Hello, friends!

For the last two months, the Taliban is strengthening its foothold on Afghanistan. And the Afghan government is losing its control.

According to the news reports, 90% of Afghanistan's borders are now under the Taliban's control.

Who are these people in the Taliban? Where have they come from? Where does Osama bin Laden fit into the story? And why did the USA send its army into Afghanistan?

Come, let's get to know about this frightening piece of history in today's article.

Friends, in this article I'll start the story from 1979. I told you about the events that took place before 1979 in a previous article. If you haven't read it, you can read it after you've read this.

The link will be below:

Afghanistan Crisis | History of Taliban | US Troop Return | Part 01

In 1979, Afghanistan's President and Communist leader, Nur Muhammad Taraki gets murdered. After this, the Soviet Union starts its interference in Afghanistan. Though Taraki was a communist leader, he was murdered by a fellow communist leader. By Hafizullah Amin.

Hafizullah Amin first arrested Taraki and murdered him. Like I told you in the last article, the communist parties in Afghanistan were divided into two factions. And there was a lot of infighting between them. Taraki wasn't completely innocent. He had tried to murdered Hafizullah Amin While the infighting between the communists was going on, but at the same time, the communists and Islamists were also at war with each other in Afghanistan at this point.

Around this time in 1979, a revolution took place in Afghanistan's neighbor, Iran; That is known as the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Actually, the situation in Iran at this time was quite a bit similar to the situation in Afghanistan. There were Islamists on one side, and Leftists and Communists on the other.

Iran's king Mohammad Reza believed in modernism and secularism. And he had brought a lot of economic development for his country. Along with secularism. But at the same time, he was very attached to being on the throne. Because of his greed, he had the protestors in the opposition murdered. The voices of opposition were quashed. Political parties were outlawed. And the Parliament was dismissed. For these reasons, a revolution against him took place. And in 1979, the Islamists took over Iran.

Watching this happen in Iran, In Afghanistan, Hafizullah Amin, who was a Communist, was worried about an Islamist takeover. To avoid this, he thought that he needed to appease the religious conservative people. For this, he started constructing mosques. Started including the name of Allah in his speeches. Distributed copies of the Quran. All this despite being a communist. Because he was trying to somehow get the Islamists to his side as well. But people didn't like him at all. He committed many atrocities against the people of Afghanistan. He is actually considered to be a semi-psychopath in Afghanistan. You'd notice an interesting thing here friends, all these leaders, Hafizaullah Amin, Taraki, and Mohammad Reza, whatever ideology they may portray to the world, there lies deep greed for power in all of them. In their greed for power, they can twist their ideologies to any extent. It's something that's there even in the political leaders today. Regardless of the political party, they belong to. It's still seen.

Dictators can make up any excuse to remain in power.

It was also seen in the Soviet Union

When Lenin lost power

Stalin had his opponent murdered to get power.

What happened next was that in December 1979,

before the Islamists could take over Afghanistan,

the Soviet Union intervened by sending its forces.

The Soviet Union then had Hafizullah Amin murdered.

There was an ideological reason for it

as well as a geopolitical reason.

The ideological reason was that

the ideology of Communism was losing ground in Afghanistan

and was being misrepresented by Hafizullah Amin.

So the Soviet Union wanted to lend its support to the real Communism ideology.

The geopolitical reason was that

there was a Cold War between the Soviet Union and the USA.

If the Soviet Union could gain influence in Afghanistan,

then another country could come under the influence of the Soviet Union.

It would've benefited the Soviet Union in the fight against the USA.

After killing Hafizullah Amin, Babrak Karmal was installed as the new head of government.

He was also a leader of the Saur Revolution.

After coming into power, he had more than 2,700 political prisoners released.

He replaced the red Communist flag with a new one.

He promised to bring in a new Constitution of Afghanistan.

Apart from this, free election, freedom of speech, right to protest, and freedom of religion were also promised.

Finally, it seemed like there would be peace in Afghanistan.

And Afghanistan would move in the right direction.

But how could the USA have silently watched Afghanistan progress?

The USA could see that the Soviet Union had established its influence in Afghanistan.

Even in the countries like Vietnam and Ethiopia,

the Soviet Union had humiliated America.

America was a step below the Soviet Union in this war.

America decided to use Afghanistan as an opportunity

to take its revenge against the Soviet Union.

How could they take revenge?

America took this revenge

by supporting the opposition ideology, Mujahideen, in Afghanistan.

Countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia

were already supporting the Islamist Mujahideen in Afghanistan.

And America joined them in doing so.

The CIA conducted its largest-ever secret operation to do this.

They named it Operation Cyclone.

CIA director Robert Gates had confessed it later

how the then US President Jimmy Carter

had authorized a secret aid of $500,000

to be given to the Mujahideen on 3rd July 1979.

Even after the change in power in the US,

millions of dollars were given to the Mujahideen.

It was happening even after Ronald Reagan came into power.

Look at this photo,

Reagan is with the Mujahideen.

Along with America's CIA, Pakistan's ISI, British Secret Agency MI6,

and Saudi Arabia was also supporting Islamist Mujahideen.

Who were these Mujahideen?

Initially, they were only guerrilla fighters that fought while hiding in the mountains.

But after getting so much support,

not only did they have weapons,

not only guns but even anti-aircraft missiles were also available to them.

That's when the Soviet Union started feeling the effects of the fight.

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In 1988, Afghanistan's President was Mohammad Najibullah.

He signs the Geneva accord with Pakistan.

It's basically a peace agreement

that neither country will interfere in the affairs of the other country.

The guarantors of the peace agreement were the Soviet Union and the USA.

The USA promised that if the Soviet Union withdraws its armies from Afghanistan,

then the USA would stop supplying weapons to the Mujahideen.

Finally, after 9 years,

in February 1989, the Soviet Union withdraws its army from Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union leaves Afghanistan.

And there were many reasons for it.

The Soviet Union was breaking up into pieces.

The Soviet Union then get divided into multiple countries.

And Russia becomes a major country among them.

That's a separate story, we should focus on Afghanistan.

Najibullah tries his best to end this conflict.

He reduces his powers.

In 1987, a new Constitution is brought in for Afghanistan.

Afghanistan would cease to be a one-party state.

Like the other communist countries of the time.

The other parties could contest elections as well.

In 1988, new Parliamentary elections are conducted,

And Najibullah's party, the PDPA wins the election.

And Najibullah retains his power.

In 1990, Afghanistan is declared to be the Islamic Republic.

All references to Communism are removed.

Najibullah tried to appease the religious conservative people in the country.

So that there could be peace in the country.

Najibullah also tries to get Foreign Aid into Afghanistan.

And to start private investment.

But despite doing so much,

America continues to supply weapons to the Mujahideen.

And the Mujahideen group does not step back even a bit.

They boycott the elections

and even after everything, they think that

Islam was still in danger.

This civil war continues.

The Soviet Union tries to help Najibullah by sending foreign aid.

But that doesn't help.

Because in 1991, the Soviet Union breaks apart itself.

Like I told you.

And in 1992, Mujahideen wins this civil war.

Though Mujahideen was an Islamist group

it was made up of people from various ethnicities.

And in it too, there were many people greedy for power.

Infighting begins in the Mujahideen group for power.

Finally, in 1992, a person comes into power.

He becomes the new leader of the Islamic State of Afghanistan.

His name was Burhanuddin Rabbani.

By the next few years, a new enemy had risen.

Called the Taliban.

In 1996, the Taliban removes this Islamist Mujahideen leader from power.

Who are the Taliban?

In the Pashto language, 'Taliban' means student.

Initially, the leader of this Taliban group was Mullah Omar.

He formed this group with 50 students.

But with time, some refugees returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan.

They later became a part of this group.

These people were even more religious extremists.

Even more extremely right-wing people.

Compared to the Mujahideen as well.

These Afghan refugees had apparently learned this extremism in some schools of Pakistan.

But religion was not the only thing involved.

As I said, there were many factions of ethnic groups in the Mujahideen.

Taliban also believed in the ideology of Pashtun nationalism.

In addition to being Islamists.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia supported the Taliban.

And it is said that America created the Taliban.

If we look at it technically, friends,

this isn't true.

But practically, there is some weightage to this argument.

Because America basically tried its best,

all the efforts of bringing democracy into Afghanistan

were all ruined by supplying weapons to the Mujahideen.

And an environment was created

that enabled the birth of the Taliban.

Not only weapons.

But America apparently spent millions of dollars in printing textbooks in Afghanistan.

These books were filled with violent images.

And used to promote the extremist ideology.

Later, these books funded by America were used by the Taliban.

By September 1996, the Taliban had successfully captured Kabul.

And establishes the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

In the beginning, the common people were supportive of the Taliban.

Because they could finally expect some stability in the country.

The fight going on for so many years was at an end.

And in the beginning, the Taliban did indeed make some areas of Afghanistan peaceful.

But with time,

the conservative ideology of the Taliban came to the forefront.

And the common people get a glimpse of it.

Taliban bans a lot of things in Afghanistan.

The list of the banned items is so long that

your eyes will pop out after seeing the things banned by the Taliban.

Under the Taliban's rule, men had to compulsorily keep a beard.

And women had to keep their bodies covered in burqas.

Women couldn't leave their homes

without being accompanied by a male relative.

And because the Taliban believed in the ideology of Pashtun ideology,

the non-Pashtun ethnicities,

become victims of ethnic cleansing.

Thousands of Muslims are killed.

Christians get prosecuted.

Hindus are given badges

so they can be distinguished from Muslims.

A very important part of Afghanistan's cultural history

was the statues of Budhha.

Those were destroyed by the Taliban.

Obviously, former President Najibullah is also murdered by them.

People and governments from around the world

criticize the Taliban after seeing all of these happen.

And they were quite vocal with the criticism.

But three countries recognized the Taliban as a legitimate Government then.

The three countries were: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

In the late 1990s, some Mujahideen forces try to fight the Taliban.

These are known as the Northern Alliance.

Ahmad Shah Massoud was their head.

But in 2001, the Northern Alliance loses this fight.

And Ahmad Shah Massoud gets killed as well.

Only 2 days after it happened,

a terrorist group Al Qaeda

conducts the 9/11 attacks in the USA.

An attack that changed the entire world.

The leader of Al Qaeda at the time was a Saudi terrorist, Osama bin Laden.

Taliban helps to shelter Osama bin Laden.

Giving him safe harbor in their country.

Osama bin Laden writes a letter to America

in which he writes that the 9/11 attacks were a revenge

for what America was doing in countries like Somalia, Libya, Afghanistan.

He gives a justification by saying that America was committing war crimes against Muslims

in those countries.

So they took revenge against America by carrying out the 9/11 attacks.

It makes America want to take revenge for the 9/11 attacks.

So America sends its forces to Afghanistan.

America then conducts airstrikes on Afghanistan

at places where they think terrorist groups are hiding.

But obviously, if airstrikes are conducted, then some civilians would also get killed.

It wouldn't happen that when bombs would be dropped

and only the terrorists would die.

So civilians are also killed in it.

But with the support of the Mujahideen's Northern Alliance, by December 2001,

Taliban is totally pushed back by the USA.

Ahmad Shah Massoud's aid Hamid Karzai becomes the new President

of Afghanistan's interim government.

In 2004, a new Constitution is adopted in Afghanistan yet again.

Elections take place.

And more than 6,000,000 Afghans vote in this election.

Karzai wins this election and becomes the new President of Afghanistan.

He establishes some good relations with India.

Afghanistan and India's relations became quite strong at this time.

On the other hand, the USA conducts bombings and airstrikes in Pakistan.

To eliminate the hideouts of Taliban there.

In 2011, Osama bin Laden was killed by the US forces.

In 2015 it is found that Mullah Omar, the first and original leader of the Taliban,

had died in 2013 due to an illness.

During all this, the US had dispatched its army to Afghanistan to maintain peace.

And to keep the Taliban in check.

Additionally, as a support to the new democratic government in Afghanistan.

But even after years, the Taliban is still not wiped out.

The group keeps popping up at different places.

In different areas of Afghanistan and neighboring countries,

Taliban conducts shootouts and bombings.

In which hundreds of civilians are killed.

In February 2020, while Donald Trump was the President of the USA,

shockingly, he starts peace talks with the Taliban.

Meaning that the US government starts a dialogue with the Taliban.

They say that if the Taliban cuts off its relations with terrorist groups like Al Qaeda,

then America will withdraw its forces.

And America will leave Afghanistan.

Because the American forces in Afghanistan required a lot of funding.

As I said, more than $2 Trillion were spent.

And Americans were against it too.

The Americans questioned why they were fighting a war that wasn't theirs.

They were in a country for 20 years

where their people, their soldiers were getting killed

and they weren't even getting anything from it.

In 2021, the Taliban is the most powerful it had ever been.

More than 85,000 fighters are fighting for the Taliban.

Now, when Joe Biden is the President of America,

he continues with Donald Trump's policy

and decides to withdraw the American troops from Afghanistan.

Especially before the 20th Anniversary of 9/11.

America says that it's not their concern.

They'd get their troops out of the place.

Many people say that if the purpose of America for staying in Afghanistan was revenge,

then even after Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011,

why did America let its troops be in Afghanistan then?

Why didn't they withdraw their army then?

On the other hand, if America's purpose of staying in Afghanistan

was to make Afghanistan a democratic country,

and to end the Taliban,

then that purpose hasn't been accomplished even a bit.

America has completed failed in this aspect.

Because Taliban is in power again

and is at its strongest right now.

Joe Biden says that though he doesn't trust the Taliban,

but the 300,000 soldiers of the Afghanistan army,

can easily counter 85,000 Talibani fighters.

"Do I trust the Taliban? No.

But I trust the capacity of the Afghan military.

You have the Afghan troops at 300,000.

Well equipped.

As well equipped as any army in the world.

And an airforce.

Against something like 75,000 Taliban."

But the ground reality isn't so.

As I said, nowadays,

it's being said that 90% of the borders of Afghanistan are under the Taliban's control.

And Afghanistan's government may be overthrown.

Here, some experts opine that

India should also intervene.

That the Indian Army should go to support the Afghan army

in the fight against the Taliban.

But here, the same question arises again,

Is this a fight for the Indians?

Should Indians go and interfere there?

Will it make any sense?

What do you think?

Comment below to let me know.

If the Taliban rule returns to Afghanistan

then it will be terrible for India.

Not only will the end of the India-Afghanistan relation,

but also the $3 billion that India has invested in Afghanistan

all those projects will be stalled.

And later, the threat of terrorist attacks may also arise.

What lesson do you get from this whole story?

Write in the comments below.

In my opinion, this is a lesson in Unity in Diversity. If we intend to fight amongst ourselves, we can make thousands of excuses, different ethnicities, different ideologies, communism, or a different religion, but if we want to have peace in the truest sense if we want to live peacefully in the world, Then we'd have to learn to accept each other. And promote tolerance and unity.

I hope you found this article informative. Let's meet in the next article. Thank you very much!