- Title: "A colossal failure," says former UN envoy Peter Galbraith
- Date: 15th August 2021
- Summary: TOWNSHEND, VERMONT, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 15, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER UNITED NATIONS DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR AFGHANISTAN, PETER GALBRAITH, SAYING: "We had the idea that there were two sides in this war, that there was the government side, the American side and the Taliban side. But what was actually going on at the local level is the Taliban and the local officials were cooperating with each other." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER UNITED NATIONS DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR AFGHANISTAN, PETER GALBRAITH, SAYING: "I think the proper way to describe this is that the Biden administration implemented the Trump surrender agreement that was signed in 2020 and we can debate who is most culpable. I don't think that's a particularly productive thing. If we wanna know where it went wrong, I would say maybe around the beginning of 2002. When we intervened initially, we intervened on behalf of a local party, the Northern Alliance, to accomplish that local party's objective, which was to defeat the Taliban, retake Kabul and the rest of Afghanistan." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER UNITED NATIONS DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR AFGHANISTAN, PETER GALBRAITH, SAYING: "The U.S. and NATO did almost everything wrong but the main responsibility rests with the military commanders who said they were conducting a counterinsurgency in Afghanistan and who said that an essential part of counterinsurgency doctrine is that you have a local partner and yet the local partner - the Afghan government both on the national and local level - was corrupt and ineffective and, as a result of repeated fraudulent elections, illegitimate. The military commanders knew full well that they didn't have a local partner but they persuaded themselves that they did and they persuaded the political leadership in the United States and in the NATO countries that they did and that this strategy was working when in fact it wasn't working." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER UNITED NATIONS DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR AFGHANISTAN, PETER GALBRAITH, SAYING: "The Taliban forces were significantly smaller than the government forces. They didn't have any of the modern weapons that the government forces had; they didn't have an air force. But the government, the corruption was such that police and soldiers were not paid for months. They were not resupplied with bullets. They were not resupplied with food. (WHITE FLASH) And then when the collapse began, what was clear was that nobody wants to fight and risk dying in a war that was already lost. As the Taliban took more and more districts and then provincial capitals, Afghan soldiers and police saw the war as lost. So rather than risk dying, they basically ran away." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER UNITED NATIONS DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR AFGHANISTAN, PETER GALBRAITH, SAYING: "Certainly, it is a colossal failure and it is a humiliation it's a complete failure of a military, political strategy of 20 years duration - but that doesn't mean that it's going to affect in a significant way America's standing in the world. The same predictions were made about south Vietnam: if we abandon south Vietnam, nobody will rely on us and we won't be a superpower anymore." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER UNITED NATIONS DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR AFGHANISTAN, PETER GALBRAITH, SAYING: "They (referring to the Taliban) say that they are not going to allow those groups (Islamic State and Al-Qaeda) to operate in Afghanistan, and I think there's reason to hope that that's true because they do understand that it was the presence of Al-Qaeda which launched the 9/11 attacks on the United States from Afghanistan that brought about the end to Taliban rule in 2001. With regard to the Islamic State, which is present in Afghanistan, I think they mostly see that as a movement challenging the Taliban, as an enemy, a rival for power, so I think there's reason to hope that they will deal very harshly with the Islamic State. Reason to hope - that's different than saying it's a sure thing." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER UNITED NATIONS DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR AFGHANISTAN, PETER GALBRAITH, SAYING: "In the last 20 years, Afghanistan's become a place transformed, a much more modern South Asian country and particularly Kabul which has quadrupled in size and has tall buildings and all of that. So how people in Afghanistan and particularly in Kabul are going to adjust to this new era, it's going to be really, really difficult. Even though the Taliban make promises about not pursuing their enemies, their history is just the opposite. (WHITE FLASH) I think we're going to see a very large refugee outflow from Afghanistan - not just in these coming days, but over the next months and years, to Pakistan, to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran." WHITE FLASH (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER UNITED NATIONS DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR AFGHANISTAN, PETER GALBRAITH, SAYING: "I think there are three things that could be done: First, to try to help the Afghans who are on our side. (WHITE FLASH) The second thing we can do is try to protect the Hazaras, the Shia ethnic majority that is in the central highlands that has not yet been taken by the Taliban, which is at risk of genocide - either by making clear that there will be military action if the Taliban move there or helping to arm them. There are a variety of actions we ought to consider although that's going to be difficult in part because we've now provided the Taliban with the most modern American weapons. They're one of the best armed militaries in the region. And the third thing I think we should consider is maintaining a small diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, in essence, recognizing the new government."
- Embargoed: 29th August 2021 23:40
- Keywords: NATO defeat Taliban takeover of Afghanistan War in Afghanistan fall of Kabul
- Location: TOWNSHEND, VERMONT AND THURMONT, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
- City: TOWNSHEND, VERMONT AND THURMONT, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,United States,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA002EQE54JR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Reflecting on the Taliban's lightning offensive across Afghanistan, former United Nations' Special Envoy to Afghanistan Peter Galbraith blamed widespread corruption within the government, calling the Taliban's rapid advance "a colossal failure... a humiliation (and) a complete failure of a military, political strategy of 20 years duration."
Galbraith said rampant corruption within the police and all levels of government meant that money that the U.S. was giving in aid often ended up in Taliban hands, as local warlords, police and government officials cooperated with the insurgent group.
"We had the idea that there were two sides in this war, that there was the government side, the American side and the Taliban side. But what was actually going on at the local level is the Taliban and the local officials were cooperating with each other," he said.
Galbraith, who left Afghanistan in 2009 over a disagreement about the presidential election that he said fraudulently installed former President Hamid Karzai, accused military commanders of turning a blind eye to the corruption for decades.
"The U.S. and NATO did almost everything wrong but the main responsibility rests with the military commanders who said they were conducting a counterinsurgency in Afghanistan and who said that an essential part of counterinsurgency doctrine is that you have a local partner and yet the local partner - the Afghan government both on the national and local level - was corrupt and ineffective and, as a result of repeated fraudulent elections, illegitimate. The military commanders knew full well that they didn't have a local partner but they persuaded themselves that they did and they persuaded the political leadership in the United States and in the NATO countries that they did and that this strategy was working when in fact it wasn't working," he said.
The U.S. plan for Afghanistan with a strong central government, one president and a national police force was ill-fated in a nation with a long tribal history and multiethnic population, Galbraith said, adding that national police, often did not even speak the local languages prevalent in some regions.
"The Taliban forces were significantly smaller than the government forces. They didn't have any of the modern weapons that the government forces had; they didn't have an air force. But the government, the corruption was such that police and soldiers were not paid for months. They were not resupplied with bullets. They were not resupplied with food," Galbraith continued, "And then when the collapse began, what was clear was that nobody wants to fight and risk dying in a war that was already lost. As the Taliban took more and more districts and then provincial capitals, Afghan soldiers and police saw the war as lost. So rather than risk dying, they basically ran away."
Under Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001, women could not work, girls were not allowed to attend school and women had to cover their faces and be accompanied by a male relative if they wanted to venture out of their homes.
Much has changed in the two decades after they were overthrown by a U.S.-led invasion and Galbraith expressed concern about the future of women, girls and the Hazaras minority group.
"In the last 20 years, Afghanistan's become a place transformed, a much more modern South Asian country and particularly Kabul which has quadrupled in size and has tall buildings and all of that. So how people in Afghanistan and particularly in Kabul are going to adjust to this new era, it's going to be really, really difficult. Even though the Taliban make promises about not pursuing their enemies, their history is just the opposite," Galbraith said. "I think we're going to see a very large refugee outflow from Afghanistan - not just in these coming days, but over the next months and years, to Pakistan, to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran."
He expressed concern about the many Afghan allies who could be at risk with the Islamist militants in power and urged NATO government to help evacuate Afghans who worked as translators and journalists, or with the United Nations and NGOs.
"I think there are three things that could be done: First, to try to help the Afghans who are on our side," he said. "The second thing we can do is try to protect the Hazaras, the Shia ethnic majority that is in the central highlands that has not yet been taken by the Taliban, which is at risk of genocide - either by making clear that there will be military action if the Taliban move there or helping to arm them. There are a variety of actions we ought to consider although that's going to be difficult in part because we've now provided the Taliban with the most modern American weapons. They're one of the best armed militaries in the region. And the third thing I think we should consider is maintaining a small diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, in essence, recognizing the new government."
The United Nations has about 3,000 national staff and about 300 international staff on the ground in Afghanistan. On Friday, Dujarric said some staff had been relocated to Kabul but that none had been evacuated from the country.
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