After winning the Afghan Taliban’s endorsement for president Oct. 11, 74-year-old President Donald Trump ordered the ultra-religious Islamic group bombed for its repeated attacks on the Afghan government of 71-yuear-old Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Trump had cut a peace deal with the Taliban March 3 to end the 18-year-old old war since the U.S. under former President George W. Bush launched Operation Enduring Freedom Oct. 7, 2001, less than a month after Osama bin Laden flew hijacked passenger jets into the World Trade Center Twin Towers, killing nearly 3,000 U.S. citizens. Bush wasted no time taking the battle to the enemy. Bush spoke through a bullhorn at the ruins of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, telling the world that the “people who knocked down these towers will hear from all of us soon,” starting the U.S.’s longest war.
Hitting the Taliban yesterday in Helmand province, Trump served notice that the U.S. military won’t stand for backsliding on the peace deal signed March 3, unable to control certain factions that want no part of peace with the U.S. “The Taliban needs to immediately stop their offensive actions in Helmand Province and reduce their violence round the country. It is not consistent with the U.S.-Taliban agreement and undermines the ongoing Afghan Peace Talks,” said Gen. Scott Miller, Commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Bush tried to negotiate with the Taliban in 2001 before Operation Enduring Freedom to find and bring Bin Laden to justice. Taliban’s leader Mullah Mohammed Omar refused to help capture Bin Laden, prompting Bush to launch Operation Enduring Freedom, designed to topple the Sharia law-based Taliban government for public atrocities.
Once U.S. forces toppled the Taliban Nov. 13, 2001, Mullah Mohammed Omar went into hiding, much the same as Osama Bin Laden who fled on motorbikes over Kybar Pass into Pakistan Dec. 15, 2001, escaping detection, running a guerrilla war against the U.S. until former President Barack Obama tracked Bin Laden down, killing him May 1, 2011. U.S. officials never found Omar, hearing through the grapevine he died of tuberculosis April 23, 2013, two years after Bin Laden’s death. Col. Sonny Leggett confirmed that the U.S. launched air strikes against the Taliban in Helman to retaliate against a series of Taliban attacks against Ghani’s Afghan government. U.S. air strikes took place after the Taliban’s attacks on government positions around Lashkhar Gah, the capital city of Helmand Province. U.S. officials knew striking a deal with the Taliban would be a dicey proposition.
Whether admitted to or not by the U.S. military, the Taliban has fought a bloody rguerrilla war against the U.S.-backed Afghan government since loosing power Nov. 11, 2001. Taliban made headlines blowing up 1,700-year-old ancient Buddhist sculptures in parts of Afghanistan because they violated Sharia law. Taliban spokesmen with whom Trump negotiated a ceasefire agreement can’t control multiple factions that engage in tribal warfare, often killing their own people. Expecting the Taliban to follow-up on any agreement is unrealistic because each Afghan warlord, whether they identify with the Taliban of not, have their own agendas. Omer Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Helmand Province, said attacks occurred over the last week in various parts of Helmand Province. Zwak said the Taliban blew up several bridges making travel more difficult.
President Donald Trump, 74, won the backing of certain Taliban generals who, among other things, want U.S. troops out of Afghanistan 18 years after Sept. 11. Taliban[‘s former Emir Mullah Mohammed Omar invited his own demise by refusing to acknowledge his involvement in giving Bin Laden safe haven in Afhan’s mountainous Kandhar region where during the 1980-1988 War against the former Soviet Union, Bin Laden battled with CIA assistance the Soviet-backed Kabul government. During President Ronald Reagan’s term in office 1981-1989, he supplied Bin Laden’s mujahedeen fighters billions of dollars with the intent of toppling the Soviet-backed Kabul government. Pentagon officials under Reagan promised the Taliban would have an Islamic state if they go rid of the Soviet Union. It took over six year for the Taliban come to power in 1996.
Since Bush toppled Mullah Mohammed Omar the Taliban have been at war with the United States with Bin Laden’s backing until his death in 2011. Bin Laden felt completely betrayed after they helped topple the Soviet-backed government but were denied control of the Kabul government. After the U.S. withdrew its forces early on in the presidency of Bill Clinton did they eventually through relentless guerrilla war eventually come to power. Taliban wants to convince Trump to pull U.S. forces out of Afghanistan claiming they could live with Ghani’s pro-U.S. government. But like the did in the early 90s, the Taliban if given a chance would topple Ghani’s regime and reinstate a fanatical Islamic state exactly like they did in in 1996, for the five years they stayed in power. No matter how much Trump wants to leave Afghanistan, the minute he does the Taliban will take over Kabul.
