The Graveyard Of Empires

Afghanistan, a country that saw many regimes reduced to dust, from the British annexation to the US troops leaving its borders. Isolated, poverty-stricken, and brutalized by an interminable conflict that technological advances in warfare fail to end, the country apparently remains as impervious to today’s military adventurers as it was to yesterday’s. But what makes this country so indomitable that not even a single regime could handle its affairs. And with the current US president Joe Biden announcing the withdrawal of the US troops, and the Taliban taking over, the situation has to seem worsened.

To understand this phenomenon we need to look into the history of the ‘Graveyard Of Empires’. From Alexander the Great to 21st-century America, Afghanistan is supposed to have grievously weakened, if not ruined, all who dared to cross its borders. Afghanistan is particularly hard to conquer primarily due to the intersection of three factors. First, because Afghanistan is located on the mainland route between Iran, Central Asia, and India, and has been invaded so many times that there are plenty of different tribal communities that dwell there and are hostile to outsiders.

The second being the frequency of invasion has resulted in a power vacuum and led to uneven tribalism resulting in every city being built like a fort. Third, the physical terrain of Afghanistan makes conquest and rule extremely difficult. It is a country of mountains and deserts, of quite severe winters and that makes it difficult not only to fight in but also to operate logistically. In fact, the only known empire to govern Afghanistan were the Mughals. They did so by loosely pacifying lands to the tribes that dwelled there and giving autonomous power to the tribal chiefs. however, they too had to deal with constant tribal revolts.

A serious revolt from 1672 to 1677 was eventually defeated by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, but Mughal authority never extended beyond main roads again. Attempts of a larger and stronger control have always gone in vain. Afghanistan, which the British attempted to annex between the 19th-20th century to protect its neighbouring Indian empire from Russia, became an independent nation in 1921. The British empire fought 3 wars between 1839 and 1919. The first Anglo-Afghan war went in the favour of the Afghans and the British had to retreat. while the second Anglo-Afghan war was better for the British between 1878 and 1880.

Amidst the worsening conditions of World War I, the British were defeated in the Third British-Afghan War. This led to Afghanistan’s independence. At the time Zahir Shah was the king of Afghanistan. And the timeline of events that followed were:

1953:

The king’s cousin Gen. Mohammed Daoud Khan, a pro-Soviet, became the prime minister. He brought in a lot of reforms which included equal rights to women

1965:

The Afghan Communist Party was formed

1973:

The last king of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, was overthrown by Khan in a military coup and his People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan came to power.

1975–1977:

Khan proposed a new constitution that granted women rights and allowed the modernization of the largely communist state.

1978:

After Khan was killed in a communist coup, Mohammad Taraki one of the founding members of the Afghan Communist Party became the president.

On the other hand, conservative Islamic and ethnic leaders began an armed revolt in the countryside against the social changes, introduced by Khan. The Guerrilla movement Mujahadeen was created in June 1978 The Afghan society of the 1960s and 1970s was a culture built around communities enjoying each other’s company in what was a beautiful, vibrant and safe country. This peace was shattered in 1979.

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan at the peak of the Cold War, they fell against the insurgent groups collectively known as the Mujahideen who were backed up by the US. After heavy casualties, the USSR finally withdrew from Afghanistan in defeat in 1989. Now there was a power vacuum. This led ultimately to the emergence of the Taliban.

The word “Taliban” comes from “Talib,” which means student. this organization was initially composed of students with extreme religious sentiments led by Mullah Omar, a former member of the mujahideen. Afghanistan suffered another 2 decades of war when the US invaded in 2001 and the 9/11 attack on the US by Osama Bin Laden on the Afghan soil. The US had initial plans to withdraw on September 11, 2011, after the completion of Operation Neptune Spear, giving the Taliban power to regain control, but that timing was accelerated recently. And how the Taliban came to power is an article for a different time.

Coming back to our topic, Maureen Dowd, an American columnist for The New York Times famously said

“ Afghanistan is more than ‘graveyard of empires. It’s the mother of vicious circles.”

The present turmoil in Afghanisthan aptly fits this old cliché. The lack of proper governance, The power void, Geopolitics, and Terrorism have resulted in this country being so underdeveloped. And the present takeover of the Taliban seems to make the situation worse.

With no proper freedom and human rights, this southwest Asian country is on a downfall. Once known for its culture and the famous opium trade is now prey to terrorism. Years of violence, instability and widespread corruption have crippled Afghanistan’s economy in terms of worse per-capita GDP. Its rugs are one of the main exports and pomegranates are famous in Asia. Afghan saffron (medicinal herbs) has been recognized as the world’s best, yet the country of dried fruits and nuts has been the least developed in the modern era.

The US-led NATO forces have finally realized the long-drawn war that resulted in $ 900 billion in the past 21 years and also felt the safe return of the American soldiers. Of course, the U.S. skedaddle is also a disaster for Afghans, especially women and girls, and all who put their faith in the belief that a true democracy might soon emerge. This all the more explains the number of casualties they had to suffer over the years.

After nearly 16 years of fighting a shifting host of militant groups and the new Taliban insurgency, and now even a local affiliate of the Islamic State, there is no clear end on the horizon. But there is still hope that Afghanistan would no longer be’ The Graveyard Of Empires’.

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