work with the U.S. military.

The Biden administration in July 2021 authorized a $100 million 鈥渦rgent鈥� expansion of the special visa program that could get and resettled abroad.

But it is difficult if not impossible now for those people to flee a country under Taliban rule. And translators are far from the only Afghans at risk of retaliation by the Taliban.

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4. Global terror threat

The Taliban鈥檚 victory in Afghanistan is also a victory for the terrorist organization al-Qaida, .

鈥淎fghanistan was the birthplace of al-Qaida in 1988. The group gave rise to terrorist networks around the world, including鈥� al-Qaida in Iraq, which morphed into the Islamic State,鈥� Barton writes.

The U.S. originally invaded Afghanistan to hunt down and destroy al-Qaida after the group attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. Afghanistan had become a haven for terrorists under Taliban rule.

With the Taliban鈥檚 return to power, international terrorist organizations could鈥攕ooner than anticipated鈥攂egin openly operating out of the country again,.

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5. Could U.S. forces return to Afghanistan?

When former President Donald Trump made a deal with the Taliban to end the U.S. war in Afghanistan, acceding to a long-standing Taliban demand, public opinion polls indicated widespread support for the decision.

That gave President Joe Biden license to follow through on Trump鈥檚 decision, says , a history professor at Vanderbilt University.

But a 鈥渞apid takeover of the country by the Taliban, with the subsequent persecution of women and domestic opponents of the regime, may well produce a backlash among millions of Americans,鈥� Schwartz .

Schwartz notes that 鈥渢he brutality of Islamic State executions led U.S. forces back into Iraq鈥� after President George W. Bush had declared victory there. Similarly, the 鈥渞epression and carnage involved in a Taliban triumph鈥� could make Biden rethink a full U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan that would 鈥渃ast a profound and damaging shadow over the entire Biden presidency.鈥�

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Catesby Holmes is the international and Politics Editor at The Conversation. Her writing has been published in CityLab, Slate, Next City, and WIRED. Catesby has spent significant time abroad, primarily in Latin America, where much of her reporting focuses.聽