Graveyard Of Cilvilizations

By Vandita Srikanth Reddy

On the 15th of August this year, when we were celebrating our nation’s 75th Independence Day, India’s north-western neighbour Afghanistan lost her freedom to the ruthless and merciless Taliban. They had taken over Afghanistan in weeks, in a blisteringly fast campaign. The Taliban were removed from power in 2001, by the US military forces. This terrorist organisation succeeded in recapturing Afghanistan in 2021.

Let’s first get to know who is “Taliban”. The Taliban translates to “students” in the Pashto language. They had emerged around the 1990’s in northern Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the Soviet Troops from Afghanistan. They have promised the world that they would ensure peace and security. They have also promised to enforce their own interpretation of the “Islamic Sharia Law” once they were in full and complete power. The Afghans who were genuinely tired of fighting the war with the Soviets, welcomed the Taliban when they saw them on their main screens. After being in power the Taliban introduced harsh and strict punishments which was their take on “Sharia Law” such as amputations, beheadings and executions. They strictly prohibited young girls from going to school. They banned music, cinema and television. It was a gruesome massacre of the Afghan culture. The Taliban’s actions gave rise to an international outrage when they destroyed the famous Bamiyan Buddha statues in central Afghanistan.

After the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Centre, the US stepped in and vowed that they would destroy any regime that supported the terrorist organisation “Al-Qaeda”. The Taliban regime was defeated by a US military coalition. Despite US being on the soil of Afghanistan for nearly 20 years and close to a trillion dollars spent, the arguments are that the nation building was never on the agenda of the US superpower. Nevertheless, however little development and progress which could be seen through the eyes of the Afghan citizens, was in the form of improvements in healthcare, education and freedom of women, which now has been curtailed.

The citizens of Afghanistan are once again trapped under the power of the Taliban. The nightmares of the atrocities committed by the Taliban 20 years ago are still fresh in their minds. The scenes which unfolded on billions of television screens across the world would only be described as the face of desperation, fear and trauma being faced by the Afghans. How can the citizens of Afghanistan survive under the shadow of a gun wielded and displayed by the infamous regime? The heart-breaking scenes of people clinging onto the evacuation aeroplanes and then falling to their deaths will go down in the Afghan history as dark pages. The abrupt withdrawal of the USA and Allied forces has left the Afghans to their fate.

The Taliban rule will not be good for Afghanistan. As evident from the past debacles, women were forced to wear the suffocating Burkha. Journalists are being shot down in cold blood and women have been forced to quit, their education, their jobs and stay at home. Even now the schools for the boys have opened, what will happen to the education of the girls, no one knows.

The Taliban organisation has a record of human rights violations. Their government in formation has ministers who are also on the blacklist of the worlds most dreaded terrorists. However, one must take note of Afghanistan’s nickname “Graveyard of Civilizations” Afghanistan is notoriously known as a difficult country to govern. Empires have fallen to this rough territory of barren land of mountains, valleys and its people.

In the last 20 years the Afghans experienced democracy, economic development, and cultural enhancement under the US backed government. Why should they give up all of this to live under fear? They will protest and fight which they are doing. Many dictators such as Hitler have risen and fallen. They have been witnessed and recorded by history. Undoubtedly, the Taliban regime has risen and have grown powerful, but with the bravery, strength and prayers of the Afghans, this present dark chapter may give way to the bright and optimistic future that not only Afghans pray for, but joining them in their prayers is the rest of the world.

By Vandita Srikanth Reddy