Why did the Taliban get such a easy victory ?

When the Taliban seized over Afghanistan in 2021, forcing the US military’s abrupt and dramatic withdrawal, Donald Trump blamed Joe Biden for the “disaster,” while Biden chastised the Afghan forces for surrendering up so quickly. According to an investigative article by the New York Times, Washington had created the stage for “its defeat long before the Afghan soldiers laid down their arms.”

According to the study, America had been recruiting, training, and financing militias to assist US soldiers in combating the Taliban as they moved closer to seizing control of Afghanistan. However, these militias were renowned for tormenting innocent Afghans by murdering them for vengeance, razing entire villages, and capturing them for ransom.

Northern Afghanistan was the first to collapse, and this is where the hirings began. The New York Times recorded over 50 interviews in Kunduz, revealing “how American support for the militias spelled disaster, not just in the province but also across the rest of northern Afghanistan.”

During the early years of the Afghanistan war, the United States began recruiting militias. It intended to capitalise on local Taliban opposition by training groups of men and frequently forming armed formations disguised as police officers.The majority of these attempts proved unsuccessful. Militias rapidly become too powerful to disarm. Although they fought against the Taliban, they spent considerably more time fighting their other, reproducing the chaotic civil war circumstances that had originally permitted the Taliban’s emergence.

With increased hostility toward militias, the US Embassy in Kabul submitted a diplomatic cable to the US in 2009, asking the government to curb the emergence of militias. By then, the Afghan government had little control over the militias that continued to commit crimes on locals. The New York Times interviewed families who had been victims of militia atrocities. They stated that forced conscription was common. Men who refused to join a militia were routinely executed, while those who refused to pay taxes were accused of aiding the Taliban and imprisoned.

“The militias would label anyone they didn’t like ‘Taliban’, and then abuse them so much they had no choice but to join the Taliban,” said Mohammad Farid, a shopkeeper who said he was imprisoned for refusing to pay one of the militia commanders. Although the Americans did not plan the abuse, they did assist the government with billions of dollars in cash and weaponry, which officials used to create and arm militias. The locals perceived this as an American endeavor, making the Taliban a more enticing option.

The tables quickly reversed, and the situation became chaotic, costing both the American military and the Afghan government. After taking office in 2014, former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani promised to handle the militia problem with America’s support. However, the militias, who were now demonized in public, redirected their animosity against the Afghan government and even began to join the Taliban, the group they had previously battled against.

Sensing an opening, Taliban commanders began discreetly contacting militia leaders, instilling suspicion by alleging that the government considered them enemies. “The split between the militias was crucial for us,” said Hesmatullah Zalmay, a Taliban leader in Kunduz.

After the US forces left and the Afghan military laid down their weapons in 2021, some of the most infamous warlords and criminals responsible for the suffering in Kunduz and other regions – who ultimately aided the Taliban more than they opposed them–disappeared without facing a final battle or trial.