Darkness seems everywhere in Afghanistan

Dr. Syed Nesar Ahmad Rumy :
Afghanistan, a country of South Asia is now subject of discussion. We know Afghanistan as a country of rich cultural heritage and they have abundant mineral resources. Pashtun, Hazara and many other communities live there centuries after centuries. And a common harmony was prevailing since time immemorial. We know many things about Afghan life from the writings of littérateur Syed Mujtaba Ali and experience of great Subash Chandra Bose. Subash Chandra Bose had spent some time in Kabul before going to Germany during 2nd World War.
Afghanistan was kingdom before 1973 and Zahir Shah was the Badsha of Afghanistan in the then time. A close relative of Badsha, Sardar Dawoud made a coup and declared himself as the President of Afghanistan when Badsha had been in Italy for a state visit. For this coup king Zahir Shah could not come back to his the country. Though Afghanistan was a predominantly Muslim majority country and people were conservative in nature. But a considerable number of people were on the path of modernism and used to follow updated life-style and modern culture. Girls used to go to colleges, universities in the then time and a slow-run of modernism in Afghan society was also going on. We also know that there were some Hindus and Buddhists living in Afghanistan. And they were very much son/daughter of that soil.
After Zahir Shah, Last 50 years Afghanistan passed a fully troubled time in their society. This time no government in Afghanistan could or administer whole of Afghanistan effectively. Within this time two great super powers invaded Afghanistan. Firstly, USSR (present Russia) invaded Afghanistan and a puppet government was installed there. After some years Soviet Union unceremoniously retreated from Afghanistan. That time Soviet Union was declining and ultimately it collapsed and 15 independent states were created. But after soviet force leaving, the then government of Afghanistan could not consolidate their position and the whole of Afghanistan had become a very troubled-prone area. Different tribes and communities had their own armed groups and they were very much active in self-controlled area. In this situation the common people of Afghanistan suffered a lot. Their movement outside of their stronghold had become very much limited. General education of women and free and fearless movement of the people were not smooth and that much easy in that time. In this time span many autocrats like Hafizullah Amin, Babrak Karmaland Nur Muhammad Taraki had come and gone. But the social development and moderate life style was still a far cry in that time after that ultra-Islamic fundamentalist Taliban captured the state power. Taliban started the Islamic law with their self explanation. As a result of this, the opportunities of women education reduced further. Their acts were slated vigorously by world community. Countries of the world did not recognize the Taliban as the lawful authority in Afghanistan except Pakistan and one or two Arab countries.
By this time an incident happened in the world and that was Twine tower and Pentagon (partial) demolishment in the USA. The United States accused Al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laded for this act and they suspected Laden and his associates taken shelter in Afghanistan. For that reason USA invaded Afghanistan and defeated the Taliban authority. A new government was installed under the leadership of Dr. Hamid Karjai with the US support. Many countries and world organizations started communication with this government. Though the US supported this government but Karjai government could not control or administer whole of Afghanistan. They were very much dependent upon US and their allies’ support. More than twenty years of US presence in Afghanistan could not bring peace, peaceful coexistence of different communities in Afghanistan. Many Taliban leaders and Al-Qaeda leaders fled to Pakistan and elsewhere in disguise. And some leaders fled to Gulf state Qatar and they started political office there to negotiate with USA and other countries.
It seems US lost interest in Afghanistan after Osama Laden killing. Many US soldiers was attacked by the Taliban guerillas active in different areas in Afghanistan. This created strong sensation in the mind of US people. So, maybe, considering the situation US President Jo Biden pulled out US troops from Afghanistan unilaterally. After US pullout, within very short time the government led by Ashraf Ghani could not survive and he fled to Qatar from Afghanistan on the verge of Taliban take-over.
After this changed situation environment could not develop much. Initially action taken by Taliban was not that much rude. They started their administration a bit carefully and moderately. But after few months Taliban has come back to their original mood. They have stopped women going to the educational institutions. But initially they allowed women to go to the university using separate class rooms for women only. Shortly, all these came to the international media. International community slated all these activities of Taliban administration. In this 21st century, a country in this world doing this sort of function is very much astonishing and not acceptable to the world community. It is about more than six months of Taliban take-over but no country openly recognizes Taliban authority as legal government of Afghanistan.
It is the people of Afghanistan to decide how their country will run and function. But it is also important to make a working relationship with world community for the betterment of Afghan people. In this world all countries are interdependent with each other. Going one way is not a right path to achieve desired goal.

(The writer is former Civil Servant).