The West and Afghanistan: After the mistakes only swoon

Completely taken by surprise and condemned to watch, the German government has to watch the Taliban advance in Afghanistan. It gives the impression of a hasty escape.

It must appear to German politics as if she were tied to an armchair and forced to watch a horror flick on the television in front of her. Without being able to influence what is happening in any way.

This is exactly what is happening in Afghanistan: the Taliban are overrunning one province after another, pinching the capital from all sides. The West, Germany and the Bundeswehr are condemned to watch since they can no longer exert any military pressure. The unconditional withdrawal: a mistake with which the world community itself conjured up its own impotence, above all the USA. Without which, of course, the Bundeswehr could not stay in the Hindu Kush either.

Assault on Kabul could end in slaughter

That is why it is now very thin straws that one still clings to: the faint hope, for example, that the Taliban could shy away from taking the capital Kabul by storm. Because this could end in utter slaughter. And because two worlds would collide here: that of the Stone Age extremists and that of a young, vibrant modern civil society.

However, the West and the German government no longer have much more up their sleeves than threats of withdrawal of money or non-recognition of a Taliban caliphate. It is hardly to be expected that these messages will even reach the Islamists who are on the verge of victory.

And the fact that Bundeswehr soldiers will soon stand in the way of the extremists on their unstoppable path to power is as good as impossible. Germany and the world have slammed the exit door from Afghanistan behind them – what happens behind it should be a matter for the Afghans, please.

It happens what the West wanted to avoid

With all this, the devastating impression arises that the German government is completely taken by surprise by the rapid advance – not to say march through – of the Taliban. And today – after the end of the mission – she is just as unprepared for the events in the Hindu Kush as she did 20 years ago when she correctly embarked on the mission, but stumbled into it completely haphazardly. One could have foreseen the current triumphant advance of the Taliban.

But what is happening now is exactly what the West absolutely wanted to avoid: It gives the impression of a head-over-head flight. Embassies in Kabul are being shut down or even closed completely. German staff and – oh wonder! – Apparently some local helpers of the Bundeswehr are finally being flown out. All of this could have been dealt with mentally a long time ago, and the local staff could have been brought to safety much earlier. There is a bitter “save-yourself-who-can-climate”.

It has not been said whether the achievements in the Hindu Kush that have been difficult but certainly achieved in 20 years will save anything. And is no longer in the hands of the Germans. They have been condemned to watch, powerless, since the Bundeswehr withdrew. To watch the horror film that has become a bitter reality for the Afghans themselves.