U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan causes political fallout
President Joe Biden faces ongoing criticism for his withdrawal from Afghanistan, with millions of Afghans displaced and hundreds of Americans left stranded. WikiCommons
Fayaz Nawabi did not want his father to go to Afghanistan.
Even before President Joe Biden announced the United States’ withdrawal from the Middle Eastern country, Nawabi, the director of policy and advocacy for the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) Los Angeles chapter, anticipated the danger.
Pulled off his flight by the Taliban before the airplane’s departure with his fellow passengers, Nawabi’s father returned thrice to the airport, unable to leave the country. On his fourth attempt, he successfully escaped the chaos overtaking Afghanistan.
“When (my father) left, I was very upset, definitely worried about the dangers of him going back,” Nawabi told The Panther. “I’m really glad he’s safe and back. We’re very happy, but a lot of other folk haven’t been lucky.”
Nawabi declined to comment on the details of his father’s return to the United States.
“We’re hoping other people that are stuck (in Afghanistan will) get out in a similar way, (and) we don’t want the Taliban to just come (across) the source,” Nawabi said.
The Taliban overtook the nation’s capital, Kabul, Aug. 15, gaining control of the city much sooner than U.S. intelligence had anticipated. The question has been raised of how the Afghan government fell so quickly, with scholars attributing various causes to the ultimate turn of events.
Bojan Petrovic, a Chapman peace studies professor who specializes in Afghanistan, believes a history of corruption and lack of legitimacy in the eyes of the people doomed the Afghan government to failure upon the exit of American troops.
“It is a government that has been accused of corruption, inefficiency (and) relatively limited influence over Afghan affairs,” Petrovic told The Panther. “Well, given the absence of legitimacy of the Afghan government, it was just a matter of time how fast it would crumble.”
Nawabi was also born a refugee — his earliest memories include being held by his grandmother and running through the rural fields of Pakistan. As he grew up during the ‘70s, Afghanistan was heavily influenced by the Soviet regime.
“We knew that the former Afghan regime was going to fall apart; this is one of the most corrupt regimes in (the world),” Nawabi said. “There was no loyalty, you know?”
Although the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pledged billions of dollars to support Afghan forces, abandonment by the military over a dispute in pay, among other causes, cementedt the nation’s destiny.
Nawabi’s father had gone to Afghanistan in May in order to visit family and sell his property as the U.S.’ withdrawal from the country loomed ahead. This was not the first time he had returned to his home country, having been kidnapped for eight months on a trip three years prior.
“You could see his eight months there, whatever happened to him over there, aged him 10 years,” Nawabi said. “He sparsely talks about it — it’s like PTSD or something. You don’t get out of something like that normal.”
““You could see his eight months there, whatever happened to him over there, aged him 10 years, ... he sparsely talks about it — it’s like PTSD or something. You don’t get out of something like that normal.””
The relatively healthy man who set out for Afghanistan returned to his family unable to walk properly, malnourished and starved.
“There’s a lot of anger on my side, because (my father) put our family in a very precarious situation,” Nawabi said. “(He) put my mom on another emotional rollercoaster. (He) can’t keep on doing this.”
The United States and coalition partners including the United Kingdom flew over 120,000 people out of Kabul. However, an estimated 3.5 million Afghans are currently displaced within the country due to the conflict, and another 2.2 million Afghans are seeking refuge in neighboring countries. Hundreds of American citizens, like Nawabi’s father, are expected to remain in Afghanistan after the United States’ final evacuation.
“Our CAIR Los Angeles office is getting called by U.S. citizens,” Nawabi said. “They’re just like you and I, literally from Southern California or San Francisco.”
Nawabi has friends whose families were unsuccessful in leaving Afghanistan. One such family arrived at the Kabul airport eight minutes after the Aug. 26 suicide bombing that killed 60 Afghan citizens and 13 U.S. troops. The family is currently hiding in Kabul.
“Now, rumors are spreading in that area (like) ‘Oh, this person tried to go to the U.S.’” Nawabi said.. “That family is afraid of going back to their hometown because of reprisals. There’s a lot to fear.”
The aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and rise of the Taliban have led to bipartisan backlash to Biden’s handling of the issue, and could sour the administration’s relationships with several European countries.
Petrovic believes most criticism of Biden is not legitimate.
“Most people could not really anticipate that the government of Afghanistan was going to collapse so quickly,” Petrovic said. “And that, of course, includes some of the very skillful diplomats who are around President Biden and who knew what they were doing.”
Lisa Leitz, department chair of Chapman’s peace studies program, expressed concern over the U.S. leaving Afghanistan, and views the United States’ handling of Afghanistan since the original invasion to be a failure. Leitz was unable to speak with The Panther due to being on sabbatical, but shared her thoughts via email.
“I am also thoroughly angry about those we have left behind; there are thousands more who will die, and even more who will suffer, simply because they believed American promises of freedom and security,” Leitz wrote. “There are no excuses for leaving allies behind and deepening the global refugee crisis. If we cannot develop an exit strategy in twenty years, then most of our military and security leadership should be fired.”
However, Nawabi believes that the fall of the Afghan government was inevitable, and that the future of Afghanistan should not be up to a foreign nation like the U.S.
“It had to happen eventually — someone had to have the gumption and the bravery to pull out, because everything was just a house of cards (on) uneven, unlevel (and) unsafe grounds,” Nawabi said. “There was no foundation, so whether the U.S. left 10 years into the future, today or 10 years in the past, the government was going to fall.”