Actually, if you think about it, both the US and Taleban share something in common: Human ideals and hubris.
For both claim they want to make the world a better place. Both want the best for their country. But, when you mix ideals with hubris together, you get chaos.
Of course, in terms of material success and national development, Taliban is light years behind US, in their throwback practices, brutal treatment of women and tribalistic, patriarchal mindset.
But, in terms of similarities, both held on to their self-referential ideals as if their lives and pride depended on it, and with some measure of success, they let it pollute their political will and unanchored minds.
Alas, the best means to building character (or a nation) is consistency, regardless of the shifting times, and when you adulterate ideals with hubris, you get a yo-yo-like existence - up and down, up and down, never progressing towards your ideal affirmatively.
When the top Taliban leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, took over the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, he made this most idealistic declaration: “We have never expected to reach such victory - we should show humbleness in front of Allah. Now is the time when we will be tested on how we serve and secure our people, and ensure their good life and future to the best of our ability.”
Well, if Kabul’s airport is any indication, where thousands are fleeing their country knowing what to expect when Taleban rules absolutely, many know a crab can’t walk straight.
They also know that it is going to a selective development led by the Taleban leadership, where, yes, they will show humbleness, but it is a humility demonstrated only if you bend to their will, surrender to their uncompromising beliefs, which always subject their right to express and rule over yours.
And the good life under them is a life that is defined by them. That applies to the future too. Abdul Ghani said: “The Taleban (fighters) have won with their judgments of their sword and guns, and are now responsible for the honour, property and self-preservation of their countrymen.”
And it’s no less a Freudian slip that he mentioned “countrymen” - underscore “men” - because out of the abundance of one’s heart, the mouth speaks and the hands get busy. It can’t be denied that by honour, they are referring to their honour, and the women and girls are the extension of that honour, which if, once defiled by the slightest of indiscretion, like the showing of one’s ankle, the consequences for the victims would be unthinkable.
And it’s also mortally frightening when honour, property and self-preservation are most times translated to mean vindication, nationalisation and, well, self-preservation speaks for itself.
Indeed, it is what it is, and the Americans shouldn’t have any illusion about their imagined exceptionalism, if it still believed today. They have indeed reaped what they have sown, and it is a gap that history has proven that they will never bridge. That gap is ideals and reality, where the means crushes the end.
Former undersecretary of defence, Michele Flournoy said: “In retrospect, the United States and its allies got it really wrong from the very beginning. The bar was set based on our democratic ideals, not on what was sustainable or workable in an Afghan context.”
That is so true, that is, a truth that is the curse of American exceptionalism, one that ironically culminated to the raid on their own Capital in January this year. And that is a lesson not in the pursuit of ideal, but one led by arrogance and Taliban-like ego.
Alas, from the Jericho chant after 911 to the US$83 billion spent and to a 20-year occupation, Biden, like all his successors before him since Bush junior, has fallen to the one sin all leaders of great civilisations make, and that is, the sin of overestimating their intelligence and the reach of their influence and power.
When you overstretch your ideals to fit your unrealistic ambitions, you break the protective refuge you take shelter in, and the result is sadly a humanitarian crisis; or at least, soon to degenerate into one as UN’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: -
“There continues to be reports of serious human rights abuses and violations in the communities most affected by the fighting. All abuses must stop. He calls on the Taleban and all other parties to ensure...the rights and freedoms of all people are respected and protected.”
Unfortunately, UN lecturing the Talebans and hoping they will listen is like refracting light into a black hole and hoping it will bounce back on a positive note.
In fact, Pentagon has forewarned Biden even before he took office that Afghanistan will be taken over by Taleban in about 18 months should they pull out. But, that was another overestimation, because it took only about one week.
Imagine that, for a 20-year occupation and billions spent, what you get is a lot of carnival-like activities on the surface, but there’s no deep roots in the soil and soul of the people’s hearts. It was supposed to be engineered as a people’s war, but it turns out to be a war of egos between different American leaderships with a very high attrition rate. This somewhat breathes new meaning to the phrase, you may win the battle, but it is the war that I have won...tragically.
But then, maybe there is a morbid silver lining here. If on both sides, it is a war of the perversion of ideals and hubris, we can then expect a yo-yo-like transition, between the victors and in this case, the retreaters, and back again - all this done to the haunting tune of the Einsteinian insanity chant: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
But why morbid, Mike? Because the collateral casualty of the games (and experiments) that the powerful and mindless play is, without fail, always the innocent people, young and old, hopeful and otherwise.
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