Originally published on American Thinker on August 21, 2021
By Cynthia Farahat
The current foreign policy disaster in Afghanistan has been predicted for years. In 2018, this author warned that the release of Taliban commander and mass murderer Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, from a Pakistan prison would strengthen the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and the Muslim Brotherhood.
President Barack Obama’s regime invigorated these Islamic terrorist groups over several stages, beginning in 2011 and coming to fruition in 2013, when the Taliban opened their political office in Doha, Qatar. The office was opened under the guidance of the Obama and Muslim Brotherhood–backed regime in Qatar. The Taliban called their new headquarters al-Maktab as-Siasi li-Imarat Afghanistan al-Islamiyya (the Political Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan). That is what the Taliban just renamed Afghanistan.
The Taliban have always been open about their goals and objectives. Under the Obama regime, the representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, brokered opening the Taliban’s new office. In 2018, this author blew the whistle on Ambassador Khalilzad’s subversive activities on behalf of the Taliban and, more importantly, al-Qaeda.
Currently, the Taliban is officially leading al-Qaeda. In 2015, Ayman al-Zawahiri formally gave bai`a (Islamic allegiance) to Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. After Mansour was killed in 2016 by a U.S. drone strike, Zawahiri swore allegiance to Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada, Afghanistan’s current de facto head of state.
On August 16, Akhundzada ordered the release of all al-Qaeda, Islamic State, and other terrorists from Afghan prisons. This action will guarantee that al-Qaeda runs its terrorist playground, which resulted in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack. In 2020, this author warned that Afghanistan was headed on a path toward a second 9/11. Recent events further support this prediction.
More disturbingly, the U.S.’s rapid evacuation of Afghanistan armed the Taliban with what the White House unapologetically described as a “fair amount” of American military equipment. Biden’s regime admitted that its actions armed the Taliban — the leadership of al-Qaeda. Whether this blunder resulted from a misunderstanding of history and reality or from more nefarious circumstances, arming al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Islamic State is a treasonous act. Congress should conduct hearings and impeach those involved.
The timing also appears nefarious. Last month, in Tunisia, the last haven for the Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle East crumbled. While the Brotherhood still wields significant power in Qatar, Turkey, Morocco, and Israel, it didn’t have the complete freedom it exercised in Tunisia. In Tunisia, the Brotherhood operated its Secret Apparatus — a terrorist entity — with impunity. It is likely that many of the Muslim Brotherhood’s terrorists in Tunisia and elsewhere will flee to Afghanistan and re-establish al-Qaeda, as they did before.
More disturbingly, the U.S.’s rapid evacuation of Afghanistan armed the Taliban with what the White House unapologetically described as a “fair amount” of American military equipment. Biden’s regime admitted that its actions armed the Taliban — the leadership of al-Qaeda. Whether this blunder resulted from a misunderstanding of history and reality or from more nefarious circumstances, arming al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Islamic State is a treasonous act. Congress should conduct hearings and impeach those involved.
The timing also appears nefarious. Last month, in Tunisia, the last haven for the Muslim Brotherhood in the Middle East crumbled. While the Brotherhood still wields significant power in Qatar, Turkey, Morocco, and Israel, it didn’t have the complete freedom it exercised in Tunisia. In Tunisia, the Brotherhood operated its Secret Apparatus — a terrorist entity — with impunity. It is likely that many of the Muslim Brotherhood’s terrorists in Tunisia and elsewhere will flee to Afghanistan and re-establish al-Qaeda, as they did before.
The upcoming twenty-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks could not have been commemorated in a worse way. Biden’s regime has betrayed thousands of its countrymen who were slain by the same enemies the U.S. government is aiding and abetting today. It is also a significant betrayal of America’s Afghan allies, who are currently getting raped, tortured, and murdered by the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
As time passes, American presidents and their nihilistic Deep State bureaucrats have taught us one thing: they will always betray their countrymen, American values, and America’s allies. That is the lesson to learn from Afghanistan.
Cynthia Farahat is an author and a fellow at the Middle East Forum.