US urged to own up to causing Afghan misery

24.4m people need humanitarian aid, while economy contracted by 30%: UN

Two years after the heartbreaking Kabul moment that saw the withdrawal of US-led Western troops from their illegal invasion and occupation, the United States has been urged to assume liability for sufferings of Afghanistan people.

Amid chaos that caused civilian casualties directly from leaving US military planes, the US pulled out its final forces from Kabul airport by the end of August 2021.

The 2001-21 war killed 176,000 people in Afghanistan: 46,319 civilians, 69,095 military and police personnel and at least 52,893 opposition fighters, the Costs of War Project said.

Afghanistan's Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs said on Aug 14 that it registered a total of 638,954 individuals, including widows, orphans and people with disabilities, in the past year, mostly the outcome of the 20-year war.

"The attack on Afghanistan was illegal," said Shakeel Ahmad Ramay, CEO of the Asian Institute of Eco-civilization Research and Development in Islamabad, Pakistan. There was no room for dialogue in the process, he added.

Khalid Taimur Akram, executive director of the Pakistan Research Center for a Community with Shared Future, said: "This perpetual struggle has resulted in rampant human rights violations, casting a grim shadow over the lives of innocent individuals."

The US-led forces have inflicted harm and tragic crimes against humanity "in the name of freedom and democracy", Akram added.

Salman Bashir, former Pakistani ambassador to China, said 20 years of NATO's involvement in Afghanistan proved fruitless, resulting only in immense suffering for the Afghans.

"What should be of equal, if not greater concern, is the suffering it has caused and ways and means to mitigate it."

The disastrous withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan also brought about more challenges.

Afghanistan's economy contracted by about 30 percent in 2020-22, with 24.4 million of its people in need of humanitarian aid, and a staggering 9 out of 10 people living in poverty, according to the United Nations Strategic Framework for Afghanistan released last month.

Nearly half of all Afghan children under age 5 are malnourished, UNICEF said.

Among them, almost 1 million will require intervention for severe acute malnutrition, a major killer of children under 5.

Sadiq Shinwari, an Afghan military expert, told Xinhua News Agency that unexploded ordnance has led to grave consequences for Afghanistan's agriculture, a critical sector for the landlocked country's economic stability.

Mohammad Turab Jan, former first lieutenant of the Afghanistan Army, fought alongside US forces in various regions and was critically wounded in January 2020.

A year later, he was discharged and returned home. Despite his service and the financial struggles of his family, no officers from either the Afghanistan or the US Army offered assistance or visited him.

"I had served the US Army for years," he told China Daily. "However, Americans turned their back when we needed them. I regret serving alongside the US Army against the Taliban. We had sacrificed our lives."

Kaswar Klasra is a freelance journalist for China Daily.

Contact the writers at vivienxu@chinadailyapac.com.