By Agha Iqrar Haroon
In October 2001, a news item was published in an Urdu daily newspaper of Islamabad that the Taliban have (had) Dirty Bomb (a kind of nuclear device). This news was carried and reproduced by Karachi-based English Daily and from there this news was reproduced and lifted in US media to establish that the Taliban had a Dirty Bomb. This news and many such gave moral justification to the world to join the band of killers for attacking the Taliban in Afghanistan with every latest and lethal weapon available on earth.
Have a look into the joint resolution that may be cited as the “Authorization for Use of Military Force” that allowed the United States and its allies to ruin an already ruined country——Afghanistan.
AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES SAYS:
That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized,
committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations, or persons.
War Powers Resolution Requirements.–
(1) Specific statutory authorization.–Consistent with section 8(a)(1) of the War Powers Resolution, Congress declares that this section is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution.
(2) Applicability of other requirements.–Nothing in this resolution supercedes any requirement of the War Powers Resolution—— Approved September 18, 2001.
Reference: LEGISLATIVE HISTORY–S.J. Res. 23 (H.J. Res. 64): CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 147 (2001):
The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1267, creating the so-called al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee, which links the two groups as terrorist entities and imposed sanctions on their funding, travel, and arms shipments. The UN moved follows a period of ascendancy for al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, who according to the United States guided the terror group from Afghanistan and Peshawar, Pakistan, in the late 1980s, to Sudan in 1991, and back to Afghanistan in the mid-1990s.
September 18, 2001, was the day when the United States-led forces started their journey to find Dirty Bomb in Afghanistan. It was the same plot of a different drama that the world saw thereafter in Iraq where the same characters ruined everything to find Weapons of Mass Destructions (WMD).
October 7, 2001—–Operation “The Opening Salvo” launched
The U.S. military, with British support, begins a bombing campaign against Taliban forces, officially launching Operation Enduring Freedom. Canada, Australia, Germany, and France pledge future support.
November 2001—-The Taliban disappeared from the scene within the next four days.
December 5, 2001—-An Interim Government
After the fall of Kabul in November 2001, the United Nations invited major Afghan factions and Bonn Conference held on December 5, 2001. The Bonn Agreement was followed by UN Security Council Resolution 1386 on December 20, which establishes the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF.
Operation Anaconda
The first major ground assault and the largest operation since Tora Bora is launched against an estimated eight hundred al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the Shahi-Kot Valley south of the city of Gardez (Paktia Province). Nearly two thousand U.S. and one thousand Afghan troops battle the militants.
April 17, 2002–Reconstructing Afghanistan
President George W. Bush calls for the reconstruction of Afghanistan in a speech at the Virginia Military Institute.
August 16, 2021—Biden speaks after the Fall of Kabul
President Biden said nation-building was never on agenda in Afghanistan. In his first speech after the Fall of Kabul, US President Joe Biden said that “War in Afghanistan was never about “nation-building”. He said that, while the “rapid collapse” of the Afghan government “did unfold more quickly than he had anticipated,” the US mission in Afghanistan was “never supposed to be nation-building”.
August 17, 2021— Taliban held a first press conference after reemerging in Kabul.
They allowed women and girls to work and studies and they announced General Amnesty to all who were against them.
“We have pardoned everybody including those who had been fighting against us and who had been working for US-allied forces and for the Ghani government. We have directed our people to respect everybody and do not harass anybody. government officials who had been working for the Afghan government are our assets and they should keep serving the nation. They are our part, not enemies. I ask the media to keep an eye on us and keep indicate us where we may be wrong. We are here for serving our nation for taking revenge or rule them,”.
In 20 years the United States and its allied forces wasted over 3.26 trillion USD, killed over 140,000 innocent people but failed to find a “Dirty Bomb” or botched Taliban.
Taliban leadership is justifying to ask the United Nations where is Dirty Bomb that you took as a justification allowing the whole world to kill the Afghan Nation.
Yes, they can say:
———- You are Dirty and We are Bomb.
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this article/Opinion/Comment are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk (DND). Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk News Agency.
