U.S. President Joe Biden announced Thursday that U.S. troops in Afghanistan will withdraw from the country by September 11 this year, the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. According to him, the U.S. has accomplished its counterterrorism goals in the war in Afghanistan, but behind what was once known as the “never-ended war” is the long-oversold cost to the Afghan people in 20 years of war, conflict and attacks. Will the U.S. military really withdraw completely? Where is peace in Afghanistan?
On the streets of Kabul, Kabul residents say the security situation in Afghanistan is so dire that the United States is to blame and does not believe the U.S. will withdraw its troops as scheduled.
Reporters in the streets of Kabul interview, many citizens for security concerns refused to interview, and finally only a few citizens agreed to face our cameras. They all say the United States has not brought peace to Afghanistan.
Kabul resident Wali: The security situation in Kabul is very bad, people don’t know what to do, the situation is very bad, I don’t feel safe in Kabul.
Kabul university student Mosawar: I can’t leave the city centre anywhere, I can’t walk out of the house after 8 p.m.
Kabul resident Ruhula: The security situation in Kabul is getting worse day by day, and crime is increasing every day. In general, we are not safe in Kabul.
Kabul shopkeeper Naymatullah: Security is a problem in all areas of Kabul, there are many thefts and robberies, and there are now more explosions and targeted attacks.
Despite the release of a new U.S. timetable for withdrawal, many Kabul residents believe it remains to be seen whether it will actually do eventually. Some argue that the United States has not yet achieved its political goals in Afghanistan and will not withdraw its troops, while others believe that permanent peace in Afghanistan can only be achieved if the United States withdraws.
Kabul university student Mossawal: They (foreign troops) are not going to leave because they have their own strategy, they keep saying they want to leave, but they don’t finish their plan, they don’t leave Afghanistan, they say it’s just a political game to leave.
Kabul resident Sarga: “We’ve seen the United States go to any country and build (military) bases in that country, and they don’t leave that country very quickly, so I don’t think they’re going to leave here.”
Some citizens told reporters that the United States in the name of counter-terrorism troops in Afghanistan, the fall of the Taliban, the United States has no intention of withdrawing. Now the United States not only has no intention of fighting terrorism, but is even creating contradictions, because the unrest in Afghanistan is the best excuse for the United States military not to withdraw.
Kabul resident Sarga: We remember in 2001 when they fought the Taliban and quickly overthrew the Taliban, when we knew it was okay if the United States really wanted to bring peace, but I don’t think they came for peace.
Kabul university student Mossawal: “Instead of bringing peace, things are getting worse, they overthrow the Taliban, they bring in extremist groups or they fight extremist groups, and then they bring the Taliban, and things like this are happening all the time.”
Kabul resident Ruhula: In my opinion, the U.S. military has not brought peace, but they have increased the conflict of war.
Welfare center children: We love to learn but can’t go to school
The United States is waging war in Afghanistan on the grounds of fighting terrorism. The war has done great harm to Afghan civilians and has seriously affected the growth of Afghan children.
To this day, a large number of children are still living on the streets and going to school has become beyond their reach. Reporters visited a welfare center in the Afghan capital, Kabul, where the head of the welfare center said the situation of local children was “very bad”.
Sitting in the front row of the classroom, Sarah gathered to stare at the blackboard, 11 years old, but had not yet entered the school gate, the welfare center classroom is his only way to acquire knowledge.
Welfare center child Sarazi: Until now I haven’t been to school because I can’t afford to buy books, books and pens, which is why I didn’t go to school.
Sarazi told us that because of his family’s poverty, he had been working on the street before he came across welfare workers and got the chance to study. At the welfare center, he not only learns spelling, but also has access to computer and physical education classes, which makes him very happy.
Welfare Center Child Salazi: I’m happy to study here, I love learning.
The difficulties facing Sarazi and his young partners are not only poverty, but also extremely dangerous circumstances. Nearly 20 years after the U.S. started the war in Afghanistan, child safety is deteriorating. The war in Afghanistan has become the world’s deadliest conflict for children for the fifth year in a row in 2019, according to new UN figures. During that year, 874 children died as a result of the war and 3,410 suffered significant injuries in various conflicts. Nawabi, founder of the New Approach welfare center, says Afghan children are in a very bad situation.
“Most children live in very poor conditions, working on the streets and begging on the streets, ” says Nawabi, founder of the Afghan “New Approach” child welfare centre. The United Nations agency’s report on the situation of children in Afghanistan shows that conditions in Afghanistan are among the worst in the world for children.
The war has destroyed the environment in which children grow up and has far-reaching implications for Afghanistan’s future. According to UNESCO, the literacy rate for the over-15s in Afghanistan is less than 40 per cent, and for adult women it is less than 30 per cent.
“If we don’t educate them now, they will be part of the war in the future, which is dangerous for this country, and for the international community as well,” said Nawabi, founder of the Afghan Center for “New Approaches” child welfare.
It’s not that you don’t want to learn, it’s that you can’t learn, it’s that Afghan children are facing a dilemma. At welfare centers, many children say their greatest desire is to be able to go to school, learn and defend their country when they grow up. They also hope that peace will be restored in future countries.
Welfare Center Child Salazi: I want to be a policeman in the future.
Welfare center child Shamsul Rahman: “I want peace to come to my country, when I can go anywhere without fear.”
Media man: 20 years of war have scarred the country
U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan for 20 years, but the situation in Afghanistan is getting worse.
Experts say the war has plunged Afghanistan into poverty, and many young people have even been able to join the war in order to earn an income.
Nozra, 14, is from a family of nine in Kabul, where her father works on a construction site, and she and her brother and sister feed their family by weaving carpets. Years of war have damaged the economy, and although she works eight hours a day, she earns only about 100 ani, or less than 10 yuan. During the outbreak, she earned only 40 ani a day.
Carpet weaver Nozla: I used to earn about 100 ani a day, but now I only have 40 ani.
Years of war have damaged Afghanistan’s economy, with the national poverty rate rising from 38.3 per cent in 2011 to 54.5 per cent in 2016, according to the World Bank. The World Bank has since failed to release updated data, and experts in Afghanistan estimate that the poverty rate in Afghanistan is now over 70 per 000.
Zavok, editor-in-chief of Afghanistan’s Kabul News: “Before, it wasn’t just the economy, the whole society was doing well, Afghanistan was full of hope, people thought Afghanistan had a future, people could do business, people had confidence.” Today, Afghans have lost faith in the future, and no one knows what will happen tomorrow.
The shadow of death from the war hangs over the country. According to the United Nations, various conflicts will result in 8,820 civilian casualties in 2020. Including members of various armed groups, experts in Afghanistan estimate that the daily number of Afghan casualties can reach 100-250, or more. A large number of young people lost their lives in the war.
“The war has prevented economic activity, business and jobs, and it has pushed people into war because in most regions the only way to make money is to pick up a gun,” said Zavok, editor-in-chief of the Kabul News in Afghanistan.
Mr Zavok said the US had proved unable to bring peace to Afghanistan, which is now mired in war. The key to lasting peace in Afghanistan in the future lies in the national consensus within the Afghan people. The first condition is for the United States to withdraw its troops and let the Afghans solve their own problems.
Zavok, editor-in-chief of Afghanistan’s Kabul News: “The war has been going on for 19 years, almost 20 years. The first and most important thing about peace in Afghanistan is the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
The war in Afghanistan
It has been nearly 20 years since the United States sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001. According to previous data released by the United Nations and the World Bank, after years of war and conflict, Afghanistan’s security situation is not only not optimistic, its economy, people’s livelihood and many other aspects have been hit hard.
In October 2001, the United States launched a war in Afghanistan in the name of “counter-terrorism”, which, while fighting Al-Qaida and the Taliban, also caused a large number of civilian casualties. Due to the lack of authoritative statistics, there is no conclusive figure on civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan. It is believed that since the U.S. military entered Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, more than 30,000 civilians have been killed, killed or killed by U.S. forces in the fighting, more than 60,000 injured and about 11 million refugees.
Nearly 1,900 children died or were maimed in the first nine months of 2020, according to the United Nations report on civilian costs in the war in Afghanistan. Between 2005 and 2019, 26,025 children died or were maimed. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan released on 14 April this year showed that 573 civilians were killed and 1,210 injured in the first quarter of this year, a 29 per cent increase over the same period in 2020.
The war in Afghanistan has not only resulted in a large number of civilian casualties, but has also brought with it a complex set of social problems that follow. According to the United Nations, the adult literacy rate in Afghanistan is only 43 per cent, half of the global adult literacy rate of 86 per cent. The U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Leons, has said that Afghan children still face one of the world’s most dangerous environments and that the Afghan people face one of the world’s deadliest conflicts. According to estimates by scholars at Kabul University, the war in Afghanistan has caused an average of about $60 million in economic losses per day.
