President Joe Biden, 78, showed his age, telling ABC’s George Stephanopoulos March 16 that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “soulless killer.” No one in the Democrat-friendly U.S. media has questioned Biden’s vile epithet calling one of the world’s most influential leaders a “soulless killer,” burning the bridge with Putin needed to manage hot spots around the globe. Biden’s statement brought condemnation from 67-year-old Turkish President Recp Tayyip Erdogan, calling Biden’s remarks “unacceptable.” In case Biden hasn’t noticed, Putin’s been on the world stage for a long time, influencing many different parts of the globe from the Mideast to Asia, from Africa to South America and parts in between. Putin has clout with North Korea and Iran, two thorns in the U.S. side, promising to create problems if not now, then at some point in the not too distant future.
When it comes to Afghanistan, Putin has considerable sway with the Taliban, an arch foe of the United States, the former Islamic state that coddled Sept. 11 mastermind, al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. It was the one-eyed Taliban Leader Mullhah Mohammed Omar who refused to surrender Bin Laden after Sept. 11, prompting former President George W. Bush to launch Operation Enduring Freedom Oct. 7, 2001, toppling the Taliban government Nov. 12, 2001. Since then, the U.S. has fought a bloody guerrilla war with the Taliban, once backed by Bin Laden when he worked for the CIA. Bin Laden’s mujahideen fighters received arms-and-cash from the CIA to fight Soviet occupation of Afghanistan Dec. 24, 1979 to Feb. 15, 1989, when the Soviets finally pulled the plug. Bin Laden helped install Omar as the spiritual leader of the Taliban, controlling Afghanistan’s lucrative opium trade.
Things ended badly for the Soviets in Afghanistan, watching the Berlin Wall fall Nov. 9, 1989, signaling the eventual Dec. 25, 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Putin grew up in the KGB [now FSB] during those years, understanding well how thing work in Afghanistan, Middle East and Asian Subcontinent. U.S. officials have held many meetings with the Taliban to end bloodshed in Afghanistan but only contingent on U.S. troops leaving the country. Negotiating an end to hostilities with the Taliban, State Department officials under former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed to a May 1, 2021 troop withdrawal. Biden hasn’t figured out yet whether to meet former President Donald Trump’s commitment to the Taliban, to end U.S. occupation. Some national security officials are worried, without U.S. troops, about the Taliban toppling the U.S.-backed government of Asraf Ghani.
No one doubts the Taliban’s determination to return to power after ousted by Operation Enduring Freedom Nov. 12, 2001. Meeting in Moscow, Taliban negotiator Suhail Shaheen said that a continuation of U.S. troops after May 1 would breach the deal. “They [the U.S.] should go,” said Shaheen. “After that it will be a kind of violation of the agreement they signed in February 2020, the Taliban have not attacked U.S. or NATO forces, even as unclaimed bombings and targeted killings have spiked in recent months,” warning of consequences should the U.S. stay put. Shaheen reveals for all to see that the Taliban fully intends to take over Afghan’s government, restoring strict Sharia Islamic law. When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, practicing a brutal form of Sharia law, imposing public amputations and beheadings for often inconsequential crimes.
For any orderly transition after U.S. troops withdraw, the world would count on Putn’s influence with the Taliban to meet obligations to allow its duly elected government to rule the country. Shaheen reveals the Taliban have other plans, perhaps planning to topple Ghani’s government and restore Taliban sovereignty. “We hope that this will not happen, that they withdraw and we focus on the settlement, peace settlement of the Afghan issue, in order to bring about a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire at the end of reaching a political roadma for Afghanistan,” Shaheen said. Shaheen hints strongly that the Taliban, not Ghani’s U.S.-backed government, would be the legitimate government of Afghanistan when U.S. troops no longer occupy the territory. Taliban leaders plan to avenge Ghani’s U.S.-backed secular-traitor government, reinstating strick Islamic law back to Afghanistan.
With the situation in Afghanistan soon in flux, the U.S. needs Putin to continue to maintain order in Afghanistan. Biden’s done everything possible to wreck U.S.-Russian relations, making it more difficult for Putin to serve as a buffer between the Ghani government and the Taliban. Calling Putin as “soulless killer” has real consequences for Biden in deciding now whether the U.S. can honor the May 1 commitment to leave Afghanistan. State Department officials fear that if U.S. troops leave, the Taliban will re-impose Sharia law, wrecking whatever gains have been made by women in the last 20 years. “I started a Jihad [holy war] to remove foreign forces from my country and establish and Islamic government and Jihad will continue until we reach that goal through a political agreement,” said Khairrullah Kharkhwa, a member of the negotiating team meeting in Moscow.
