People celebrate in Kandahar, Afghanistan, after the US pulled out its last troops from Kabul on Aug 30. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

The United States’ hurried and catastrophic end, on Aug 30, of its longest war testifies to the failures of the US in counter-terrorism missions and the consequences that come from imposing its will on others. 

But the US’ exit could be the harbinger of a new beginning for war-torn Afghanistan, with a Taliban-led government to be announced soon, analysts said.

“The final withdrawal of the US military from Afghanistan closes another traumatic chapter in the history of that country and constitutes an opportunity for a new beginning in the quest for stability, peace and development of the Afghan nation,” said Salman Bashir, a former foreign secretary of Pakistan and former ambassador to China.

“Afghanistan should never again become an arena for geopolitical games.”

The US invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 in the name of fighting terrorism. With the traumatic evacuation of mostly foreign citizens from Kabul airport completed, the Taliban are once again acknowledged as the governing force in Afghanistan.

The US Central Command announced on Aug 30 that it completed the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

The Taliban welcomed early on Aug 31 the US withdrawal from Afghanistan after the last US troops left Kabul airport, ending a 20-year invasion of the Central Asian country.

“In this way, our country became completely free and independent,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on Twitter.

It is ironic that the US, after spending trillions of dollars, killing about 30,000 civilians and leaving millions homeless, has allowed the once-toppled Taliban to return to power, said Mustafa Hyder Sayed, executive director of the Pakistan-China Institute. Sayed also noted the US lost more than 2,000 soldiers in the two-decade conflict.

Afghanistan is a good example of the double standards that the US exercises and the doom that comes from its hypocritical imposition of its own will and values upon others by force. US foreign policy is not based on principles or ethics, but on political interests that often override the interests of ordinary people and cost lives, Sayed said.

When it was in the US’ interest, the White House and the Pentagon turned the Afghan Taliban into an enemy, even though it had once made them a partner, he said.

The Mujahedeen — from which the Taliban emerged in the 1990s — was known to have grown with US support to counter Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s. But the Taliban, as the militants’ successors, were uprooted by the US-led invasion in late 2001.

Sayed said the US should stop its regime-change endeavors.

Amina Khan, director of the Centre for Afghanistan, Middle East and Africa at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, said that after two decades of bloodshed and instability, “one thing is clear: Afghans never accept foreign rule”.

According to Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban had been waiting for this moment for years and had been urging the US to fulfill its commitment on troop withdrawal.

Wang Peng, a researcher at the Center for American Studies at Zhe-jiang International Studies University, said the two decades of war waged by the US against Islamic nations has come to an end. Wang groups with Afghanistan the US’ roles in the second Iraq War, that began in 2003, and the sociopolitical “color revolutions” and regime changes associated with the Arab Spring.

Many in the US expect that their officials will learn from these hard lessons, Wang said. In the future, when Washington’s decision-makers look to wage a new war, or replace one regime with another, they better think twice before they act, the academic said.

While the US’ war in Afghanistan may be over, that does not mean the end of the country’s accountability to the Afghan people. The deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport, on Aug 26, highlights the US’ failure to eliminate terrorists in Afghanistan, its major goal since 2001, and further trouble for the Afghan people.

The US can contribute to the development of Afghanistan, as the end of war is “a historic opportunity”, Khan at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad said. “At the same time the real test for Afghanistan has begun.”

The country has tremendous economic potential, which can be realized with the cooperation and support of its neighbors and the international community, Khan said.

On Aug 31, the first day after the US troop pullout, the main shopping centers in Kabul were open as usual, and there was traffic jam in central part of the city. Most government agencies remained closed. Only a few banks were open, and there were long queues of customers. The Taliban requires that each person can withdraw no more than US$200 per week.

On that day, the sound of dance music trickled out of an upscale wedding hall in Kabul, where a celebration was in full swing inside.

Shadab Azimi, the 26-year-old manager, said at least seven wedding parties had been held since the Taliban takeover.

Azimi said a Taliban patrol stops by a couple of times a day, but only to ask if he needs help with security. Unlike the now-disbanded police of the toppled, Western-backed government, the Taliban does not ask for bribes, he said.

“Former officials, including police officers, were always asking us for money and forcing us to host their friends for lunches and dinners,” he said. “This is one of the positive points of the Taliban.”

The formation of the new government was discussed at a meeting of Taliban leaders, chaired by the group’s elusive supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, in the southern Kandahar province. Mujahid said last week that the new administration would be a broad-based government that represents all Afghans. 

“We want to have good relations with the United States and the world. We welcome good diplomatic relations with them all,” Mujahid told reporters on Aug 31 at Kabul airport.

He insisted Taliban security forces would be “gentle and nice”, adding that their victory was a “lesson for other invaders”.

A Taliban senior leader, Mullah Amir Khan Mutaqi, stressed the need for a peaceful solution to the standoff in Afghanistan’s Panjshir province, urging the people of Panjshir to help stabilize peace and security in the country.

Panjshir is the only one among Afghanistan’s 34 provinces which has remained out of Taliban’s control since the fall of major cities including the capital Kabul.

There are few signs of the draconian restrictions the Taliban imposed the last time they were in power. Schools have reopened for both boys and girls. Women are out on the streets, wearing Islamic headscarves — as they always have — rather than the all-encompassing burqa the group required in the past.

When the Taliban last ruled the country, from 1996 to 2001, they banned television, music and even photography, but there is no sign of that yet. TV stations are still operating normally and Taliban fighters themselves can be seen taking selfies around Kabul.

Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has prompted discussions about the security implications for neighboring countries, but experts said that for the most part, these countries are adopting a wait-and-see approach toward the war-torn country’s new rulers.

Authorities from several countries have already begun meeting with the Taliban leadership, with the latest being India.

Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, urged the Taliban to combat terrorism after the Western withdrawal, and called for an inclusive government.

Middle Eastern nations are closely monitoring developments in Afghanistan to see whether peace prevails and the Taliban rule with a more moderate approach compared with their previous stint in power.

Dina Yulianti Sulaeman, director of the Indonesia Center for Middle East Studies, said Taliban leaders have delivered narratives that tend to be moderate, promising peace and protecting women’s rights.

Alessandro Arduino, a principal research fellow at the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore, said the Middle East is hoping for more moderate elements of the Taliban movement to prevail.

How the occupation of Kabul unfolds in the coming months will be crucial in determining if that hope is misplaced or not, he said.

Rasha Loai Al Joundy, a senior researcher at the Emirati think tank Dubai Public Policy Research Centre, said the Gulf and other Middle Eastern countries are worried that the situation in Afghanistan could deteriorate quickly.

Al Joundy cited a United Nations Security Council report in June that warned that 8,000 to 10,000 “foreign terrorist fighters” may have entered Afghanistan.

The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, headquartered in Saudi Arabia, has vowed to engage in Afghanistan’s peace process and urged its future leaders to guard against allowing the country being used as a platform or safe haven for terrorists.

In the Gulf region, the United Arab Emirates has agreed to host 5,000 Afghans to be evacuated from Afghanistan en route to third countries at the request of the US. Bahrain has allowed flights to make use of its transit facilities. Saudi Arabia has called on the Taliban and Afghan parties to work to preserve stability in the country.

Qatar has been playing the role of mediator, given the Taliban’s office in the capital Doha. Arduino, from the National University of Singapore, said an essential part of Qatar’s foreign policy has been its long-standing support for mediation and peace talks.

Tamim Asey, founder and executive chairman of the Institute of War and Peace Studies, a think tank in Kabul, said the UAE and Saudi Arabia have a different policy from that of Qatar with regard to a political settlement for Afghanistan.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at vivienxu@chinadailyapac.com