%201.svg){kind=icon}
%201.svg)
Author’s Note: The following article contains potentially disturbing content including mentions of torture, child marriage, sexual assault, and corporal punishment. Reader discretion is advised.
Since NATO forces withdrew from Afghanistan nearly three years ago, there have been significant changes to both the lives of Afghan citizens and the future of national security. The harboring of terrorists poses a national security threat and the authoritarian version of Sharia Law practiced by the Taliban puts the lives and well-being of Afghans in jeopardy.
Harboring of Terrorists
The Taliban harboring of Al-Qaeda operatives is what began America’s longest war. Though Osama Bin Laden was killed in 2011, United States troops remained in Afghanistan for another decade. A condition for the withdrawal of troops was for the Taliban to no longer harbor terrorists on Afghan soil. However, this quickly was shown to be an empty promise. In August 2022, a CIA drone strike killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the masterminds behind 9/11. Zawahiri was killed while standing on a balcony in Kabul. The fact that an Al-Qaeda higher-up felt comfortable openly standing on the balcony of Afghanistan’s capital indicates that the Taliban is not doing their due diligence in preventing the country from being a safe haven for terrorists.
According to a February UN report, Al Qaeda has opened at least eight training camps in the Kandahar and Takhar provinces in Afghanistan. A report from June indicated that there are now Al-Qaeda facilities in 12 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces including Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan, Uruzgan, Helmand, Zabul, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Badghis, and Kunar. Such facilities include training camps, Islamic schools, safehouses, media communications centers, and a weapons storehouse. Said safehouses are used to funnel fighters between Afghanistan and Iran. The Taliban has issued Al Qaeda members with passports and national identity cards. Known Al Qaeda members serve in the Taliban government. Additionally, Taliban-affiliated warlords have given Al Qaeda operatives access to their gold and gem mines in Badakhshan and Takhar provinces. These mines bring Al-Qaeda an estimated $25 million a month. There are also allegations of drug and human smuggling along old drug trafficking routes. They are used to smuggle methamphetamine, heroin, cash, gold, and weapons. Additionally, they are utilized to move militants from Yemen, Syria, and Somalia Al-Qaeda affiliated groups to the Afghan training camps.
In mid-June, Al-Qaeda chief, Saif al-Adl called for foreign fighters to come to Afghanistan to train in preparation for “special operations” against the West. Al-Qaeda’s central media outlet, as-Sahab Media, recently released a series of pamphlets labeled “This is Gaza: a War of Existence, Not Borders”. In these pamphlets, al-Adl urges members of the Islamic community to travel to Afghanistan and militarize. Al-Adl is currently believed to be somewhere in Iran. In these pamphlets he uses the Israel-Hamas war as justification for attacks against the west. He also urges individuals to look to Afghanistan as the ideal model for an Islamic nation. The Taliban has not commented. Though the war on terror is “officially” over, the threat of terrorism still looms. A country becoming a safe haven for those who wish to destroy the western world is a national security threat.
Human Rights
Almost instantly after the Taliban returned to power, basic human rights were swiftly striped away. Bearing the brunt of this travesty are women, ethnic minorities such as Hazaras, and those associated with Karzai’s government or believed to have been assisting NATO troops. There have been several reports of Hazara individuals being indiscriminately killed or tortured at the hands of the Taliban. Women and girls have suffered greatly. A mere month after the group returned to power, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs was replaced with the Ministry of Virtue and Vice. Women are now no longer allowed in public without a burqa and male guardian. Girls can no longer attend school after the age of 12. There have been cases of rapes and forced child marriages at the hands of Taliban members. Additionally, divorces finalized before the Taliban came to power are now dissolved, meaning that women who divorced their abusive or opium-addicted husbands can now be tried and stoned to death for adultery. Earlier this summer, a female journalist was imprisoned and subsequently gang-raped by the Taliban, where she was told, “You’ve been fucked by Americans all these years and now it’s our turn”. The violent assault was videotaped. Upon her release, she was told that if she continued to speak against the Taliban, the footage would be shared. Afghanistan is now considered the worst country to live in as a woman.
Between August 15th, 2021 and June 30th, 2023, the Taliban is believed to have been responsible for 218 extrajudicial killings, 14 enforced disappearances, over 144 instances of torture, and 424 arbitrary arrests and detentions of individuals who were part of Karzai’s former government or believed to have helped NATO forces. There have been reports of torture such as flogging and waterboarding at the hands of the Taliban’s intelligence division. Families report instances of members going missing, only for their bodies to resurface weeks or months later. Despite the valiant efforts of servicemembers to provide interpreters with visas, there are still many stuck in Afghanistan. Prior to the withdrawal, the Taliban claimed that they would not retaliate against interpreters, but that they should, “show remorse for their past actions and … not engage in such activities in the future that amount to treason against Islam and the country.” This rang untrue, as both interpreters and their families have been targeted, with reports of torture, beheading, and imprisonment coming out over the last three years.
The catastrophic effects of what will go down in history as one of America’s largest bureaucratic failures is beyond disheartening. However, there is hope. The Afghanistan War Commission is launching investigations that will hopefully hold the leaders responsible for the withdrawal accountable. Additionally, ordinary individuals are taking extraordinary action to better the lives of Afghans. Grassroots organizations are pushing to codify the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls as a crime against humanity. Women are risking their lives to provide Afghan girls with an education in secret schools. In fact, a Seattle-based group now funds over 300 underground schools throughout Afghanistan. Organizations such as No One Left Behind are dedicated to evacuating, sponsoring the visas of, and resettling former interpreters. Nonprofits formed in honor of service members who lost their lives during the HKIA attack such as the Hunter Lopez Memorial Foundation, Sgt. Nicole Gee Memorial Foundation, Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak Foundation, Cpl Daegan Page Foundation, the Freedom 13 Foundation, and SSgt Taylor Hoover Memorial are all dedicated to improving the lives of veterans and active duty members.
Featured image: A Marine with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) provides fresh water to a child during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 20, 2021 (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Samuel Ruiz).
