Page 5 - :: Rashtradarpan Magazine - September 2021 ::

RASHTRA DARPAN

former UK staff, and their families, and fighters taking up positions before gov- Amidst the airlifting chaos at when one has hungry mouths to feed.
those considered at risk from Taliban. ernment offices, officials are wary of en- Kabul airport, US President Joe Biden
Prime Minister Boris Johnson took to tering despite being urged by the Tali- defended his handling of the situation Qatar: Emerging Epicenter
Twitter to praise “colossal exertions” ban to return to work. by saying that his government had for The US’s Post-Taliban
of those involved in evacuation efforts, Amidst fear of looming eco- reached out 19 times since March to Diplomacy
working tirelessly to meet a “remorse- nomic collapse, many enterprising ven- push all American citizens to evacuate.
less deadline, in harrowing conditions”. dors have managed to glean profits out The massive airlift efforts saw the last
He continued to assure that the suffer- of the situation. Shah Mohammad, a of US troops leave Kabul even as 200
ing of the UK troops over the 20 years vendor of car cleaning cloths, has made Americans remain in Afghanistan.
was not in vain. up to $15 a day by selling Taliban’s The Taliban had, during its
Ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow white flags when he was able to earn previous rule (1996-2001), banned tele-
continues to attempt to push the Tali- only about $4 previously. vision, music, and photography. There-
ban to allow the safe passage of Afghans Many things have not quite fore, recent footage that has shown
and British nationals in need of help. changed yet in Taliban ruled Kabul. many Taliban leaders taking selfies at
Lord Dannatt, former head of armed Chaman-e-Hozari, a park for young the Kabul airport on 31st August, Tues-
forces (2006-09) during his talks with boys to play cricket and soccer (a sport day is surprising and perhaps a glint at Qatar, the tiny Gulf Arab state, takes on
BBC Breakfast, echoed the same sen- frowned upon by the Taliban) has their dealing with new laws. Schools the role of diplomatic middle-ground
timents as Vice Adm. Key and further continued mostly. Large murals and have reopened as well but the girls and for America’s future decisions regard-
added that the way the end of the war paintings are still up, even as women boys will be separated. Women have ing Afghanistan, due to its ties with
has come about is not desirable. He promote through them. Some Afghan been seen wearing headscarves, as usu- both Washington and the Taliban.
claims there needs to be an inquiry into national flags have still been left flut- al, on the streets without repercussions Qatar found itself amongst global big
the 20-year UK involvement to pin- tering even over Mullah Abdul Ghani for not wearing the full coverage bur- leagues on 31st August as U.S. Secretary
point a “string of strategic errors” which Baradar, a Taliban leader. qa that the Taliban had required in the of State, Antony Blinken discussed a co-
also caused a chaotic evacuation when That being said, financial cries past. ordinated game plan on a virtual meet
it could have been dealt with calmly for help can be heard all over the city. “Afghanistan is finally free. Ev- for the days after the U.S. completes its
several months prior. Salaries have been left unpaid and shop erything is peaceful. Everything is safe” evacuation efforts from Afghanistan
Amid this, The U.S. continues owners have given up hope for a profit said Hekmatullah Wasiq, a top Taliban post-Taliban takeover. The meeting was
evacuation efforts to help foreign troops and are just trying to make enough for official, even as local U.N. humanitar- attended by Canada, France, Germany,
leave Afghanistan even as threats akin rent at least. Though few have attempt- ian coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov said Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Tur-
to the suicide bombing on 26th August, ed to withdraw from the Afghan Na- that “Afghanistan is on the brink of key, the European Union, and NATO.
Thursday (resulting in 170 deaths) in- tional Bank, the Taliban have restricted a humanitarian catastrophe.” he fur- Qatar has also breached the possibility
cluding two UK citizens and the child weekly withdrawals to $200. ther adds that of the $1.8 billion that is of offering civilian technical assistance
of a British national kept occurring. US Yet there are quite a few peo- needed for aid effort only 39% has been to the Taliban at Kabul’s International
President Joe Biden has warned of such ple who have decided to stick by their received. Many Afghani civil servants airport as the US military withdrawal
attacks in the future as well. motherland even with the terror of the haven’t been paid and the markets are ended on 31st August.
Taliban and financial despondency on bare. This has snowballed the already Qatar’ Foreign Ministry has
The Terrorism of Econom- the horizon. Locals are also of the opin- existing economic crisis. expressed interest in the negotiations
ic Collapse in Afghanistan ion that the US troops have not done a The Taliban extends an olive about the Kabul airport’s operations
good job and have let corruption run branch towards all Afghans who had along with many such like Afghanistan,
high. The rich this way had already es- fought the group over the last 20 years. the United States, and Turkey, while
caped while the rest remained in Kabul, They maintain that they want to build stating that its main priority is to pre-
by choice or otherwise. good relations with other countries in- serve safety and security at the airport.
cluding the United States. Their main Meanwhile, U.N. agencies are looking
World On Edge: Curiosity focus right now needs to be on reviv- towards Qatar for support in delivering
Over Taliban’s Governing ing the economy which countries such aid to Afghanistan.
Policies and Future Plans as the United States may use as leverage Qatar was an unlikely player
Local shops and vendors in Kabul, Af- for Afghanistan to push for free international travel and in this diplomatic war as it was only
ghanistan have claimed to be more wor- women’s rights. supposed to be a transit point for a few
ried about an economic collapse and The Taliban’s current focus thousand airlifted people from Afghan-
the possible future of starving mouths seems to concentrate on building its istan over a span of a few months. This
to feed back home. Many are concerned government rather than imposing re- changed when the sudden overtaking
for the future of their children after strictions upon the normal life of peo- of Kabul on 15th August by the Taliban
witnessing the panic-induced exodus ple. An example would be the fact that caused the chaotic evacuation of tens
of foreign and Afghan nationals and ci- several marriages have been celebrated of thousands. Nearly 40% of the evac-
vilians in the massive airlift efforts post in full swing post the Taliban takeover. uees were moved out via Qatar. The US
Taliban’s takeover. The event organizers claim that, unlike on 28th August said that 113,500 peo-
The 31st August deadline for American troops, the Taliban officials ple had been evacuated of which about
the withdrawal of US troops have seen The Taliban has resumed its rule over do not ask for bribes. 43,000 had traveled via Qatar.
many other common Afghani men at- Afghanistan leaving the citizens and Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Qatar’s Assistant Foreign Min-
tempting to come up with a plan to world anxious about what their new Mujahid has said that the people have ister Lolwa al-Khater dismissed allega-
escape. One such man, Mustafa, con- normal will look like. After having been asked to stay clear of the Kabul tions of political motives behind evac-
cludes that he will run away to provide defeated a military strength such as airport post the 31st August deadline of uation efforts. She maintains that if the
for his family. Being a waiter and having America, the Taliban are under scruti- withdrawal as Taliban’s technical teams efforts were purely for political gains,
his pay cut by more than 75% amount- ny for what their governing policy will “repairing and cleaning” the airport then a good amount of effort would
ing to $50 a month since the Taliban look like for a nation of over 38 million and are likely sorting through the dis- have been redirected into doing PR
rule has Mustafa worried about provid- people. abled 27 Humvees and 73 aircraft along rather than spend sleepless nights and
ing for his family of 11. Many such local Afghanistan has relied heavily with reclaiming the CH-46 helicopters risking lives of Qatari operatives for
businesses are concerned about even on international aid and now with the left behind American forces in the air- the two weeks of the evacuation efforts.
making rent for the coming months new extremists’ rulers, global leaders port. Commercial airlines may not be Al-Khater said that due to its unique
with businesses having dried up since aren’t too sure of keeping the money willing to offer services even as the Tali- political position it could help better
August 15. flowing into the Taliban’s hands. The ban promises to allow people with legal during these evacuation efforts and has
Though the Afghan capital of Taliban promises peace and security documentation to travel freely. secured passage for about 3000 people
more than 5 million people have more to the war-stricken country but many Despite the world focusing on and airlifted about 1500, with signifi-
or less resumed business as usual, many wonder how it will fulfill such a prom- the largely shocking overwhelming of a cant contribution from the Qatari Am-
are flocking to the airport, despite the ise while attempting to impose an Is- nation, the poorer citizens of Afghan- bassador who accompanied convoys of
harrowing conditions there, to find a lamic rule of sorts that would be most istan seem to care less about what has buses through Taliban checkpoints.
means to escape. Even as marketplac- regressive to a country that now has happened as they continue to try and Qatar has built emergency field
es and traffic have returned somewhat more educated and progressive citizens survive each day just as they had during hospitals, additional shelters, and por-
to normalcy, official government op- compared to the Afghanis of the 1990s the past 20 years. It is rather difficult table bathrooms- overall stepping up
erations have stopped. With Taliban that Taliban is used to the ruling. to worry about politics and diplomacy to shoulder the responsibility of being
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