The US invaded Afghanistan as vengeance for the catalytic events of the 11th of September 2001 - resulting in a conflict that stretched for about two decades. At the very beginning, in 2001, the US demanded that the Taliban hand over Osaama bin Laden. It is possible that the Taliban might even have handed him over: they actually asked for evidence against him, but the US government reacted with total contempt.
So former President George W. Bush informed the people of Afghanistan that they were to be bombed until the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden. This threat was made good upon, followed by ground invasion.
In fact, Afghanistan has experienced one of the world's largest refugee crises for more than two decades. Between the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the present-day American one, one in four Afghans has been a refugee. At the peak of the crisis in the late 1980s, there were more than 6 million refugees and in 2001 Afghanistan ranked third in the countries with the most refugees. The War on Terror, led by the US, has taken much from Afghanistan.
As a neighbouring country, Pakistan took the lead on the issue of Afghan refugees, settling them in different corners of the country to live freely. Moreover, when it comes to negotiations, it was Pakistan who brought the Taliban and the US together for a peace deal in Qatar. But still some powers including the US government accuse Pakistan of essentially playing a double game in Afghanistan. Former US President Donald Trump in the same vein accused Pakistan in 2018 of lying and deceiving the United States and Afghanistan while receiving billions of dollars in foreign aid.
As the US withdrawal process unfolds, civilians including human rights activists, journalists and members of civil society are not safe from intra-Afghan insurgent groups. Last Sunday two women judges were shot dead in Kabul - the latest victims of the target killings that have swept Afghanistan amid the virtually stalemated peace talks between the government in Kabul and the Afghan Taliban.
Incidents of high-profile murders has increased with the further reductions of American troops. Last week, the Pentagon announced it had cut troop levels in Afghanistan to 2,500. It is the lowest number of American troops since the start of the war two decades ago. According to the New York Times at least 136 civilians and 168 security officials were killed in targeted attacks in 2020. No group has claimed responsibility for the killings but the footprints indicate the Taliban.
Unfortunately, hapless Afghans have not tasted the fruit of freedom for a long time now. Recently the US Special Inspector General for Afghan reconstruction stated that there has been up to a 43 percent rise in civilian casualties after the February agreement between the US and the Taliban.
Moreover, the Afghan government insists on a reduction in violence and target killings while the insurgents demand the release of the group's remaining jailed fighters, along with the removal of Taliban leaders from the UN blacklist. Reaching a consensus is not easy: both sides are standing on firm and seemingly irreconcilable positions.
One hopes that the Afghan government can accede as far as possible to such demands from the Taliban as may be demonstrated to be legally acceptable. That could be a silver-lining for Afghan civilians and an opportunity to bring peace and harmony to that nation, as well as the broader region.