Afghans believe that US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is responsible for all the turbulence and deteriorated situation in Afghanistan as his negotiations did not lead to peace or stability. The peace agreement signed between Khalilzad and the Taliban leadership simply gave legitimacy to the Taliban and emboldened their rank and file. As of now, the group refuses national and international calls for ceasefire.
Khalilzad played his role in the worst possible way as he focused on the troop pullout without regard to the radical ideology of the Taliban and their acts of violence and bloodshed. Khalilzad turned a blind eye to the political upheaval in Afghanistan, violation of human rights as well as the international humanitarian law, and the atrocities and war crime perpetrated by the Taliban fighters. Undoing decades-long achievements is unlikely to make difference for Khalilzad since he rarely raises his eyebrows in the wake of the Taliban’s acts of horror and terror.
With Khalilzad’s indifference to the gross violation of human rights committed by the Taliban, Afghans believe that human rights discourse has been no more than a political cover for the United States. He is simply watching the death of hundreds of people on day-to-day basis.
Moreover, ordinary Afghans are concerned about the US visa programs such as the Special Immigrant Visa, saying that Washington’s concerns only about their translators is outrageous. According to general belief, it indicates that the lives of millions of people, who did not work for America, carry no significance for them.
The United States pressed the administration of Hamid Karzai, former Afghan president, to sign Bilateral Security Agreement, so that the US could maintain their military bases in Afghanistan. Signing BSA has been a highly controversial issue for Afghanistan and a Loya Jirga was conducted, approving the signature of the peace pact. Despite this, it was not signed during Karzai’s administration. Later, the Ghani administration signed the BSA. However, the US administration decided to withdraw all its troops without regard to the BSA, which came as a surprise to the people of Afghanistan.
Currently, what is a matter of question for Afghan people is that despite the Taliban’s gross violation of human rights and humanitarian law and violation of their agreement with the United States, since the Taliban maintain their ties with al-Qaeda, the US hardly reacts to the group.
Both Afghan people and their representatives at the negotiating table push for protection of decades-long achievements and said on multiple occasions that the strides made regarding the democratic values, human rights and women’s rights and liberties, constitutional principles, etc. have to be safeguarded. In short, democratic values were considered “red-line” at the peace table and not to be compromised.
Initially, Afghans believed that protection of human rights as well as the decades-long achievements would be of great importance for the United States and its allies. But as the Taliban are violating human rights as well as women’s rights and freedoms, less concerns are shown.
Earlier, it was said that the Taliban were moderated, but the harsh practices of the Taliban in recent days have proved that they did not change a single step. After all, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani once said that the Taliban have been further radicalized.
Now, the entire world understands that the Taliban group has not been moderated. The group is practicing upon the same ideology as that in 1990s. The Taliban target civilians indiscriminately and do not allow women to go to bazaar without male chaperons and have banned girls’ schools in areas under their control. They have ordered men to wear shilwar-kamiz instead of pants and wear long beard. These acts are exactly as those in 1990s.
There are two options for the United Sates: First, to turn a blind eye to all the violence and bloodshed and violation of human rights and leave Afghanistan in the lurch. Second, to revise its policy about the Taliban and push them hard to either be eliminated or reach an agreement with the Afghan administration. If Washington chooses the former, the history will condemn it.

The United Nations should not either simply watch the violation of human rights. The UN should sanction the Taliban’s backers and deploy peace keeping forces in the country. In short, the UN should not let Afghanistan turn into the second Syria or Myanmar. The recent cruel practices of the Taliban will be alarming for the entire region. The Taliban must not be allowed to pave the ground for radicalism and emergence of al-Qaeda and other international terrorist networks.