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AFTER SPENDING A TRILLION DOLLARS, HAVING 3500 OF ITS & ALLIED SOLDIERS AND OVER 35,000 AFGHANS KILLED AND THOUSANDS MORE MAIMED, THE US LEARNS ITS LESSONS IN AFGHANISTAN

The US & Afghan Taliban sign a peace treaty in Qatar on February 29, 2020. (Picture courtesy Voice of America).

Nineteen years after launching attacks on Afghanistan to initially eliminate Al-Qaeda and later the Taliban, the US realized the futility of war which Presidents George W. Bush and Barak Obama foolishly pursued to eliminate the Taliban and from time to time even claimed false victories. Afghanistan has proved to be a graveyard of Superpowers, starting with the British, the Soviet Union and now the United States.

Better late than never. The good thing about the agreement crafted between the US & Taliban is that it calls for an orderly withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and gradual take over by Afghans. So if the Taliban do not start infighting and the Afghan Government of Ashraf Ghani does not sabotage the deal as under this agreement they will virtually lose all power, then Afghanistan may finally see peace. Although the agreement is worded ridiculously as each clause starts with 'The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban', the US already seems to have accepted a Taliban Government in Afghanistan as Part Two, Clause 5 of the agreement asks the Taliban not to issue passports or visas to certain persons as per extract below:

'Part Two:

5. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban will not provide visas, passports, travel permits, or other legal documents to those who pose a threat to the security of the United States and its allies to enter Afghanistan'.

The prospect that a thirty-one-year-old conflict may come to an end in Afghanistan which was started by the Soviet Union in 1989 and continued by warring Afghan factions and blown to a full-fledged war post 9/11 by the US, is itself a good thing. The people of Afghanistan have suffered enough at the hands of foreign invaders and at the hands of their own warlords. They deserve peace and prosperity. It is a shame that nearly one trillion dollars have been wasted on the war effort, whereas a fraction of that amount could have brought prosperity to Afghanistan. One hopes the nightmare is over for the resilient nation of Afghanistan and they can now start a march toward prosperity. 

The credit must be given to President Trump for realizing the futility of it all and putting an end to this war. Similarly, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff, General Bajwa deserve credit for bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table time and again even when the accord was faltering.

MR. MODI'S BJP PARTY CRUSHED IN DELHI STATE ELECTIONS.

Arvind Kejriwal the victorious leader of AAP celebrating after his victory over BJP

(Courtesy Indian Express)

The Indian Prime Minister Mr. Naridera Modi, who not long ago had won a landslide victory in Indian national elections claimed time and again that his BJP Party will win Delhi State elections by a big margin.  But it was not to be as Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Admi Party (Common Man Party) won a landslide victory in Delhi State elections by winning 62 of 70 seats, leaving a mere 8 seats for the BJP.

This is all the more shocking as AAP's performance has been mediocre at best and just a few months ago the party had faced massive failure in national elections. AAP had made several promises in the 2015 elections when it had won 67 out of 70 seats of Delhi legislature, but its performance has been disappointing at best. Most pre-2015 elections promises have not been fulfilled, one such promise was to create 500 new schools and only 30 have been created while at the same time student enrollment has fallen by 8% during the last five years. Similarly, the AAP Government has failed on most other fronts. However, its anti-corruption stance and accessibility is popular amongst the voters.

The election results are a clear rejection of Mr. Modi's extremist policies and its recently enacted draconian laws i.e. Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Registration Act. These laws are religion-based and against the provisions of the Indian Constitution and its secular nature. Usurping Kashmir (a disputed region with Pakistan) and the perpetual lockdown of 80 million Kashmiris for six months has been denounced by moderate Indians, Amnesty International, The European Parliament, and the U.S. Congress. All these actions of the Modi Government have drawn the ire of young Indians, especially students who are demonstrating in strength in various cities across India.

Delhi State elections are an even bigger disaster for the Congress Party - India's second-largest political party, which for the second time in five years failed to win a single seat in Delhi legislature. This is an unmitigated disaster for one of India's oldest and largest political parties. Congress Party seems leaderless and the Rajiv Gandhi family seems to be unwilling to let go of its hold and allow new leadership to emerge. Its last stint in the central Government was corruption-riddled and several scandals were associated with Sonia Gandhi and her family. Congress needs to clean up its act, Rahul and Sonia Gandhi need to exit its leadership and allow bright and intelligent leaders like Shashi Tharoor and other new leaders to take over the reins of the party.