Introduction
Sunday 15th August
2021 was the culmination of a long multi-generational process. Finally Taliban
took Kabul without firing a shot and became the master of Afghanistan in a bloodless
masterstroke that defied logic and deeply-held western worldview. The closest
comparison military annals is 1940’s fall of Paris to the German army, an
operation with the imprimatur of Field-Marshall Eric von Manstein. The boldest
print of this outcome is the comprehensive defeat of United States, and
everything it stood for. This is one of those rare geopolitical events that
closes an era while signalling a paradigm shift that opens a new chapter. Where
did this outcome come from? How did it emerge when it did? Some of the answers
form the basis of light touches of dynamic processes steeped in history, unique
indigeneity of justice and collective memories.
The Spark of Long Durée
Two formidable intellectuals and
religio-spiritual revolutionaries widely acknowledged in their homelands but
unknown abroad opened the gates that later unleashed pregnant forces against
accepted realities in 1979. The Roman Catholic Church was forced to elect a
second pope in less than 60 days in the person of Pope John Paul II from
Poland. At the time Warsaw was under communist rule as a satellite of USSR.
Exiled Ayatollah Khomeini landed in Tehran and became the master of Iran.
Opinion in Washington DC and other western capitals paid more attention to his
long beards, inability to speak English and unconventional attire. By the way
USSR invaded Afghanistan against the advice of its premier Kosygin.
The appearance of these two men
at the same period confirmed two ignored facts; that the nation-state failed
the goal it set for itself as the god who can solve all citizens problems and
that religion has a place and role to play. Simply put, secularisation is limited. The forces unleashed in Tehran were felt first in direct challenge to the
US in the taking her citizens hostage and in 1982 when US footprint was
eliminated in Lebanon with the suicide bombing of its military barrack in Beirut.
Later inducement of Saddam Hussein into an 8-year war with Iran did nothing to
blunt Tehran’s ambition rather was rewarded by 2003 US invasion of Iraq which
extended her sphere of influence and confirmed her position as the master of
the Persian Gulf. Sanctions never deterred Tehran mobilisation and ascendance
in the Middle East.
Pope John Paul II understood the
injustice of communism first-hand in Poland and became a lighting rod of a
constellation of forces that challenged Warsaw and Moscow in an existential
struggle with his first papal visit to his homeland. Moscow took notice but
drew the wrong conclusions. By the time Secretary Gorbachev started Glasnost
and Perestroika, the disease has irreversibly metastasized. When he approved unilateral
withdrawal from Afghanistan which Washington DC saw as defeat, Commandante
Fidel Castro reminded Moscow to keep faith in the liberation of Southern
African liberation among his prescient concerns. Moscow obliged until US backed
rebels and their master receded from the scene for Luanda, Pretoria and
Windhoek to breath a sigh of relief from 1991.
US pressed her cold war victory
in Afghanistan following the collapse of USSR in 1991 in a geostrategic
confusion that closed all moderation and opened the door for Taliban 1.0 to
make its first foray on Kabul in the 1990s. Middle East petroleum commanded
higher premium so Taliban 1.0 had an unopposed run. Besides the Russian
Caucasus was burning. Moscow was in decline and hurting. Time waited for the
launching of global full-spectrum dominance in the new American century. Twin
bombings in Kenya and Tanzania edged in with the usually dismissed collateral
damage.
War on Terror Phase
Once the buildings of New York
were pulverised into dust, a motive and an offender were identified for hellfire
treatment in 2001. Taliban 1.0 was carpet-bombed from power and a two decade-onslaught against innocent Afghanis were unleashed with all the sophisticated
weapons, guns, missiles and boots on the ground. Unlimited fund were flowing to
military contractors, arms dealers and the US military industrial complex.
Afghani casualties where even deemed undignified
enough to be counted. They should have asked indigenous peoples of North
America and transported African slaves about humanity under an empire. Afghanistan became a geopolitical bazaar for
sharing trillions dollar cake.
Disregarding uniqueness of a
people and their hurting collective memory of inter-generational conflicts
imposed by foreign powers, US decreed ‘democracy’ of warlords whose government legitimacy were limited to Kabul and extended further only by force of arms.
The neighbouring states watched the grand design unfold. Russia initially offered
to help only to later realise that the subtext was different. Beijing stood
aside and looked on as ferocious offensives were annihilating in two fronts, Iraq
and Afghanistan. China accepted the
easier option of turning itself into the global factory since US formally
de-industrialised offering firms tax cuts to relocate to China for the highest
profit from cheapest labour.
After newly 20 years, all
Afghanis agreed on a single point. They are tired of conflicts, local and
foreign. Even the puppet governments in Kabul knew so much but had no influence
on serious change. Tokyo and Berlin are pass masters in those areas. European
capitals obliged the only global hegemon after all since 1945, Europeans ceased
to be global powers except for periodic reminders and ruffles on the African
continent especially in their former colonial stomping grounds.
Death of Civilisation Mission
The arrival of Taliban 2.0
started when they signed a peace programme with US in Doha obviously from a
position of strength. It was a clash of worldviews, civilisations and paradigms.
It had little to do with religion. Religion in politics is only a vehicle for
conveying collective interest and constituencies of unique experience. However
in this clash like other clashes, secularised technology-oriented US greatly
disdains religious Taliban without asking what and why that makes group
resilient, formidable and irrepressible. With so much faith in their
sophisticated weapon, precision systems and radar evading fighter jets; bearded
non-English irregulars are deemed easy targets for pulverisation from a
distance.
United States lost Afghanistan on
a number of fronts which will baffle most analysts. The first point is failure
to accept history fully in its complexity and non-linearity. Lack of respect of
peoples, unique cultures and different collective memory only manifest deeper
costly ignorance. The price of dismissing peoples as the Other. Dehumanisation
precedes destruction. The lack of inter-communal clashes and inter-ethnic
national conflicts is confounding the western mind who betted on post-US
conflagration. Taliban 2.0 is non-violent on display while the violent ran by
helicopters.
Afghanis trusted Taliban in the conclusion
that they possess a common enemy who doesn’t deserve extra blood of their innocent.
Suffering builds resilience, patience and hope in a positive setting. Man is
more than flesh. Man is equally spirit. Ascetic disposition and discipline in
the face of hardship raises the spirit. All the blabbing on democracy, women
rights and human rights failed to admit that all casualties from imposed
conflict have ignored rights without statute of limitation.
The second point of difference is
knowledge. Most parts of the Global South reflect a collective dehumanisation
where nothing of their origin, history and indigeneity is deemed worthy.
Learning, ideas, theories and even attitudes are fit only when they come from
the north. Western universities and English language are the correct symbols of
progress. Taliban and Afghanis have added a notch in the restoration and
glorification of Global South identities as viable life-giving niches.
Indigenous knowledge system drawing from old sources continues to refine and
adapt to new realities display the context for successfully engaging and
blunting foreign impositions. There is no need for Harvard/MIT MBA for excellent
organisation. Indigenous systems are open and do welcome adaptation to emerging
realities at lower cost. Collaboration
without dismissal of indigenous values is encouraged. How much did US loss and
Taliban victory respectively cost?
One would be delusional to think
that Taliban are unaware of Clausewitz theories in On War, ignorant of the
fine points of Rommel’s North African desert maneuverers or remote from the
brilliance of von Manstein exploits on the eastern front prior to the tank
battle of Kursk. They settled for asymmetrical engagement and won.
Thirdly, there is a sad and
harmful reality. This is the emerging or rather a confirming trend of the
successful role of Islamic sensitivities in the confrontation of suffocating
imperial impositions and geopolitical hegemonies in the last generation. The
sad aspect is the erroneous conclusion that US and her European remora are
Christian when they are anything but. One can simply conclude that both United
States and Europe are vehemently opposed to Christianity as much as they are
opposed to Islam or any religion.
Fourthly, this Taliban defeat of
US has finally signalled the limitation of the latter in her global
pretensions. While US will continue to be a formidable power, in geopolitical
terms, it occupies just a seat at the table like any other state. In a sense US
Empire has not only reached its zenith, it has abandoned that zenith in
obedience to gravity never to return to it anytime soon probably until military
loss on home soil triggers a deeper thinking. In summary US knowledge, technology,
systems, capability, worldview and thinking failed woefully. A lot of conclusion will be drawn in many
capitals. Inspirations will not be in short supply either. As for US
invincibility or exceptionalism, its place in the archive is secure.
United States has become the
third superpower after Britain and USSR to be buried in the graveyard of
empires, Afghanistan.
