The scenes from Afghanistan, flickering across cable news screens over the last three days, have been haunting. The Taliban has rapidly regained control of the government, likely resulting in a human rights crackdown rooted in Islamic fundamentalism.
Even President Biden, who initiated the U.S. withdrawal in April, said that he was surprised by the speed of the Taliban takeover.
After all, the U.S. trained over 300,000 Afghan soldiers, a troop size that outnumbers the entire Taliban army. Over twenty years, the U.S. spent tens of billions of dollars on guns, ammunition, helicopters, and other equipment for the Afghan forces.
How could it all crumble so quickly?
To answer, we have to understand the lack of legitimacy the Afghan government has in its own country. Corruption is widespread. The last Afghan presidential election was suspected to be rigged. Officials have denied wages to the Afghan police and claimed salaries for non-existent troops.
This is a shell of a government created by the U.S. and propped up for twenty years. Unsurprisingly, there is a lack of will to defend it. Most Afghan soldiers do not want to risk their lives for a corrupt “democracy” that never represented them.
