The "ring time depth" has been invaded by the United States for twenty years, and Afghanistan is scorched

Source: Global Times

On May 25, local time, three explosions occurred in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Afghanistan's Balkh province, killing at least 10 people and injuring 15 others. The extremist group Islamic State (IS) has declared it responsible. For the United States, which has finally "withdrawn its troops" in the 20 years of "counter-terrorism" in Afghanistan, this is undoubtedly another "punch in the face." After 20 years of military operations in Afghanistan, Washington said Afghans "will have to decide [for themselves] their own future." However, while U.S. troops are gone, the U.S. war against Afghanistan is not over. For this devastated country that needs to be rebuilt, the United States did not forget to lay a number of "landmines" before leaving.

In order to survive, some people sell their children and sell their daughters to sell their kidneys

In a ramshackle mud hut in a settlement in western Afghanistan, Aziz Gul, displaced by the war, is "fighting" to save his daughter and husband. Without telling Gul, the husband decided to sell his 10-year-old daughter to someone else as a wife. The husband said that if he did not sell his daughter, the other four children in the family and their husband and wife would starve to death. In Afghanistan, arranged marriages are common, but girls generally don't marry until they are 15 or 16, according to the Associated Press. Yet as Afghanistan descends into a spiral of poverty, more and more people are having to make painful decisions in desperation to sell their younger daughters and even sons.

Samir sells his kidneys to the outside world. Last November, he tweeted that he wanted to sell 100 books he had collected over the years for just 4,000 afghan afghanis (about $38). A month later, a desperate Samir posted on social media: "Sell a kidney." Although the organ trade has been around in Afghanistan for a decade or more, more and more people are selling organs such as kidneys in Afghanistan. According to the British "Guardian" reported in January this year, the price of a kidney in Afghanistan, which was previously between $3,500 and $4,000, has now dropped to less than $1,500.

Selling blood is also one of the ways some Afghans trade food. Since last October, Ali Reza has sold more than 1,500 milliliters of blood for 5,000 afghan afghanis, enough money to sustain his family for about 3 weeks. The frequency with which Reza sells blood is already very dangerous, much higher than the medical institution's recommendation that there is at least 8 weeks between two blood donations.

In addition to selling children and women to sell kidneys, there are also Afghans who sell their television sets, refrigerators, etc. on the street in exchange for a meager income. According to the U.N. website, about 19.7 million people in Afghanistan face severe hunger, equivalent to nearly half of the country's population. Children under 5 years of age were the most affected in the famine, and hospitals and clinics were filled with "sick babies and skinny children," Qatar reported in March. UNICEF estimates that more than 1 million Afghan children are at risk of dying from related diseases such as malnutrition or starvation.

U.S. sanctions are an important cause of this humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. "When U.S. and British troops left Kabul airfield last year, the war in Afghanistan wasn't over, it was just taking a different but still deadly form." The British "Guardian" published an article saying that the United States launched an economic war against Afghanistan through sanctions, hoping to cause the greatest economic losses to Afghanistan, which is already one of the poorest countries in the world.

The United States imposed sanctions on Afghanistan and forcibly seized Afghan overseas assets, making banks and enterprises in other countries afraid to deal with Afghanistan. The Afghan banking system is not functioning properly, and it is difficult for aid organizations to transport funds and other resources to Afghanistan. The United States also canceled its overseas financial assistance to Afghanistan, which will account for almost half of Afghanistan's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020. On average, as a result of U.S. sanctions, Afghan food prices have risen by 40 percent, the poverty rate has reached 90 percent, and Afghan companies have laid off 60 percent of their employees.

Many teachers in Badakhshan, Tahar and other provinces lamented that there is no rice under the pot. The Geology Team's Gangsami (not his real name) used to be proud to have 5 teachers in their family, but they hadn't been paid for a long time. Principal Muhamid (not his real name) pointed to his SUV and said it had been parked for half a year and that he had no money to refuel. The white-clad angel who saved his life and helped the injured had to put down the scalpel and write "I want to eat" on the white curtain. Ma Nan (not her real name) studied medicine for five years in Tianjin, China. The doctor, who is trusted by patients, told the Global Times reporter that he is at a loss for the future.

Proponents of U.S. sanctions say those who are starving or unemployed as a result of the sanctions can get help from the international community. However, as one observer put it, the West's approach of first bringing down the Afghan economy and then providing several "lifeboats with holes" to save survivors won't work. Wesbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Studies, analyzed that the U.S. sanctions on Afghanistan will take more civilian lives in the coming year, possibly exceeding the death toll caused by the 20-year war. Data show that more than 240,000 people died in the war in Afghanistan.

The "Wounds of the Tao" tells the story of suffering

"Our war on terror will not end until every terrorist organization in the world is found, stopped and defeated." In 2001, then-U.S. President George W. Bush said this when he started the war in Afghanistan. Twenty years later, when U.S. troops were desperate to leave Afghanistan quickly from Kabul airfields, they were attacked deadly by the Islamic State Khorasan Branch (IS-K). On the issue of counterterrorism, the United States seems to be back to square one.

In fact, "back to the original point" is a more euphemistic statement. The United States has been fighting terrorism in Afghanistan for 20 years, while the number of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan has increased from single digits to more than 20. "Apart from killing a few terrorist leaders and weakening individual extremist groups, this war has yielded almost nothing." Former German Foreign Minister Fischer once said of the U.S. operation in Afghanistan.

Trillions of dollars were spent, hundreds of thousands of people were killed and injured, but the anti-terrorism efforts were achieved with little success, and finally the hasty withdrawal of troops was ridiculed by various countries. George W. Bush declared that the United States wanted to transform Afghanistan into a "liberal democracy." However, the Afghan Massoud (pseudonym) does not approve of this. "So kind for Afghanistan? Tens of thousands of miles apart, who knows whom? It's absurd to think about. He told the Global Times reporter that the reason why the Americans "rely on" Afghanistan and do not go is because there are minerals in Afghanistan, and the British and Americans are mining in Kandahar and other places.

Ah Fei (pseudonym), who came from a large family in Nangarhar province, agreed with Massoud's views. Because of his working relationship, Ah Fei used to take a helicopter tour of the provinces with the US military. He said that the United States is plundering Afghanistan's national resources, and they do not allow Afghans to enter some mining areas in Khost Province, and they are directly transported away after mining.

Ali (not his real name) is a businessman who sells lapis lazuli from his hometown and saffron from neighboring provinces, and recently to China sells Afghan wild apricots. He believes that the 9/11 incident is a self-directed drama performed by the United States, and the purpose is to find an excuse to fight Afghanistan. Ali also believes that IS is "raised" by the United States, otherwise the organization cannot survive. Ah Fei revealed to the Global Times reporter that the US military also sent weapons to some provinces in Afghanistan, "Who knows whether it is for IS or for other organizations?" Massoud believes that the US war in Afghanistan may be related to the geographical importance of Afghanistan, and the US presence in Afghanistan may be intended to contain Russia, China and Iran.

The goal of the United States to launch a war has been largely unfulfilled, but it has left a wound for Afghanistan, including the displacement of the population, the high poverty rate, the economic decline, and the drug epidemic. Data show that in the 20 years of US military operations, more than 30,000 civilians in Afghanistan have been killed by the US military or died due to the war brought by the US military, and more than 60,000 civilians have been injured and about 11 million have become refugees.

The war has brought great obstacles to the economic development of Afghanistan, resulting in low incomes and difficulties in life. According to the World Bank, the national poverty rate in Afghanistan was 38.3 percent in 2011, and this figure increased to 54.5 percent in 2016. Experts in Afghanistan estimate that about 72 percent of Afghanistan's population lives below the poverty line, with unemployment at 38 percent and 3.5 million children out of school.

Because of U.S. sanctions, Afghans have lower yields from growing crops, while poor people have turned their attention to poppies. As a result of the indifference of the United States, opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is increasing. In 2020, nearly 224,000 hectares of land in 22 provinces across the country were planted with opium poppies. According to the BBC, United Nations data shows that Afghanistan is the world's largest opium producer, with opium production accounting for more than 80 percent of the world's supply.

In the 20-year war, the United States left a scorched earth for Afghanistan and patted its butt and left. Biden said last year before withdrawing troops that Afghans "will have to decide [for themselves] their own future." However, as the initiator of the Afghan problem, is the United States not responsible for the reconstruction of Afghanistan?

"Landmines" buried on the road to reconstruction

In the martyrs' cemetery not far from Kabul airport and in the graveyards on the surrounding hillsides lie thousands of Afghans who died in the war waged by the United States. The dead are gone, and the living must continue to carry the weight forward and clean up the "old mountains and rivers". Their task is very arduous, not only to face the devastation left by the United States, but also to remove the "landmines" planted by Washington one by one.

According to Turkey's Anadolu News Agency, when the US military withdrew from Afghanistan, it not only transported its military aircraft, a large number of heavy weapons, etc., but also damaged civilian aircraft parked at Kabul airport, and even the large-screen television set in the airport's waiting hall.

In retaliation for the Taliban's military humiliation of the United States, Washington implemented a "scorched-earth policy" on Afghanistan, not only imposing sanctions on Afghanistan, but also freezing Afghan assets abroad. This will create a huge obstacle to the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

First, at the level of social stability, sanctions have caused mass unemployment and widespread poverty in Afghanistan, which are the "perfect conditions" for the breeding of terrorism. Turkish media said in December that extremist groups provide 30,000 to 50,000 Afghan afghanis (about $270 to $450) a month to people in remote areas of Afghanistan, attracting people who cannot afford to eat. Secondly, at the economic level, because of U.S. sanctions, other countries' enterprises are afraid to do business with Afghanistan, which will further affect Afghanistan's ability to attract foreign investment. Finally, because of U.S. sanctions, many Afghan companies have closed down because they can't pay their wages, which has also affected reconstruction efforts.

A senior Afghan government official once told the Global Times reporter that the United States has left many hidden dangers to the stability of Afghan society, including the dispersion of weapons. An Afghan Ministry of Security official estimates that no less than 1 million weapons of all types are in the civilian population, which is also a major reason for the current frequent kidnapping cases in Afghanistan.

Zhu Yongbiao, director of the Afghanistan Research Center of Lanzhou University, told the Global Times that what the United States has done in Afghanistan has caused the Afghan people to tear apart in ideology, values, etc., so that whoever takes over the country will face great difficulties. In addition, although the United States claims to strengthen cooperation with regional countries on the Afghan issue, it has always held an exclusionary attitude toward countries such as China and Russia, "As a builder, the United States has failed in Afghanistan, and it may be better at being a saboteur."

How to continue to play a destructive role after the withdrawal? "Over-the-horizon counter-terrorism capability" may be one of the means. According to recent US media reports, before withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, the United States proposed to strengthen the above capabilities to maintain intervention and intervention in Afghanistan's internal affairs. That is to say, even if the United States no longer has troops in Afghanistan, Washington can still use "anti-terrorism" as an excuse to carry out military strikes against Afghanistan, which will undoubtedly bring chaos to Afghanistan's social security and economic reconstruction.

In the first 20 years of the 21st century, the United States invaded Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. The people who have the deepest understanding of the phrase "the country is broken and the family is destroyed" are the ordinary people living in these countries. In order to restore the truth, we invite businessmen and scholars who have lived in Iraq for many years to talk about the deep disaster facing the country, ask journalists in Syria to investigate the post-war reconstruction work, and ask the Chinese in Afghanistan to tell everyone what ordinary Afghans are experiencing. Facts have proved that the series of wars launched by the United States have caused deep suffering to the people of the countries concerned.