History repeating itself in Afghanistan: how does that change the perception of justice?

By Gemma Tabet

Written: January 23rd

Theme of Issue: SDG 10, Reducing Inequalities. Here is the official UN link where you can learn more about this particular Sustainable Development Goal: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal10

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The current situation in Afghanistan, with the United States' (U.S) military withdrawal on August 17th 2021 with 123,000 civilians, left the country under the control of the Taliban. It was a withdrawal that officially began during Donald Trump’s presidency when he signed the Doha agreements in 2020 with the Taliban. Now Afghanistan’s humanitarian and social progress has been reverted to levels similar to 20 years ago: 97% of the population is at risk of sinking into poverty, women are once again oppressed and bans on films and news, foreign or not, have begun to slip in place.

Yet the withdrawal was supported by 62% of the American population and today 6 in 10 Americans say the war wasn’t worth it. This complete opinion switch can be linked to a change in the perception of justice, in the sense of what is right and fair. The U.S, with their national pride in protecting democracy and freedom, have often been driven by a strong sense of justice, which is seen throughout history: World War II, the Cold War, the Iraq War, the Vietnam War and more. But how did the country go from beginning the War on Terror to watching the Taliban regime rebuild itself?

First, understanding what a Taliban rule means. The Taliban, a terrorist group which emerged after the Afghan War’s (1978-92) mujahideen resistance, seized Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, in 1996 and effectively took control of two-thirds of the country under false promises of peace and security. Their rule forever changed the lives of all Afghan citizens, especially women and girls’. Their 1996 invasion brought iron-clad laws from men’s beard length to bans on singing and dancing, and for Afghanistan, a country that had previously been moving towards a liberal and westernized style of living, it was a complete shock to have to revert to the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic religion. Public trials and beatings became the norm, women were almost completely excluded from public life along with many of their basic human rights, United Nations (UN) food supplies were denied for 160,000 starving citizens and the burning of homes and farmland was not unusual.

On top of these violations of civil liberties and human rights, the Taliban openly supported other terrorist groups, especially al-Qaeda, another militant Islamic organization with roots in Afghanistan's mujahideen fighters, whose goal is to combat U.S presence in Islamic lands. In 1996, shortly after the Taliban’s capture of Afghanistan, al-Qaeda moved headquarters, where they influenced the Taliban’s decisions, and where their founder, Osama bin-Laden, declared holy war or jihad on the United States. Al-Qaeda began a series of attacks throughout the Taliban’s rule such as the U.S embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and the suicide bomb on the U.S warship Cole in Yemen, 2000. But perhaps their most infamous attack was that on the Twin Towers on September 11th 2001, when two hijacked planes1 struck the U.S’ symbol of freedom in New York, effectively bringing them down and killing thousands of civilians.

This marked the trigger point of the War on Terror, later declared by former U.S President George W. Bush during his speech to the U.S Congress on September 20th, 2001, when he introduced the Bush Doctrine. These three factors, the Taliban’s brutal regime, their support of al-Qaeda and the events of 9/11, are what mainly convinced the U.S government, with the support of 93% of the population2, to become militarily involved in Afghanistan. But the main event which convinced most of the nation to wage war in the Middle Eastern country was 9/11, for its psychological impact on the U.S population and with Bush’s speech, the sentiment of “Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.” was greatly felt by many.

9/11, widely considered the worst terrorist attack in history for the deaths of almost 3,000, had a massive impact on the U.S and on the world. The shock was immense, because American land was supposed to be the untouchable land of liberty and democracy, with New York as its stronghold. Targeting the Twin Towers was not by chance either, as it was regarded as a symbol of American strength, and a study published in 2002 by North Carolina’s Research Triangle Institute (RTI) showed that around 10 million adults in U.S knew friends, family or acquaintances who were killed or injured in the attacks, and 11% of the population in metropolitan New York developed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is evident then, that Bush’s famous speech to the U.S Congress echoed the thoughts of many; to seek vengeance and retribution. Al-Qaeda, the cause of such pain, was hiding in Afghanistan, a country which had been under the Taliban’s oppressions for five long years. It seemed to the U.S that justice had to be served, both for retaliation and to save the Afghan people, and as Bush declared, “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”

On October 7th, 2001 U.S troops invaded Afghanistan, along with other armies from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which less than 24 hours after 9/11, had invoked Article 5 or collective defense which stated that an attack against one Ally was an attack against all. The primary goal for the U.S invasion was to hunt down Osama bin-Laden and punish the Taliban for protecting al-Qaeda. On December 6th, 2001, Kabul fell to the U.S and the Taliban regime was dismantled, but with the escape of Bin-Laden. America’s next decision was to aid in the complex building of an Afghan government who could withstand the Taliban without U.S intervention. American public support fell to 70% and then 60%, because nation-building wasn’t as satisfying as rooting out terrorists. Another Gallup study in 2004 showed that 41% of Democrats thought the war in Afghanistan was a mistake compared to only 9% of Republicans. But military escalations, like former President Barack Obama’s 2009 increase of 30,000 troops was supported by 59% of U.S citizens, according to a CNN poll.

10 years later the war continued, and public opinion fell, even with the highest number of troops, 100’ 000 soldiers, in Afghanistan under Obama. International criticism grew as well, with stories of American troops’ mistreatment of Afghan civilians, such as a U.S soldier’s mass shooting of 16 Afghan citizens in 2012, Kandahar. The 2011 killing of Osama bin-Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan did not increase public approval, instead many Americans saw it as a reason to no longer be in Afghanistan for their justice was served. Still, in 2014 when Obama announced the U.S combat mission in Afghanistan was over, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 54% of Americans supported keeping thousands of troops in Afghanistan compared to a 43% opposition. This might have been due to the fact that Americans didn’t have strong opinions on the Afghanistan War, as more troops and attention were on the war in Iraq, which had begun in 2003 under the Bush administration.

But the 2016 election of former President Donald Trump would reveal the strong American opinion of “Great nations do not fight endless wars.”, because part of Trump’s campaign was the promise to end U.S troop involvement in Afghanistan. The perception of justice had begun to change; revenge had been carried out and the U.S appointed Afghan government was supposedly democratic and strong enough to fight the Taliban. The cost of the war had been high too, with enormous economic and human life losses. There were no reasons to spend more resources, lives and money on a resolved conflict, one which had been carried out for more than a decade. When current U.S President Joe Biden declared his decision to withdraw all troops, a Washington Post poll found that 62% supported this. On August 30th, 2021, the last U.S troops left the country and the Afghanistan War came to an end after 20 years of conflict, and as Biden said in his speech on August 31st, “We succeeded in what we set out to do in Afghanistan over a decade ago... It was time to end the war.”

But a Washington Post-ABC News poll revealed that of the 62% supporters of the withdrawal, only 26% approved of how it was done and 52% disapproved. This is because the Afghanistan War ended as it began: with the Taliban regime once more in power, after their takeover of Kabul on August 15th 2021, with no resistance from the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s forces. It raised a big question on the United States two-decade-long presence in Afghanistan, which has resulted in the death of nearly 2,400 U.S soldiers and 46,300 Afghan civilians along with the spending of $2.3 trillion dollars. Now, many are wondering what the U.S’ plan for Afghanistan is; or, judging by the last months, if the U.S has any plan at all. Do American citizens still feel a need to aid Afghanistan and as such carry out justice, or is the general public opinion on Afghanistan more reflective of Biden’s infamous quote, “They have got to fight for themselves.”?

It is clear then that over 20 years of war, the U.S public opinion has changed greatly, going from 93% of the population seeking revenge to 62% wanting to leave the country. The perception of justice had to change for a nation to go from supporting military action on the other side of the world, to allowing a 20-year war end as it begun. The Taliban, a group who goes against the U.S’ very Constitution of “all men are created equal”, has risen to power and it seems that neither the United States nor any Western nation is planning retaliation. American governments use the strong sense of justice withing American public opinion to justify military action. 20 years ago, American intervention was supposed to bring justice not only to the American people but also to the Afghan people. But the expectation was that justice would come swiftly, and as years dragged on, the narrative about what justice in Afghanistan would look like is changed to allow these great nations to be free of guilt, and as Biden said “it’s time to look to the future, not the past- to a future that’s safer, to a future that’s more secure”. But this promise of a better future will not be felt for Afghan mothers, fathers and children, whose very lives are now threatened by a force that still reigns after decades of endless war.