In Afghanistan, 2,420 American troops were killed. In Afghanistan, 46,319 civilians were killed. In Afghanistan, over 212,191 total were killed. For what?
The U.S. went into Afghanistan with the intention to oust the Taliban from rule and bring Osama bin Laden to justice. But after 20 years of war, the Taliban are back in power after a hasty and messy withdrawal of US troops.
While the Taliban have started allowing girls to attend school — albeit segregated from boys — will they stay on this track of appearing more moderate?
Women are also allowed in government positions, and officials are saying they’re ensuring the foot soldiers follow the new more moderate policies, but there is still hesitation from the public.
While there have been numerous progressive changes, the improvements have largely gone to waste with the return of the Taliban.
Hesitancy was to be expected, especially since the previous time the Taliban were in power women were not allowed in public without a male and there were archaic culture guidelines that could be punished with death.
But how will they adapt to becoming a more normal government where they have to police their people and appear on the international scene?
When the U.S. pulled out, 13 men were left behind. They were honored throughout the country in empty bars with 13 beers on tables.
The men, women and children of Afghanistan were forgotten, just like the men, women and children of downtrodden American cities.
While learning lessons from our failures helps us to grow, we also must try our utmost best to avoid making these failures in the first place unless there is absolutely no other option — which isn’t the case in this situation.
While the pullout was necessary, it feels like the government had abandoned the people relying on it.