Afghanistan: Terror and Turmoil

Afghanistan is a country which is in the state of war for many decades. The name “Afghanistan” means the land of Afghans. Looking at its geographic location, it is located in South and Central Asia. It is a landlocked country which does not have any direct access to the sea.

Afghanistan has been a tough country for all the invaders. The British, who ruled the subcontinent for nearly 100 years, were not able to conquer Afghanistan despite being the superpower at that time. Later the major event that took place was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. USSR being a big military power entered the Afghanistan in order to continue their invasions in the region. In the early times of invasion, Soviets were able to install pro Soviet rulers in Afghanistan. However, resistance from the opposition was there.

In the mid of 1980s, the Mujahideen formed alliance against Soviet invasion. The deadliest war events started after that alliance backed by US, Pakistan started to attack Soviet troops. Nearly half of Afghan population migrated to neighboring countries like Pakistan and Iran. Majority of the Afghans migrated to Pakistan. The financial and military assistance in 1986 from US to Mujahideen helped them to make Soviets sign peace treaties.

In 1988, the USSR, US and Pakistan sign peace accords. The Soviet troops started pulling out of Afghanistan. It was in 1989 when last Soviet troops left the Afghan soil. After the exit of Soviet troops, Afghanistan became victim of internal civil war. The skirmishes between different regimes to control Afghanistan continued.

In 1996, the Taliban took control of Kabul. Taliban were the ones who fought against the Soviets and were backed by Pakistan and US. But after the exit of Soviet Union from Afghanistan, the Afghans were left to witness the civil war until 2001.

2001 was the year when 9/11 happened. Two passenger planes were hijacked and they hit the twin towers. The World Trade Center was turned into ashes within in few moments. Many people lost their lives in that deadly attack. United States blamed Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda for this attack and demanded the Taliban government in Kabul to hand over OBL. The Taliban didn’t comply with US demand.

US led invasion of Afghanistan started in 2001. Anti Taliban forces of Northern Alliance started to enter Kabul soon after that. In December 2001, Hamid Karzai was sworn in as head of the interim government. Later elections were held in Afghanistan and process continues till date.

However, despite the presence of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, it is still not a stable country. A large portion of Afghan soil is not under control of US and its allies. After so many years of war, big powers are still not able to bring peace in the region.

Today, it’s not only about Al Qaeda or Taliban, the ISIS have also entered Afghanistan. ISIS is known for the brutal treatment of people under its control. They show no mercy. People continue to die, humanity continues to suffer but Afghanistan and its people are still in chaos. Still, there is no hope of peace in the coming years. In fact, if the major stakeholders in Afghanistan continue to blame each other then this bloodshed will never end. Afghanistan will remain the center of terror.

All we can hope is that Afghanistan and rest of the world becomes more peaceful and worthy enough to live.