News & Comment
It’s Time to Expel the US from Afghanistan, Rather than Provide Political Cover for its Occupation through Negotiations

News:

On July 15 2018, the New York Times Newspaper reported that the Trump administration has told its top diplomats to seek direct talks with the Taliban, a significant shift in American policy in Afghanistan, done in the hope of jump-starting negotiations to end the 17-year war. The shift to prioritize initial American talks with the Taliban over what has proved a futile “Afghan-led, Afghan-owned” process stems from a realization by both Afghan and American officials that President Trump’s new Afghanistan strategy is not making a fundamental difference in rolling back Taliban gains.

Comment:

Since the previous Obama administration, the US has been pressurizing the Afghan Taliban to sit on the negotiation table with its Afghan puppet regime in Kabul so that the US secures a political settlement over its military presence in Afghanistan. In order to do so, the US expanded the Afghan army and conducted ruthless military operations against Afghan mujahideen inside Afghanistan, including the notorious night raids. The US agents organized  conferences of Ulema in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, where government backed “Islamic” scholars asked Afghan Mujahideen to end war and sit in talks with the Afghan government. The US also used its agents in the political and military leadership of Pakistan to apply political, intelligence and military tactics to pressurize Afghan Taliban, so they succumb to the American demand and plan. However, despite all these American efforts and pressures, the Afghan Taliban have been consistently rejecting negotiations through the US puppet regime in Kabul. They continued demanding the withdrawal of all foreign occupation forces and direct talks with America for the same.

The persistence of the Afghan Taliban started creating ripples in the Trump administration as the war in Afghanistan is now in its seventieth year, the longest war in US history. This war has become very unpopular and during last week’s NATO summit meeting in Brussels, Mr. Trump expressed agreement with a reporter’s question that contained the notion that “people are fed up” with the Afghan war. Mr. Trump said. “Yeah,…..I agree with that. I very much agree. It’s been going on for a long time.” This protracted and costly war has become an economic burden which the US can no longer sustain. The US economic position is so fragile that it is pressurizing its long time NATO allies to share more financial burden of NATO. The US economy is under such severe pressure that the US has initiated a trade war with the European Union, Canada and Mexico. It has accused former allies of being unfair with the US in trade repeatedly. It has gone around World Trade Organization rules and is pushing protectionist policies by placing duties on imports.

It is clear that the US is at the weakest position politically, economically and militarily in its era of domination. Another indication is that Washington is compelled to accept the demand of a small force, Afghan Taliban. If such a small force has brought the US to its knees, than Pakistan is far more capable to do so. It is time for the sincere to seize the US agents within Pakistan’s leadership and extend full support to their brothers, the Afghan Mujahideen, so that the root cause of unrest in our region, the US presence, can be expelled and peace is restored. This can easily be done if the sincere amongst the armed forces of Pakistan grant Nussrah to Hizb ut Tahrir for establishing Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of Prophethood. Then, the Khaleefah Rashid will direct all resources to expel the US and the current weakened state of the US makes it clear that it will be one of the last nails in its coffin.

﴿فَلاَ تَهِنُواْ وَتَدْعُوۤاْ إِلَى ٱلسَّلْمِ وَأَنتُمُ ٱلأَعْلَوْنَ وَٱللَّهُ مَعَكُمْ وَلَن يَتِرَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ﴾

“So do not weaken and call for peace while you are superior; and Allah is with you and will never deprive you of [the reward of] your deeds” [Muhammad 47:35].

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Shahzad Shaikh
Deputy to the official Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Pakistan