Last week during Aviation Law class, my professor mentioned that Afghanistan was on the verge of being overrun by the Taliban. Who knew that less than a week later, just two days ago on Sunday, the Taliban have taken over Afghanistan, as thousands flee Kabul, so desperate that they even clung onto planes taking off at Kabul Airport.

I’ve never been so emotionally-affected by international news so far away from me, but the past week, as I monitored the Taliban’s advancement into Kabul while American troops withdrew, I was filled with so much horror and dismay. Horror at the unimaginable difficulties that the Afghan face and will face, dismay at the immense selfishness, irresponsibility and cowardness of the so-called international policeman – the US. For withdrawing from the country almost overnight and leaving a country to be overrun by terrorists. For only caring about its national interests. For making such an apparently erroneous decision on the pretext of preventing further deaths and money spent on a war. For leaving so many at the mercy of a brutal group known for its atrocities.

As one UK official said, history will judge us for this. History WILL judge us for our wilful blindness. Being part of this history, even if I don’t have the power to do anything, feels awful.

As I read about how the Taliban have little respect for women and girls, prominently banning girls above the age of 12 from continuing further education, it really made me treasure the education opportunities that I have had. It pains and saddens me that in a country just a few hours away from me by plane, girls my age or younger than me will get killed just for going to school. Even sitting in a classroom on a sweaty afternoon, something I have always taken for granted, can be a dangerous affair, a privilege that they may lost at any time.

It angers me that in the 21st century, where governments are elected, a terrorist group can just barge in and take away power. And this is the second time this year that this has happened! On 1 February 2021, I woke up to news that the Myanmar Army has seized control over Myanmar from Aung San Suu Kyi’s government. I was livid, the world was livid, but there was nothing anyone could do but to negotiate with the Myanmar military government and recognise their legitimacy. It’ll be the same with the Taliban government. The world will have to sit face to face with them at a conference table, and negotiate with these gun-wielding rogues in bilateral deals, multilateral treaties. But this time round, it could have been prevented. Had the US not withdrawn, the Taliban would not have advanced so quickly. It was a deal struck with only economic interests in mind, but with the excuse of protecting American troops on foreign soil. I don’t mean to say that American soldiers’ lives are not valuable, but we’re talking about 3000+ volunteers sacrificing their lives over 20 years versus thousands of lives lost involuntarily over just a few months this year. We’re talking about armed career soldiers versus unarmed civilians are the mercy of the same Taliban group. We’re talking about women and children having their homes taken over, and being forced to adopt a lifestyle that keeps them oppressed and in fear.

Sure, the Afghans have a duty to defend themselves. Biden says the Americans shouldn’t be fighting a war that the Afghans themselves don’t want to fight. But the corruption of the Afghan army doesn’t justify a decision to ignore the lives of the Afghan people, not to mention that Afghans HAVE been fighting for themselves according to this Bloomberg article. (I would have doubts if it were any other press, but having been a regular Bloomberg, I know it’s a respectable publication.)

Sure, the Afghan military had state-of-the-art equipment and training and billions of dollars pumped in to help them fight the Taliban. But when 20 years of training and investment boils down to nothing, it makes me wonder whether the so-called “training” of Afghan forces was just an excuse to end America’s long-term commitment, because clearly, the training did not work. It’s like being pulled to lead a surgery having only watched surgery videos. Morale doesn’t help at all, never mind the 5 years that one spent in medical school and hours of studying time. When you’ve always been fighting while relying on US back-up, of course you’ll panic when your back-up withdraws overnight. Without a notice, I might add. We saw cities letting the Taliban go through without putting up a fight. Why? Because fighting would have been a lose-lose situation causing more casualties and tragedy. It’s

20 years of effort just went down the drain in one week, and the US made that happen. It’s like me pulling out of an investment and realising the lost, rather than staying on and waiting for the price to increase, except that investment is just money but here, lives are at stake.

I just hope that the situation in Afghanistan would not be as horrific as I expect it to be.