America cannot abandon Afghanistan – Punch Newspapers

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In July 2015, US President Barack Obama, who confirmed that the then newly minted Nigerian President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.) Had a “very clear agenda” to combat extremism, provided US $ 5 million to fight the Boko insurgents Haram ready.

In May 2018, President Donald Trump promised to sell military helicopters and light aircraft to help Nigeria fight the insurgents. In July 2021, President Joe Biden delivered the first batch of six A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to Nigeria.

And to identify sponsors of Boko Haram and other extremism in Nigeria, Mary Leonard, the American ambassador to Nigeria, promised, “This is something we are very happy to have as partners for Nigeria,” and debunked fears that America is fighting the country could give up against insurgents.

“I hear people making analogies with Afghanistan. It doesn’t go together… It’s a different construct… I don’t think the two go together, ”she adds, reassuring everyone that America is committed to helping Nigeria fight insurgency.

But many Nigerians take Ambassador Leonard’s words out of the corner of their mouth. They believe America will board a time machine that will be transported back to pre-WWII isolationist politics.

It is tragic that America, leader of the free world of democracy and the free market economy, true “cop” of the Cold War era, is behaving as befits a nation determined to be an island of ostriches bury your head in the sand.

A friend wondered if America would shut down the CIA and Voice of America shortwave radio and withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, vanguard of the free world.

America, masters of propaganda and duplicity, can justify whatever position it takes on any subject. As Nicolo Machiavelli suggested, the end justifies the means for Americans who say they have neither lasting friends nor lasting enemies, but only lasting interests.

By insisting that America invade Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaeda, which was protected by the Afghan government and then led by the Taliban, President George W. Bush declared: “We will make no distinction between the terrorists, who committed these acts (the attack on New York World Trade Center on September 9, 2001) and those who host them. ”

However, President Biden is now arguing that the US will withdraw from Afghanistan and the Afghans will be left to the Taliban: “Our mission in Afghanistan should never be to build a nation or create a unified, centralized democracy.” So much for the leader the free world!

Then he throws in the kicker: “Our only vital national interest in Afghanistan today remains what it always was to prevent a terrorist attack on the American homeland”, because cross-border terrorism is a crime, while riots are just the internal headaches of the country in question .

When America took its citizens out of Afghanistan by air, it left unprotected Afghans at the mercy of the Taliban. Well, they have also left disabled and inoperable aircraft at Kabul airport, despite some American Congressmen accusing Biden of leaving $ 85 billion worth of American equipment in Afghanistan.

Biden may have been encouraged to take this rather insensitive action by two actions taken by his immediate predecessor Trump, who ran for the presidency on the theme of “America First”.

First, Trump withdrew America from the 2015 Paris Agreement, adopted by 200 countries, to set a 2050-2100 target to bring CO2 emissions below 2 ° Celsius or 3.6 ° Fahrenheit and reduce the greenhouse effect limit the level of trees and soil and the oceans can naturally absorb it.

In 2020, Trump bypassed the Afghan government and reached an agreement with the Taliban to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan. Counting the cost to America in terms of resources, life and limbs, Biden did not reverse Trump’s policies after taking the oath of office. Rather, he has taken a positive measure.

Yes, of course there is no longer a bogeyman of Communist Russia with its Warsaw Pact allies, and the world is also “flat” and practically unipolar, safe for the clubbing Chinese kite, which with its ultra-modern technology spits sulphurous fire and money. A balancing act is required, and America is the only nation that can fulfill that role – for now.

Of course, China has not expressed any apparent intention of territorial or ideological conquest. It looks like his immediate concern is to sell influence and flaunt his wealth in the face of the world, gain some respect, and expand his market – for now.

America, with its antitrust laws that discourage monopolies of all kinds, should first recognize that no ideology, religion, or interest group should be allowed to rule any part of God’s earth.

To make the world safe for everyone, including Americans, every tendency must have a chance to flourish and express itself without violating the rights of others in any part of the world that is increasingly adopting individualism.

Now there is talk of an IS-K contesting the Taliban’s state power. Another group denies the Taliban’s political space in the Afghan region of Panjshur, just as women are demanding a visible role in the new Taliban government.

If an extremist group has access to, and full control over, a country’s resources and apparatus of violence, it could provide a safe haven for terrorism. The world, led by America, must promote pluralism in Afghan society.

Remember that the Taliban Al Qaeda leaders hosted Osama bin Laden before rushing to Abbottabad, Pakistan. Terrorists of any kind should have no place to hide or operate in this global village. The rest of the world won’t be safe.

Also remember that despite the pompous claims and promises made by Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair that the days of the Taliban were over like the phoenix, the Taliban rose 20 years later. And it bodes badly for the world. Other such tendencies must now be followed by action.

To revise a famous phrase by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the irrepressible Afrobeat musician from Nigeria, this evacuation of America from Afghanistan is on the way to becoming an “unfinished business”.

If domestic insurgency turns into cross-border terrorism, it may be too late for Biden and all of the restraint of the American state to contain it. One stitch in time saves nine. The 20th anniversary of 9/11 is only days away. Does Biden want a possible repeat of this disaster?

America should not repeat its negligence towards Nazism or Nazism, the terror that conquered Germany and led to the unnecessary World War II that claimed millions of lives, including the lives of six million Jews in hellfire. Earth called wipe.

If America doesn’t want to go alone, Biden should launch a United Nations-led multilateral initiative to solve the Afghan problem. Poor, unprotected Afghans must not be left in the lurch. It doesn’t show humanity in a good light.

Everyone must look after the interests of everyone else so that humanity can remain human and human. America must play the role of moral authority or the world would go to the dogs of war.

– Twitter @ lekansote1

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