ISLAMABAD: The sequence of events that unfolded in Afghanistan over recent months has surprised all the important players directly involved with the last 20 years of war in the country, a historical battlefield where the Great Game has been played for a long time.
The US-sponsored government in Afghanistan, brought in after the ousting of the 1996-2001 Taliban regime, had collapsed before the exit of its architects from the country. All political pundits had predicted that the previous government, with 3,50,000 US-trained security troops, would be able to repulse Taliban invasions of cities. They were all proved wrong. Kabul had surrendered without resistance on August 15, the moment the armed group arrived at its doors.
Afghanistan live updates
The war-torn country has not seen a durable government in the last four decades. From the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union to the recent exit of Western forces, none of the elected or appointed heads of state and government have succeeded in establishing a stable system. The Soviets had installed governments of leftist parties, while the US had introduced a Western democracy model, but all these experiments failed to make inroads into an Afghan society driven by a tribal system of strict rules and codes of life.
The lack of tribal loyalties to US-backed Ashraf Ghani’s government had been one of the reasons for his fall. Some observers think if former president Hamid Karzai had been in Ghani’s place, he would have handled the things differently due to his strong links with many tribal elders. Several political analysts in Jalalabad and Kabul who TOI spoke to opined that Karzai would at least have ensured a peaceful transfer of power.

After the breakdown of the American-approved system, the country was without a government for over three weeks. Taliban had initiated negotiations with senior Afghan politicians and warlords. Many observers had then described them as a “changed Taliban”. On September 7, the Taliban announced its new, entirely male, cabinet. Many senior Taliban figures, some notorious for attacks on US forces over the last two decades, were part of it. Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the interim PM and one of the movement’s founders, is on a UN blacklist. Sirajuddin Haqqani, chief of the of the deadly Haqqani Network, was made interior minister.

Despite taking charge, the group has not yet succeeded in reopening government offices. Nearly all government buildings, colleges, universities and non-governmental offices remain shut. Most of the officials, including professionals like doctors, engineers and other skilled workers, have left the country.
“The Taliban are only good at policing and dispensation of justice in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law. They don’t have any knowhow of technical departments. Leave alone IT, and the education and health sectors, they can’t even run operations at an airport,” said Rafiq Omari, a professor in Kabul.