All this happened while representatives from three sides - the Afghan government, the Taliban and the US - were sitting in plush conference rooms in Doha, Qatar, to discuss the transfer of power.īut across Afghanistan, the images are different - a shortage of food, water and medicines is a common sight in overcrowded refugee tents. Don't forget that the US fought the Afghanistan and Iraq wars simultaneously, between 20.ĪLSO READ | In a graphic: Who are the Taliban 2.0?Īnd now as the US and its allies end their combat mission in Afghanistan and speed up what many have called Saigon-like evacuations, in line with President Joe Biden's assertion that he would "not hand over" the Afghan war to the fifth US president, the Taliban have taken over the Presidential Palace after recapturing the country in a lightning offensive.Īshraf Ghani, the US-backed President, has resigned and fled Afghanistan. On the other hand, the Taliban got active support from Pakistan, Saudi Arabian groups, the UAE and Qatar, where the so-called peace talks were held. Many believe this led to indifferent loyalties among the rural and tribal population of the country. The US is estimated to have pumped $1 trillion in maintaining an Afghan government and training its military.īut reports from Afghanistan suggested the US-backed government was corrupt at many levels, defeating the purpose for which the US said it stayed in the country. The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 to oust the Taliban, whom they said were harbouring Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda figures linked to the 9/11 attacks. Gr3qwGLrFn - Tehran Times August 16, 2021
Two people who tied themselves to the wheels of an aircraft flying from Kabul, tragically fall down. The war is ending as it began, with the Taliban ruling Afghanistan. The second brings into question so many things, including America's longest war that's ending after billions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost. The first one introduced us to a new face of global terrorism. It's difficult not to think of the rather clichéd adage: 'A picture is worth a thousand words.' Because the images - though two decades apart - do what few verbal descriptions can. LONG READ | The rise, fall and rise of Taliban. The 2021 image, equally difficult to process, captures the desperation of thousands of Afghan civilians to escape the Taliban rule. An Afghan, holding on to a wheel of a US aircraft flying out of Kabul, looks like a dot in the distant sky as he darts toward the earth and dies. On a day when hundreds died, the 2001 Falling Man image showed someone actually dying.Ībout 20 years later, another image of a falling man has stunned the world. It showed him bisecting the collapsing Twin Towers in New York City, and falling what looked like an arrow to a stunned world. The image of the Falling Man, taken in the moments after the 9/11 terror attacks, captured an individual's desperation to escape death.
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