Central Middle East Watch丨Afghanistan on the 20th Anniversary of the September 11th Incident

“911”, this was originally an emergency call for the American people. Following the terrorist attack that shocked the world 20 years ago, it has since been given a special meaning. Since then, the United States has successively intervened in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other Middle Eastern countries in the name of “anti-terrorism” in an attempt to eradicate terrorism identified by the United States through military means and forcibly promote American democracy. Now that a full 20 years have passed, what are the results of the so-called “anti-terrorism” in the United States? What did the United States leave for these Middle Eastern countries? The Central Middle East Observatory will announce one by one for you.

Evacuated in a hurry and left devastated

After the “September 11” incident in 2001, the US military entered the highest level of alert. Although the Taliban regime in Afghanistan issued a statement stating that the terrorist attack has nothing to do with bin Laden and the “Al Qaeda” organization, the US government firmly believes that the “Al Qaeda” organization headed by Osama bin Laden is the culprit behind the terrorist attack. On October 7th of the same year, the United States launched the war in Afghanistan to eliminate the Taliban regime suspected of hiding al-Qaeda. Two months later, the Taliban regime was terminated, and the remnant forces retreated to the mountains and border areas and continued to carry out guerrilla warfare with the US military. On December 22 of the same year, the interim government of Afghanistan was established, and Karzai served as the chairman of the interim government.

From 2002 to 2005, Afghanistan ushered in a brief period of peace. After the United States eliminated the main Taliban forces, regardless of the status quo of the Afghan tribal society, the United States forcibly implemented American democracy and electoral systems in Afghanistan. On October 9, 2004, Karzai became the first elected president of Afghanistan. The United States seems to have achieved its existing strategic goals. However, while the U.S. military is blindly confident to reduce its garrison, the previously dormant Taliban has risen again, once again having an impact on the U.S. and Afghan government forces.

△Data map of former Afghan President Karzai

Beginning in 2006, the two sides began a long see-saw, and the strategic goal of the United States has also changed from eliminating the Taliban to helping the Afghan government to stabilize the security situation. After Obama took office, he adopted the strategy of “offensive as defensive” and prepared for the future withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan through additional troops, but with little success. After Trump took office, the United States deliberately withdrew from Afghanistan, but blindly emptied the Afghan government and unilaterally negotiated with the Taliban. After Biden came to power, after several setbacks, he finally formulated a plan to complete the withdrawal before August 31.

△On August 12, 2021, the multilateral conference on the Afghan peace process was held in Doha, the capital of Qatar, and the Afghan Taliban delegation entered the venue.

As the United States announced its withdrawal, the corrupt and weak Afghan government forces had no fighting spirit. The Taliban quickly took control of most provinces in the country and took control of the capital Kabul on August 15, 2021. Due to the misjudgment by the United States, the evacuation operation was difficult. Afghan analysts believe that the war in Afghanistan ultimately ended in the defeat of the United States, and the departure of the United States left Afghanistan with a mess of continuous wars, rampant terrorism, and unsettled people.

△Afghanistan capital Kabul overlooking the street view

According to statistics, the United States’ 20-year war in Afghanistan has resulted in 174,000 deaths and more than 10 million displacements, which is close to one-third of the country’s population. The war also slumped the economy of Afghanistan. It has been among the least developed countries for a long time, and more than half of the country’s population is below the poverty line. The chaotic post-war situation and the dilemma of the people’s livelihood caused this war-torn country to fall into misery again.

Self-reliance of bandits breeds terrorism

From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban adopted an extremely conservative policy during their ruling period. As it was not widely recognized by the international community, Afghanistan once became a closed country. Even so, there were only single digits of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan at that time. As the United States invaded Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban regime, and then killed Osama bin Laden in one fell swoop, al-Qaeda gradually lost its absolute influence in Afghanistan. This part of the power gap was quickly filled by other newly emerging terrorist organizations, leading to the rapid increase in Afghanistan’s The security situation continues to deteriorate.

Many reporters from the Middle East Station of China Central Radio and Television have traveled to Afghanistan to report, and every time they encounter terrorist attacks, explosions, terrorist attacks, firefights, and shootings have become synonymous with daily news in Afghanistan. The editor-in-chief of “Kabul News” in Afghanistan, Zavok, said that all of this is closely related to the US breaking the balance of the political ecology in Afghanistan and forcing the democratic government. The actions of the US have exacerbated the contradictions and estrangements between different ethnic groups in Afghanistan, which can be exploited by terrorist forces. Aircraft, using the mountainous and hidden terrain features of Afghanistan to develop and grow. According to public information, there are more than 20 active terrorist organizations in Afghanistan.

△ Firefighting attacks occur from time to time in Afghanistan

Naim, an Afghan political analyst, believes that the United States has adopted a strategy of “respecting the bandits”. On the one hand, it chants against extremist organizations. On the other hand, it encircles the Afghan branch of the extremist organization in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. Development and growth, and even directly help transfer personnel and provide weapons and ammunition.

△U.S. forces carry out counter-terrorism missions in Afghanistan

In order to seek profit, American intelligence personnel in Afghanistan also specially produced poppy cultivation tutorials, distributed poppy seeds and taught local people to plant them, and supported informants to establish hundreds of drug factories. In 2001, the output of opium in Afghanistan was only 185 tons. In 2002, the first year after the US invasion, it soared to 3,400 tons. In 2020, it set a record of close to 10,000 tons, an increase of more than 50 times over 2001. At present, Afghanistan has become the world’s largest opium poppy growing country and opium producer, with opium production exceeding 85% of the world’s total production.

Naim said that in the past 20 years, the number of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan has increased, and the power of terrorist organizations has become stronger, which has led to extremely unstable political, economic, and security in Afghanistan, which has led to social unrest, proliferation of guns, rampant drug dealers, and many more. Follow-up question.

Trampling on human rights and killing innocent civilians

The United States bills itself as a “guardian of human rights” and a “beacon of democracy,” but what it has done in Afghanistan can be said to be full of evil and exhaustive.

In 2008, U.S. military airstrikes on Azizabad village in Herat province killed nearly 100 civilians, including 50 children and 19 women.

In 2010, US soldiers stationed in Afghanistan formed a “killing team” to shoot and kill innocent civilians for entertainment purposes and cut off the fingers of the victims as trophies.

In 2011, an online video showed that four American soldiers urinated at the corpses of Taliban personnel, and one of them admitted to the media.

In 2016, at the request of the American Civil Liberties Union, the U.S. Department of Defense published more than 200 photos of prisoner abuse by the U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. “Newsweek” believes that these are just the “tip of the iceberg.”

In 2021, just one week before the U.S. withdrawal, after the explosion at Kabul International Airport on August 26, the U.S. army fired on the people without a target. On the 29th, they bombed residential buildings by accident on the grounds of attacking extremist organizations, resulting in 10 people including children. Death, the deceased had been working for a foreign organization during his lifetime, and was not a terrorist as spoken by the spokesperson of the US military.

△A headquarter reporter interviews the wounded on August 29, 2021

In an interview with a headquarter reporter, Imaar, the family member of the victims, expressed his dissatisfaction angrily: “The U.S. military made a big mistake. We lost ten relatives. Now even if the U.S. military admits their mistakes, it is useless to us. There are no bones left at the scene of the attack. We want justice. The U.S. military must hear our voices. They shouldn’t do this anymore.”

△ The above two pictures are both the headquarter reporters returning to the site of the US air raid on August 30, 2021, exposing the lies of the US air raid extremist organization.

In addition to killing innocent people indiscriminately, the US military also desecrated the religious beliefs of the local people. In 2005, an Australian TV station broadcasted a video of American soldiers burning the bodies of two Taliban fighters in the mountains of Kandahar Province, desecrating Islam’s belief in the prohibition of cremation, and sparking strong condemnation from all walks of life in Afghanistan. In 2012, U.S. soldiers stationed at Bagram Air Force Base burned the “Quran” as garbage, igniting an anti-American wave in Afghanistan, and thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate.

The numerous crimes committed by the US military brought not only physical pain to the local people, but also mental torture. A survey conducted by a headquarter reporter found that 60% of Afghans are suffering from various mental illnesses since the United States started the war in Afghanistan, and 2 out of 5 Afghan youths suffer from serious mental illnesses.

△In 2014, the headquarter reporters visited the Kabul psychiatric hospital

The headquarter reporter visited the Kabul Psychiatric Hospital in 2014. According to the hospital, more than 200 patients come to see the doctor every day. However, due to the limited capacity of the hospital, most people can only get simple medication. Out of various considerations, more families will not choose to send patients to the hospital for treatment, but let them silently endure the “invisible scars” left by the war, which will undoubtedly give the future Afghan society Development lays down hidden worries.

Twenty years of war smoke, 20 years of life was utterly overwhelmed. The repeated setbacks of the US strategy in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria have declared the complete failure of the self-proclaimed “beacon of mankind”. The United States used military means to forcibly promote its so-called “democratic model,” but in the end, there are only dying countries and countless people struggling in the abyss of suffering.

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Producer丨Mullie

Reporter丨Zhou Xuan and Li Shuangxi

Editor丨Liu Xuanyu