Afghanistan

Afghanistan's land of beautiful mountains and lakes has now turned into a land of sorrows and bomb blasts. At first, when we hear the name of Afghanistan we think of its culture and its scenic beauty but now hearing the name “Afghanistan” brings to mind images of war, terrorism, political turmoil, and a near-failed state whose human development index is one of the lowest in the world. This turnover or change did not happen in a fraction of seconds or a week or a month instead of it happened slowly and gradually over time as Afghanistan has been embroiled in conflict for almost 40 years. Afghan people have seen a lot of damage and invasion in their country they have experienced a Communist coup, an invasion by the Soviet Union, and the rise of al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The rise of the Taliban. The Taliban, which means “students” in the Pashto language, emerged in 1994 around the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. The emergence of this group and the aim was to withdraw the Soviet Union and the subsequent collapse of the government. It was one of the factions fighting a civil war for control of the country. The Taliban’s founder and original leader was Mullah Mohammad Omar, who went into hiding after the Taliban was toppled. It originally drew members from so-called “mujahideen” fighters who, with support from the United States, repelled Soviet forces in the 1980s. On 15 August 2021 Taliban took control over Afghanistan by entering the presidential building in Kabul. These actions were not planned on the spot but the US officials and the Afghan government knew that such nuisance will take place in near future. As In April 2021, President Joe Biden announced that U.S. military forces would leave Afghanistan by September 2021 and as per the orders By the end of July 2021, the United States had completed nearly 95 percent of its withdrawal, leaving just 650 troops to protect the U.S. embassy in Kabul. But in August the Taliban began direct assaults on multiple urban areas, including Kandahar in the south and Herat in the west. August 6, 2021, the Taliban captured the capital of southern Nimruz Province. Within days, the Taliban captured more than ten other capitals, and later on August 15, 2021, Taliban fighters entered the capital leading to Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country. Ideology of Talibans

US action on Afghanistan United States President Joe Biden said on Monday the mission of the United States in Afghanistan was never supposed to be nation building as he defended his decision to pull out US troops from the country. Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents entered Kabul on Sunday after virtually surrounding the city from all sides. Word of their arrival spread like wildfire, and the city panicked. There were traffic snarls everywhere, and people rushed home to stock up on essentials, withdrawing money from banks. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country in the afternoon, as most western nations evacuated their embassies, or relocated them closer to the airport. It was not yet clear where Ghani was headed or how power would be transferred following the militant Islamist group’s lighting sweep across Afghanistan that led back to the capital two decades after it was overthrown by US-led forces. Meanwhile, India is gearing up to evacuate hundreds of its officials and citizens from Kabul. It is learnt that a fleet of C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force is kept on standby to undertake evacuation missions.