These days coincide with the fifth anniversary of the hasty and humiliating withdrawal of the US military from Afghanistan, an exit that came after two decades of occupation, military intervention and enormous human and financial costs and ultimately ended without Washington being able to consolidate its preferred political structure in Kabul. Developments over the past five years have, on the one hand, made clear the need for Afghanistan’s rulers, with the Taliban at the centre, to focus on national unity, establish an inclusive government and respond to the social and economic demands of the people. On the other hand, they have underscored the importance of convergence among regional countries, good-neighborliness and cooperation in resolving the country’s problems. At the same time, reviewing the reasons for the occupation and its consequences offers the region important lessons about the need to localise security.
Afghanistan: From the pretext of fighting terrorism to legacy of occupation
The US began its war and occupation of Afghanistan in 2001, citing the September 11 attacks. Accounts published about the emergence of Al Qaeda have also pointed to the role of US and allied policies during the Cold War and their support for armed groups in Afghanistan, a policy whose consequences later became one of the world’s most significant security challenges. Washington, however, entered a war under the banner of fighting terrorism that continued for two decades and left thousands dead.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan case was not limited to military warfare. Numerous reports documented violations of civilians’ rights, deadly operations and conduct contrary to humanitarian standards. The Kabul airport tragedy in the final days of the withdrawal of US forces, followed by a US airstrike that killed members of a family, including several children, left a bitter image of the end of this intervention. The withdrawal also took place under circumstances in which large numbers of Afghans who had worked with foreign forces for years were left in chaotic and worrying conditions.
West left, but its commitments remained unfulfilled
Five years after the US withdrawal, a significant part of the Western media narrative remains focused on the Taliban’s conduct, the situation of women, poverty and Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis. These issues undoubtedly require attention, but they cannot be separated from the legacy of two decades of war and foreign intervention. Afghanistan’s economic and humanitarian crisis is not solely the product of developments over the past five years, and the responsibility of the intervening countries for helping create the foundations of this crisis cannot be ignored.
Within this framework, the main criticism concerns a narrative that sometimes portrays the end of the US and NATO presence merely as a “change of political system”, without giving equal prominence to the dimensions of two decades of occupation, civilian casualties and the West’s unfulfilled commitments. The fundamental question is this: If human rights and justice are universal standards, why were those responsible for widespread violations of the rights of the Afghan people never held accountable in a manner commensurate with the West’s human rights claims?
From Kabul to Gaza: The cost of impunity
The failure to punish war crimes and violations of the rights of nations is not merely an issue belonging to the past. When those responsible for crimes in Afghanistan leave the scene without serious accountability, it sends a dangerous message that major powers can impose the costs of their interventions on other nations and walk away without punishment.
From Afghanistan to developments in Syria and Iraq, from the crimes of the Israeli regime in Gaza and Lebanon to the tragedies of regional wars, one fundamental question remains: Why are human rights and international law not applied equally to everyone? The continuation of this double standard has raised serious questions about the credibility of Western claims regarding freedom, justice and human rights.
Localizing security: Afghanistan’s major lesson
The US withdrawal from Afghanistan revealed one strategic reality above all: No foreign power can be regarded as a country’s permanent guarantor of security. The abandonment of Ashraf Ghani and the structural collapse of the system Washington had spent two decades trying to consolidate demonstrated that security dependence on foreign powers can ultimately lead to political and economic dependence as well.
If regional countries want lasting security, they have no choice but to strengthen indigenous capabilities and cooperation among neighbors. Afghanistan, alongside serious attention to the social and economic demands of its people, also needs to strengthen national unity, establish inclusive governance and avoid pursuing dual policies between the West and its neighbors.
Afghanistan’s neighbors, including Iran, have repeatedly stressed that they do not view the country’s security as separate from regional security. The fundamental difference between this approach and the interventions of extra-regional powers is that it seeks lasting security not through domination and dependence, but through cooperation, mutual respect, independence and shared interests.
The fifth anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, therefore, is not merely a reminder of the end of an occupation; it is a warning that regional security cannot be entrusted to outsiders.
NOURNEWS