The peace deal Donald Trump’s administration struck with the Taliban in February 2020 included the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. Joe Biden, who was elected as President in November 2020, also declared that the pullout would be completed by September. As the American withdrawal continues, the U.S. is pursuing its quest for military bases in countries close to Afghanistan, primarily Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. However, it would be wrong to say that the U.S. has made any headway on this matter. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that his country would not provide a military base to the CIA for the Washington administration’s possible operations in Afghanistan.
Pakistan and China are in cahoots. India, on other hand, which is at loggerheads with China, is strengthening its relations with the U.S. It’s not a government secret that the U.S. wants to kill China’s New Silk Road project, which it announced under the name of One Belt – One Road. Asian territory is once more at the center of a “Great Game.” The U.S. is attempting to surround China in the Indo-Pacifics. We had previously mentioned that certain strategies and scenarios have been developed to drive a wedge between China and Russia. Thus, this has to be one of the reasons Biden played nice with Putin during the Geneva summit on June 16. Both the Russians and the Europeans were expecting the Biden-Putin meeting to unfold like a boxing match. However, quite the opposite came to pass.
It is being said that Biden was on the lookout for some blind spots the U.S. could use in disrupting Russian-Sino relations, and that, at times, he was questioning Putin to this end. Putin, for his part, didn’t fall for this and gave the U.S. a big fat nothing, according to the grapevine from behind the scenes.
On the other hand, there are rumors flying around that Biden asked Putin for help to form a “temporary” military base in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. He justified a new base with the pretext of facilitating American troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan and sustain its military aid to the Afghan government. Putin apparently informed Biden that building a military base in two countries adjacent to the Chinese border would be perceived as an hostile act by the Beijing government. Putin also noted that using these bases for a military operation in Afghanistan could bring the Taliban and Tajik and Kyrgyz forces face to face in a conflict. In a nutshell, Putin’s answer to Biden was NO.
Another problem plaguing the Biden government is what will happen to Afghan civilians working for the U.S. military once troops have fully withdrawn. It is expected that the Taliban will continue advancing and that the Afghan government will collapse shortly after. A similar situation transpired after the U.S. withdrew from Vietnam. The U.S. had signed a peace deal with the forces of North Vietnam in 1973. Even though the south Vietnam administration objected to this deal, the U.S.’s approach did not change. Panic ensued in 1975, when U.S. troops were evacuated from the country. The capital, Saigon, quickly fell into the hands of the Northern forces. Hundreds of thousands of Southerners wanted to flee with the U.S. military, fearing that Northern forces would exact revenge. Many southerners hanging on the tails of evacuation planes perished, and these movie-like scenes were imprinted in minds for many years to come.
Now, tens of thousands of Aghans providing translation, guidance and logistics services to the U.S. army in Afghanistan are waiting to be rescued. American media is saturated with personal stories of civilian Afghans and the visa problems they are experiencing. It is being said that the number of Afghans who want to go to the U.S. with their families is over 70,000. U.S. legislation, on the other hand, limits this number to 26,500 under the scope of the “Special Immigrant Visa." Special Immigrant Visa procedures are complex and extremely slow. Sometimes it can take up to 3 years for the visa application to be processed.
First, the Afghans employed by the U.S. military need to be transferred to a safe zone as soon as possible. The program to bring people serving the U.S. military to America is extremely competitive. Thousands of applications have already been rejected. The same problem exists for other partners of the Military Coalition, of course. The evacuation of American soldiers will continue until September, but there is already a "Vietnam syndrome" being experienced in the U.S. and Afghanistan.
