“Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy, because human rights is the very soul of our sense of nationhood.”
~Jimmy Carter
Most often, when we usually hear the common term ‘politics’ being used by many people around us, we think of the ruling government, the politicians and political parties who work for the development of the country. For any country to have a well-organized government and work as per the specific guidelines and rules which are provided by the constitution, we require a certain organization which looks into the needs of the citizens of the country. This is an example of a situation where politics comes into play, as it forms the government which deals with all aspects of governance of the state. Moreover, we can also say that every country, group and organization use the fundamentals of politics to instrument the various ways to organize their events, functions, prospects and more.
THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
All the theory which is behind the international relations studies across the globe stems from political science and the way in which international systems operate, investigating the relationship between various organisations of different countries. Though the whole concept of close relationship with other countries may seem foreign, we must not forget the fact that every member of society is involved in international relations. Your place where you live is also actively defined by the choices you make: whether you are buying international products manufactured and exported by many countries, your religion, cultural background or the choices that you make are all influenced by how people in various other countries live. International relationship is important because it goes beyond war and conflict and provides the citizens with peace and security in their homes.
As the world in which we are now living becomes increasingly globalised, it is highly essential for us to develop the basic ability to understand the effects of globalisation and various other facts like populism which influence the decision of the policy makers and political thinkers across the globe. The popularity of the system of populism is posing a threat to the liberal theories of true international relations and globalisation. Understanding how this world evolved in the past is very crucial for a nation’s development. Globalisation has affected the various important political, socio-economic developments, and cultural forces across the globe, and despite populist movements undertaken by the government in various countries, globalisation continues to develop. The growing technological developments in different countries continues to defy the international borders, bringing diverse populations closer and closer together.
Political instability has become a huge and serious problem which must be taken into consideration for both the developing and underdeveloped countries. Political stability is most important key aspect of any country for keeping the society integrated, maintaining law and order within the state, various cultural and economic developments and complete supremacy of law in a state.
Here, the point to note is that in a politically stable condition, people have the right to use their powers for the progress and development of the country, whereas in a politically instable condition people feel powerless, lose their trust on government and they prefer their own interest in front of the government’s decisions which leads to split in the societal harmony and peace. In this essay, we will have a closer look at the causes and consequences of political instability in Afghanistan which led to the most important political happening in the last 10 years.
CAUSES, FACTORS AND CONSEQUENCES BEHIND THE DESTABILIZATION IN AFGHANISTAN
When we take a look into the history of Afghanistan, over a period of last 30 years, the political system of Afghanistan has undergone several overlapping transformations with several ups and downs in the way the policies are being implemented by the government in the country. The most important thing to take notice of is the movement of various economic and human resources from various regions of Afghanistan to different locations across international borders, especially to countries like Iran and Pakistan, which has been intensified recently by agencies.
The truth behind this fact is that the framework of political discourse in Afghanistan and various processes undertaken by the government has become increasingly grounded in Islamist ideology, and the Afghan periphery has become the breeding ground for terrorism and have been highly weaponized. Recent studies have proven that the poverty rate of Afghanistan caused by its isolation from the rest of the world, the absence of modern and mass means of communication, and the lack of participation in activities of political institutions led to the division between the centre and the periphery. Researchers have found out that throughout the 20th century, the overall literacy rate in Afghanistan still remained under the 5% rate.
As a result of all these problems, more increasing and openly expressed ethnic and sectarian divisions by the people of Afghanistan were echoed in the organization and operations of the various American-sponsored Freedom Fighter groups called Mujahideen who tirelessly competed for the political wishes and benefits of the Western world. It is said that the Taliban movement emerged in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from the region and the rule that followed the Afghan central government in 1992.
If we look at the pre-modern era, in the post-1978 period many social and political instability situations arose in Afghanistan which allowed millions of Afghan men and women to participate in various forms of opposition and cruelty to the state as well as in the illegal and unrestricted movement of commodities, including drugs and alcohol across the international borders.
FORMATION OF THE ISLAMIC TERRORIST ORGANISATION IN AFGHANISTAN
The formation of the Sunni Islamic Terrorist Organisation named Al-Qaeda can be traced further back to the time when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. The world-famous Islamic Terrorist Osama Bin Laden is believed to have travelled to Central Asia to volunteer for the organisation, viewing war as the only solution and holy cause to help Muslims defeat the foreign invaders from The Soviet Union. Later, it was also discovered that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had funnelled several billion dollars worth of harmful terrorist weapons to the indigenous Afghan Mujahideen resistance, a portion of which went to the Arab volunteers. However, no direct aid by U.S. has ever been given to Osama Bin Laden and his affiliates.
INCIDENTS WHICH CAUSED TERROR IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA
The incidents that sparkled terrorism in the history of United States of America are the September 11 attacks which are commonly known by people as the 9/11 attacks. These were actually the four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks organised by the Sunni Islamic Terrorist Network called Al-Qaeda against the United States of America. On the morning of Tuesday, September 11th 2001, around nineteen terrorists who were experts in hijacking aircrafts, hijacked four commercial U.S. air planes mid-flight while travelling from the Western part of America to California. Since there were almost 19 attackers, they were particularly organized into three groups containing five members each and one group of four and is it said that each group of terrorists included one professional flight-trained hijacker who took control of the aircraft after injuring the pilots. Their main goal was to crash all of the four planes into prominent American buildings which were full of people, inflicting mass casualties and heavy structural and financial damage on the government of the United States.
Unfortunately, the hijackers were successful in their mission and crashed the first two planes into the North and South part of the famous World Trade Centre, and the third aircraft seriously crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia causing a lot of injuries to the people who were there. According to the reports, the fourth plane was intended to crash land into a federal government building in the capital Washington, D.C., but instead it crashed down in an open field outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania following a passenger revolt in the aircraft that spoiled the attack which would have otherwise, caused a lot of damages.
MOTIVES OF AL-QAEDA BEHIND THE ATTACK
Studies conducted after the attacks have found out that Al-Qaeda had certain selfish motives to destroy the Americans. Years before the attacks had actually happened, the organisation of Al-Qaeda had issued certain proclamations which had direct contact with the motivations behind the attacks on America: one of them was the fatwā of August 1996, and the second was a shorter fatwa in the month of February 1998. Both these two documents have been found to have appeared in the Arabic-language London newspaper named as ‘Al-Quds Al-Arabi’. Basically, a fatwā is a ruling point of the Islamic Law given by a recognised authority to debate that something is happening against the Law of Muslims. One of the Fatwā which was issued by Al-Qaeda also complains strongly against the presence of the US troops in the gulf country of Saudi Arabia and support given to Israel. After the attacks had been successfully completed, Osama bin Laden and al-Zawahiri (the main leader of Al-Qaeda) published a lot of video clips and audio tapes, all of which described the motivations behind the terrorist attacks. Two of the most particularly important publications were the famous “Letter to America” and a video tape by Osama Bin Laden which were released by Al-Qaeda in 2004.
THE MAIN RESPONSE OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS
After the September 11, 2001 attacks which shocked the whole America, the U.S. government immediately responded with various rescue operations, long term investigations behind the attack, military actions and restoration projects. Investigations which discovered the motivations and successful execution of the attacks led to the declaration of America’s longest war in the history of the world, War on Terrorism which mainly dealt with the ongoing military engagements in Afghanistan and subsequently the major part of the Republic of Iraq.
U.S. DECLARES WAR IN AFGHANISTAN: THE WAR ON TERRORISM
In the aftermath of the attacks, many of the U.S. citizens and people across the globe held the main view that the attacks had “changed the world forever.” As a result, the Bush administration announced a war on terrorism which began in Afghanistan, with the goal of bringing the world-famous Terrorist Osama bin Laden and the organisation al-Qaeda to justice and preventing any other terrorist organisation from emerging. All of these goals to counter terrorism in the world would be successfully accomplished by means of severe economic and military sanctions against the states that are believed to be harbouring territories within their borders and increasing global surveillance against the various harmful means of terrorism and intelligence sharing among the countries.
THE WITHDRAWAL OF U.S. TROOPS FROM AFGHANISTAN: ENDING AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR
The United States of America completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan late Monday on August 31, 2021. The withdrawal finally ended the longest war ever fought in the History of America.
Soon after the successful completion of the withdrawal, American President Joe Biden announced, that the America’s 20-year-old military presence in Afghanistan has ended and it will be a military operation that will be remembered by everyone as the best decision for America’s future for all generations to come.
TALIBAN PROCLAIM ‘FULL INDEPENDENCE’
Hours after the last U.S. troops exited Afghanistan, the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced to the whole people of Afghanistan that all the U.S. troops had left the Kabul Airport and the nation had got its full independence once again. No sooner after the proclamation, Taliban seized most of Afghanistan to establish their rule in just a matter of a few days.
The best fighters and leaders of Taliban organisation watched intentionally into the night sky as the last U.S. plane disappeared into the night sky around midnight and celebrated the victory of Taliban after a 20-year insurgency of United States in Afghanistan that drove out the world’s most popular military system from one of the world’s most poorest countries.
On the other hand, in President Biden’s view, the war in Afghanistan could have actually ended 10 years ago with the killing of the terrorist Osama Bin Laden whose extremist network Al-Qaeda had planned and successfully executed the September 11 terrorist attacks. However, America still has a reason to be happy as the organisation of Al-Qaeda has been vastly diminished in the region of Afghanistan, thus preventing it from attacking the United States in the future.
The speed at which the Taliban captured the cities and provincial capitals of Afghanistan surprised the whole world. Just after a few hours of the withdrawal, the Afghan army that was built for the protection of Afghanistan largely collapsed, sometimes surrendering to the Taliban army rather than taking a final stand against it, and shortly after, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also fled the capital because of the heavy fight. Soon, Taliban rolled out into Kabul and assumed full control over Afghanistan by August 15th.
Various reports have concluded that the U.S. also had many failures during the past time. Though the military operation lasted for so many years, it degraded completely and failed to establish an Afghan army that would not allow the insurgents to take over the country’s rule and endanger the life of its citizens. Despite all these failures, U.S. could establish an everlasting relationship with Afghanistan that the country would not gain become a breeding ground for terrorists bent on attacking the United States of America in the future.
CONCLUSION
To sum up, the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan was certainly a major political change that has happened recently in the last 10 years. As Americans close the 20 years of war full of strife, pain and sacrifice, they have a created a bright future for the whole world which is more secure than the past-A future that does not tolerate terrorism which causes harm to others in any way. No doubt, this decision of withdrawing the troops is the best and the wisest decision for America’s future.
“Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where people are fed, where individuals and nations are free.”
~ Dalai Lama
