Afghanistan, the "lock of Asia", is one of the rare countries that experienced the USSR invasion in 1979 and the US/NATO invasion in 2001. The two imperialist occupations, which lasted a total of 30 years, brought the country back in every way, and caused the radical Islamists to gather strength. For this reason, it is the work of imperialist countries that the Taliban came back to power after 20 years. US President Biden's statement that the real enemy is Al Qaeda, not the Taliban, the Taliban's "commitment that there will be no attacks on countries other than the region" and the claim of "change" are among the ones that will determine the course of relations with the West from now on.

AGREEMENT WITH TALIBAN

Afghanistan, which is a corridor between North and South Central Asian countries, is at the top of the world's agenda for once. The sharia Taliban organization, which was overthrown by the occupation movement organized under the name of "Operation Enduring Freedom" by the USA and NATO on October 7, 2001, 20 years ago, declared that it had taken control of the entire country, including the capital Kabul, as of August 15, 2021. President Ashraf Ghani fled the country that same day.

Of course, the rapid advance of the Taliban without encountering serious resistance raises many questions. At the forefront of these questions comes: "Is there an agreement on the transfer of power in a short time in the secret negotiations between the USA and the Taliban?".  Reason being, depending on the agreement signed between the Taliban and the USA in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on February 20, 2020, since the new US President Biden announced the withdrawal calendar as September 11, there are still soldiers belonging to the USA and other imperialist states in the country. These forces made no move to stop the Taliban.

It is also noteworthy that the Afghan army of 300,000, trained by Western countries, did not resist the Taliban forces four times less than itself. The Taliban also did not carry out a serious attack against foreign forces during the advance. Moreover, they declared that they would not prevent the evacuation of foreign soldiers and persons. For this reason, countries that do not expect the Taliban to seize Kabul in a short time have been in a hurry to evacuate some of their embassy personnel for two days. Some countries, such as Turkey, do not even feel the need to include evacuation on their agenda.

All this shows that the parties have adopted the principle of "mutual non-conflict" and that plans to hand over the key to Kabul to the Taliban without blood were made in advance. This means that the occupation policy is bankrupt and the US and its allies are seeking a new path by admitting defeat.

THE ACTUAL MESSAGE IS HIDDEN IN BIDEN'S SPEECH

Along with the calendar announced by US President Joe Biden on 14th April for the withdrawal of US troops from 1st May till 11th Spetember, the Taliban have won in three and a half months what they have been unable to do for 20 years.

The answer to the question of why the US handed over Afghanistan back to the Taliban is in the following sentence in Biden's withdrawal statement: "The purpose of the mission was to ensure that no more attacks from Afghanistan against the United States would take place. We have achieved this goal. Bin Laden paid for it 10 years ago. US Special Forces killed the al-Qaeda chief in Pakistan in May 2011."

As can be understood from this statement of Biden, the reason for the USA to be in Afghanistan was not the sharia Taliban, but al-Qaeda and Bin Laden, who carried out attacks on the Twin Towers. Since they are not in Afghanistan today, there is no need to stay in Afghanistan. The statements made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken after the fall of Kabul are in the same direction.

USA WAS NOT TALIBAN'S TARGET

Another remarkable point is that the Taliban did not pose a serious threat to the United States, except Afghanistan, in the past and present, and did not engage in terrorist attacks. The Taliban did not carry out a terrorist attack against the USA between 1996-2001 when it was in power, and did not carry out terrorist attacks against the USA and other imperialist countries during the occupation years, unlike al-Qaeda, ISIS and other Islamic terrorist organizations. Moreover, in recent years, there have been violent clashes between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and other radical religious organizations in the news reflected in the European press from regional sources. Likewise, the article recently published in Independent Turkish draws attention to the fact that the Taliban learned lessons from the past during the negotiations and promised to fight against ISIS "that they will not allow the region to be used to target others".

Because of all this, the assurances that the Taliban may have given that they will not carry out terrorist attacks on the USA and other countries, and that they will fight those who are preparing to attack, show that it is important in paving the way.

WHAT IMPERIALISM SHOWS IN AFGHANISTAN…

Afghanistan was the most important sharing area between Tsarist Russia and England who had colonized India. Therefore, always making Afghanistan the target of imperialist states with this feature. After the war with England in 1839-42, the country became a British colony. After the wars, the country declared its independence on 8 August 1919. In Afghanistan, which had close relations with the USSR in the following years, the military intervention of the USSR in 1979 is one of the important breaking points.

The roots of the reactionary, religious and sharia being so strong in the country go back to this occupation. Because, Western imperialist states and their regional collaborators, such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, put into action their plan to revolutionize the regime through Islamist groups in order to break the influence of the USSR. "Mujahideen" from many countries of the world were sent to Afghanistan and thus political Islam was strengthened in the region. Al-Qaeda, which the USA used as a reason for the invasion of Afghanistan, and today's Taliban, were strengthened by being supported by the Western imperialist states in the struggle against the Soviet occupation. With the complete withdrawal of the Red Army on February 15, 1989, the challenge was left to radical religious organizations supported by Western imperialists and their regional collaborators. Under these circumstances, the Taliban first came to power in 1996. After the bombing of the Twin Towers, the USA organized an invasion operation, this time in the name of fighting the Islamist organizations that it nurtured and raised.

It can be said that the US-Taliban relations are now returning to the point where they broke off 20 years ago and a new beginning is being made. Afghanistan may cease to be a serious problem for US imperialism and NATO if the Taliban keep their promises. A sharia order similar to that of Saudi Arabia is an option that Western imperialists could accept from yesterday. From now on, the main determinant is whether or not the Taliban Afghanistan will be part of the plan to contain Russia, Iran and China.

The mullahs are declaring that they are close to the plans of the West with their messages of "change". Time will tell how much of it is real and how much is fake.