Catastrophe in Aghanistan

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Translations of a Finnish blog post. Link here


Well, i's happening. At the moment of writing this, the extremist group Taliban is besieging Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan and based on the most recent information is negotiating about transfer of power with the Afghani government.

The whole situation feels absurd. The war in Afghanistan started in 2001, when I was only four years old. In other words, the war has been ongoing for most of my life. And when the US decides to withdraw it's troops from the country, it only takes few weeks for the Taliban to take over. I have to ask, what exactly did we achieve here? 

The situation in Afghanistan is a perfect example of US foreign policy failures. The Taliban is a self created enemy: the fear of Communism during the Cold War drove the US to support local jihadists in their fight against the pro-Soviet government. But when the common enemy was defeated, the weapons were turned against the US. And once again, it's the average Afghani's paying the price. 

20-years of war, only for things to turn back to the way they were. Tens of thousands of deaths that ultimately mean nothing. War truly is a crime against humanity.

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