The Lingering Pain: Remembering the Second Anniversary of the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Xinhua News Agency, Kabul, August 16th (International Observer) The pain of the second anniversary of the US withdrawal is still not far from Afghanistan

Xinhua News Agency reporter Zou Xuemian Zhao Jiasong

In August 2021, the United States ended the 20-year war in Afghanistan. Its hasty withdrawal of troops led to chaos on the ground and made this war-torn country even worse.

Today, two years have passed since the United States fell into the “Kabul moment”. The U.S. military has killed innocent people indiscriminately in Afghanistan for 20 years, bringing huge disasters and lasting pain to the local people. The mess left by the U.S. has made the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan face many challenges.

Indiscriminate killing of innocents

On August 16, 2021, at Kabul International Airport, a U.S. military C-17 transport plane forcibly took off regardless of the lives of the Afghan people. Some people were crushed alive in the wheel well by the retracted landing gear, and some fell to their deaths from a high altitude. Just the day before the U.S. military completely withdrew from Afghanistan, U.S. drones killed ten members of a family in Kabul, including seven children… The tragedies two years ago shocked the world and lingered in the hearts of the Afghan people like a nightmare.

On August 29, 2021, the U.S. military carried out a drone attack in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, killing 10 local civilians, including 7 children. The picture shows the scene of the attack on the residential area taken on the same day. Published by Xinhua News Agency (photo by Sevrahman Safi)

Former U.S. military drone operator Brandon Bryant has repeatedly told the media about his personal experience: Once he was on an attack mission in Afghanistan, he saw an Afghan child from the drone footage while the missile was being launched. At the last moment before he broke into the target location, he reported to his superiors, and the reply was “leave him alone, it’s just a dog”.

According to statistics, during the 20 years since the U.S. military invaded Afghanistan, 174,000 Afghans, including more than 30,000 civilians, were killed, and nearly one-third of Afghans became refugees. In addition, the U.S. military has also used a large number of cluster bombs in Afghanistan, causing serious disasters to the local people. According to data from the Cluster Munitions Alliance, in 2001 and 2002, the U.S. military dropped more than 1,200 cluster bombs in Afghanistan, containing more than 240,000 sub-munitions.

“When they (the US military) were there, we saw Afghans being killed every day, including children.” Speaking of the crimes committed by the US military in Afghanistan, Afghan Zalmena said, “The US keeps saying that it wants to protect human rights, but they kill innocent people. people, what they do is a violation of human rights.”

unmanageable mess

The United States launched the war in Afghanistan under the banner of “anti-terrorism”, smashed the country, ruined the future of several generations, and left in the end, leaving the country with a mess of broken mountains and rivers and people’s livelihood. American veteran writer Eliot Ackerman once questioned in an interview with “Time” magazine: As an outsider, the U.S. military can choose to leave, but what choice do Afghans guarding their broken homeland have?

The U.S. military announced on August 30, 2021 that it had completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan. The nearly 20 years of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan have officially ended. The picture shows the Afghanistan International Airport after the withdrawal of the US troops on August 31 of the same year. Published by Xinhua News Agency (photo by Sevrahman Safi)

When the United States invaded Afghanistan, it claimed to help Afghanistan rebuild and help the Afghan people build a “free society.” But in the end, the United States has stationed troops in Afghanistan for 20 years, and Afghanistan still has not established a decent economic system, and resources such as food and electricity cannot be self-sufficient. Even in Kabul, the capital, people do not have an urban public transport system, municipal water supply system and heating system, and a large number of people live in self-built adobe houses on the hills.

“We didn’t have electricity before the Americans came, and we still don’t have electricity now. The poor didn’t have houses to live in before, and they still don’t have them now.” Nasir Ahmed Amiri, a citizen of Kabul, told reporters that the Americans wanted to expand their own hegemony. Need to come to Afghanistan, and most Afghans suffer from it.

In the past 20 years, the United States has not only made few achievements in the field of economic development in Afghanistan, but also planted the root of the security situation in Afghanistan. During the war in Afghanistan, the United States defined terrorist organizations according to its own needs and selectively countered terrorism in order to achieve its own geopolitical goals. As a result, the number of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan increased from single digits to more than 20. This not only harms the Afghan people, but also endangers the security of neighboring countries. Abuzar Hapalwa Zazai, a professor at Kabul University in Afghanistan, said that the actions of the United States out of self-interest have left the Afghan people under the shadow of terrorist attacks all the time.

In addition, the proliferation of drugs is also plagued by Afghanistan, and the United States cannot absolve itself of the blame. According to media reports, with the support of U.S. intelligence personnel, Afghanistan’s drug production has soared, and it has now become the world’s largest opium supplier, accounting for about 80% of the global market. Its poppy planting area and opium production far exceed the level before the U.S. invasion .

Robbery

Although the U.S. military has withdrawn, the U.S. government continues to impose unilateral sanctions on Afghanistan indiscriminately, seizes Afghan overseas assets, and hinders the flow of humanitarian aid funds to Afghanistan.

The picture shows Afghan residents living in caves taken in Bamyan Province, Afghanistan on February 8 this year. Published by Xinhua News Agency (photo by Sevrahman Safi)

U.S. President Biden signed an executive order on February 11, 2022, requesting that the Central Bank of Afghanistan’s approximately $7 billion in U.S. assets be divided equally, half as a source of funds for compensating victims of the “9.11” incident, and the other half transferred to An account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. This hegemonic act of the United States openly looting the property of the Afghan people has been widely condemned by the international community.

Public opinion in Afghanistan believes that the US government’s plundering behavior has led to a shortage of foreign exchange in Afghanistan and rising prices, making life worse for the Afghan people.

Director of Operations of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Martin Schup, pointed out that US sanctions have hindered the international community from providing humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, and made the operation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan face challenges.

Zhu Yongbiao, director of the Center for Afghan Studies at Lanzhou University, said that US sanctions have not only deterred foreign investors, but also reduced Afghanistan’s economic development plan for the past two years to nothing, and ultimately exacerbated the humanitarian crisis.

Two years ago, U.S. troops fled Afghanistan in a panic. Today, although the war is over, the wounds inflicted by the United States on Afghanistan are far from healed.

(First trial: Xia Bo Second trial: Yu Hua Third trial: Xie Feng)

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2023-08-17 02:57:31