Follow-Up on the American Withdrawal from Afghanistan: Refuting Enemy Propaganda

The withdrawal of United States forces from Afghanistan appears to have provided a propaganda victory to enemies, like Russia, Communist China and Islamist Iran, which are celebrating the American defeat, as well as to those Americans who sympathize with their views. However, the U.S. was not militarily defeated, as it simply withdrew unnecessarily for political reasons. Moreover, the Americans and their allies had overthrown the Taliban regime in order to deny safe haven to al-Qaeda, a goal which it accomplished for over 19 years, and to be able to target the Islamist terrorists responsible for the September 11 Attacks better, which it also accomplished. The U.S. and its allies must continue to prevent a resurgence of al-Qaeda and its offshoot, the Islamic State, in Afghanistan and the tribal areas across the Pakistani border. The enemies of the U.S. claim that the Taliban return to power proves the folly of imposing “democracy,” but Afghanistan was provided the freedom of self-determination. Freedom is not imposed, but is man’s natural state. A representative constitutional republic was the choice of Afghans, not “democracy (direct popular rule),” that was inclusive of all the main ethnic groups and Muslim sects. The tyrannical enemies’ argument that the Taliban takeover proves the that imposing “foreign” ideas like representative government cannot work in countries like Afghanistan ignores the fact that Afghans had formed such a government before the Taliban took over the first time in 1995 and that the Taliban had been created by a foreign State, Pakistan and backed by Pakistan and Iran. Indeed, it ignores that the Taliban are feared and hated by most Afghans, as it also ignores that the Taliban’s harsh interpretation of Islam is foreign to Afghanistan. Furthermore, the premature American withdrawal refutes the old arguments of U.S. enemies and leftists in the West that the U.S. was motivated by imperialism. The U.S. must continue to lead the global War on Terrorism, not only to refute the propaganda of dictatorships, but for American and world security.