Kabul: The Fall of Humanity

8:14 PM 17-Aug-21

As we were just getting out of our celebratory mood of our 75th Independence Day, we were greeted with images of Taliban Terrorists capturing Kabul - the capital of Afghanistan. As the Islamic extremists sat in the chair of where once Ashraf Ghani used to sit and "wonder how long before I see my desk for the last time before they come", they came , they saw and they sat in the seat of power of an ancient civilization which India had ties with. The city of Kandahar (known as Gandhar Rajya) fell to the merciless Mujahadeens on 12th of August after days of fighting with the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF)

Three eventful things happened in 3 eventful days.

On 14th August, Pakistan celebrated its independence from India (not the British as the Liberals and pseudo-seculars would have you believe!).

On 15th August, India - the cradle of Democracy - celebrated its 75th Independence from the British Raj.

On 16th August, Pakistan again celebrated, what its selected Prime Minister Imran Khan aka Taliban Khan, called it freedom from American occupation.

The reader must note, that the normal Afghani citizens did not celebrate - instead they fled in fear to their nearest border to escape the oncoming horror. The horror called the Taliban. The same Taliban who put a bullet in the face of Malala Yousufzai whose only 'crime' was she wanted to go to school. While the darling of the Liberals and the Left, Malala Yousufzai said she is "deeply worried about Afghan women", her Prime Minister endorsed the takeover by the Taliban Terrorists saying they have "broken the chains of slavery". Imran's advisors meanwhile try to put a spin and educate the panel members on Pakistani news channels about the "good and bad Taliban".

While the whole world is shocked about how quickly the Taliban has captured Afghanistan, the US is seen hiding its face in shame as the world media began comparing a US Military helicopter peeling away with its last vestiges in Afghanistan to that of the last plane leaving Vietnam. The fall of Kabul, is quite clearly a complete failure of the American rule for over 20 years. This is a lesson it should remember for the rest of its Foreign Policy life. Hillary Clinton popularly said of the Pakistanis that they should not rear "snakes in their backyard". While the advise is well taken, the US should also "stop raiding its neighbors' backyard" with the intention of clearing the weed and leaves! The Taliban have stung the US badly as it is evident from the Secretary of State Antony Blinken's cover fire statement reminding everyone that "this is not Saigon" as the press wildly compared the scenes of US helos evacuating its personnel to those of the Vietnam humiliation.

There is a suspense hanging in the air in democratic countries about who will first talk to the Talibani regime.

China, well since it's a communist country, hasn't wasted even a single moment and quickly sent messages hoping for "friendly relationships". Hmm, one wonders how soon the Taliban remembers that 1 million Uighur brothers of their Islamic Brotherhood (Muslim Umma) are lodged in Chinese camps where they are getting 're-educated' about the dangers of Islamic religion and its barbaric practices. Incidentally, they plan to impose the same Islamic law which the Chinese are so afraid of!! So easily comes off the mask of hypocrisy among like minded friends!! The Chinese will soon learn the Talibani terrorists have no respect for laws or rules of the civilized world. It'd also be unfair to question the intelligence of the Chinese. They know full well the ideology of the Taliban. They are just hoping against hopes, gritting their teeth forcibly, that the Taliban will not rejuvenate the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) founded by the separatist Uighurs of Xinjiang province of China. If the Taliban's word is anything to go by, China will soon be forced to taste the bitter fruits of its misadventure with suppressing humanity and religion. China plans to offer money and infrastructure in exchange of peace along its 74 km stretch of border with Afghanistan, as its Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with a delegation of the Taliban last month.

As US runs away from its 20 year experiment with nation building in Afghanistan, its Cold War enemy Russia is smiling mischievously from its embassy in Kabul. These Russians are tough ones, the whole lot. As the whole world was in a mad rush to evacuate its people and staff from Kabul, Russia made parleys with the Talibani extremists! Even as the President of the country, Ashraf Ghani fled, the Russians sat put in their diplomatic missions securing "working contacts" with the oncoming marauders! Such is the Russian heft. They just can't be dislodged. One hopes they don't forget that the Taliban are the seeds sowed by the Afghan-Soviet war. They fought the same Russians who are now sitting smugly in their embassies. It won't be long before the Taliban remind them who's the Big Bear here in the hinterlands of a war ravaged Afghanistan.

While the stand of Pakistan, China and Russia is evident, the "we strongly condemn" nature of India seems to be in a state of flux! Our Foreign Policy paralysis, especially in view of Afghanistan, seems to be coming to the fore with the recent developments. We shy away from the burden of even making a strong statement. PM Modi who is generally vocal about such humanitarian crisis, is disturbingly quiet today where his words would have warmed the hearts of the suffering Afghans. India's silence not only is deafening in the international geo political fora, it is also a sad commentary on the expecting Baloch who have kept their eyes peeled towards India to rescue them from the clutches of the Pakistani Army. One wishes PM Modi would leave a legacy in the image of Sardar Patel, instead of continuing the 'pehle aap' legacy of Nehru resulting in China with a permanent seat at the UNSC, which the Russians had so gladly offered it to India. But of course Nehru was 'busy' with other 'important' issues!

The painful scenes of scores of fleeing Afghani citizens clinging on to US planes and falling to the ground is an image of what is to come in the very near future. Even before the conquest of Kabul, the Talibani military issued a decree that girls will not be going to school. And those who are aged between 15 to 45 submit themselves as wives to the sex depraved foot soldiers of the Talibani militia. Posters of women were seen to be peeled off the walls and shops. Every woman is now to be escorted by a male counterpart if she ventures out of her home. The horrible scenes of the lashing of women and men being lynched in public squares from the 1990's come to mind in a rush.

As scores of moderate, civilized and educated citizens of Afghanistan worry about their dark future looming on the horizon, the Liberals and the Left seem to be in no particular hurry to change their profile pictures to Afghan flags in solidarity or tweet hashtags of #AfghanLivesMatter or come out in the streets with "Save Kabul" placards. The streets are empty with zero candlelight vigils. The air doesn't ring with harsh words for the Democrat Biden. Kamala Harris is absent shouting despicable words for the Taliban as she had for Trump.

Back closer to India, from Swara Bhasker to Farhan Akhtar, from Rana Ayub to Sherwani to Barkha to Shehla, all the vultures are solemnly silent almost as if to say the Taliban are to be welcomed with open arms. One can safely bet that there will be a "Taliban kit" distributed amongst the Twitterati intellectuals to peddle the current lot of Taliban as "reformed", "good Taliban". There will be endearments begging the world to "give them one chance". One Islamic lawyer on a Hindi news channel went to the extent of explaining the "prime difference between good and bad Taliban". And his counterpart on a Pakistani news channel, while shaking his head in defeat gave up after unsuccessfully trying to explain the fundamentals of a good and bad Taliban. He was seen ruefully leaving the news studio after having failed to spread Imran 'Taliban' Khan's propaganda. Pakistan's fundamentalists are cheering the fall of Kabul. China is writing cheques hoping the cash is enough to keep the Taliban from 'infecting' the Uighur separatists. Russia is bromancing with the Taliban while forgetting that 'physical love' between two men is forbidden in Sharia and warrants the errant lovers to be thrown off multi storied buildings! USA is hiding its face everywhere it can find a corner. But India is the only country whose actions or the lack of them, seem to be that of a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding truck on the night of Amavasya!!

The Taliban captured Bagram air force base after the Afghan security forces surrendered. The Taliban had an interest in taking control of Bagram Prison as many of its past members along with the Islamic State (ISIS) members and members of Al Qaeda were lodged as prisoners in it. The first thing they did was to release as many as 5000 prisoners from the Bagram Prison. These inmates will later join forces with the Taliban and extend their base across the world. Especially since the ISIS attracted nationalities from various parts of the world. So those who are cheering this takeover, especially Pakistan, will likely see a spurt in terrorist related violence . Taliban is known to have provided Al Qaeda safe refuge in Afghanistan and Lashkar e Taliban. They have a recognized organization called the Jamat Ud Dawa in Pakistan which was funded by Osama Bin Laden.

The world will now have one more country added to the list of breeding grounds for errorism - Afghanistan.

No wonder Pakistan is exuberant about its new friend and a brother in arms!