Dodging Responsibility Leads to Crisis

By Zhong Cheng

More than 3.5 million people find themselves currently displaced from Afghanistan due to the deteriorating security situation in the country， according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees （UNHCR） Filippo Grandi. Significant movements across borders are not yet taking place. The Office of the UNHCR envisages a worst-case scenario of 500，000 Afghan refugees arriving in neighboring countries by the end of the year， seeking a total of $299 million to allow the UNHCR， other UN agencies and partners to pre-position aid and prepare for large outflows of refugees.

Two suicide bombings near Kabuls airport on August 26 killed over 100 Afghans and wounded many others. Following the blasts， the U.S. military opened fire， leading to more civilian casualties and plunging the country into further chaos. On August 29， U.S. forces based in Afghanistan launched a drone attack officially against a vehicle that was suspected of having links to the so-called “Islamic State”（ISIS） terrorist group and could pose a threat to Kabul airport. Ten civilians were killed， the youngest victim being only 2.

This wasnt the first time U.S. military actions were responsible for the taking of innocent lives in Afghanistan. In 2002， the U.S. Air Force carried out an airstrike on a wedding in Uruzgan Province， claiming the lives of more than a dozen civilians and injuring over 100. In 2008， U.S. troops attacked a village in Herat Province， killing nearly 100 civilians including about 50 children and 19 women. In 2019， a U.S. drone strike mistakenly killed at least 30 Afghan farmers in Nangarhar Province. A former U.S. soldier and a drone pilot said in a sworn testimony before a UN expert committee that the strikes were purely killing for the sake of killing， and that the U.S. airstrikes led to far more Afghan civilian deaths than the U.S. Governments official statistics would show.

U.S. troops left Afghanistan in more of a mess than they had found it， resulting in a new humanitarian disaster comparable to the tragedies of both Syria and Iraq.

Lessons to be learned

The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in the name of fighting terrorism and spreading democracy 20 years ago. In August， its forces withdrew from the devastated country without taking any responsibility， and once again only benefiting its own needs. The U.S. even attempted to put the burden on Afghanistans neighbors， for example by asking Pakistan to take in more Afghan refugees.

The shambolic exit indicates that the Joe Biden administration has botched the execution. In fact， the U.S. and its Western allies have been failing to protect the Afghan people， let alone those who fled their homes in search of U.S. protection. However， to pass the buck to others is dishonorable， and an oversimplification of how things unraveled.