This is how Kabul lives before the advance of the Taliban 1:59
Editor's Note:
Peter Bergen is a CNN National Security Analyst, Vice President of New America, and a professor of practices at Arizona State University.
Bergen has reported from Afghanistan since 1993. His new book is "The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden."
The opinions expressed in this comment are yours.
See more opinions here.
(CNN) -
Roya Rahmani is the first woman to serve as Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, a position she had held from 2018 until last month.
Bergen spoke to her over the weekend about the fall of much of Afghanistan to the Taliban.
Rahmani, who is in the United States, says he is concerned that with the Taliban occupation, the civil wars that have torn Afghanistan apart will continue.
He is also concerned that the rights of Afghan women will disappear under his command.
Who are the Taliban and how did they take control of Afghanistan so quickly?
Rahmani was born in Kabul in 1978, a year before the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, pushing the country into a cycle of wars that has continued for more than four decades.
Her family escaped to neighboring Pakistan, where she grew up as a refugee.
Rahmani earned her software engineering degree from McGill University in Canada, followed by a master's degree in public administration from Columbia University.
Before becoming Afghanistan's ambassador to Washington, Rahmani was Afghanistan's ambassador to Indonesia.
Bergen's conversation with Rahmani has been edited for clarity and length.
BERGEN:
How are you feeling right now?
RAHMANI:
Anguished, worried.
I am extremely worried about what is to come.
and I am very concerned for my family and loved ones who are in the country.
BERGEN:
Do you think all of this was avoidable, the situation we are in today?
RAHMANI:
Sure!
Absolutely!
It was certainly avoidable.
I don't think it matters at this point who we should point the finger at and who we should blame.
It is unfortunate that we are here, but we are here.
This points to an immense failure of Afghan democracy.
It signals the failure of diplomacy.
It points to the failure of international aid and assistance.
I think it calls into question all the sacrifices made by Americans, by our allies, and multiplied by all Afghans with so much blood, tears and sweat that we have all put up in the last 20 years.
ANALYSIS |
Biden's failed Afghanistan withdrawal is a long-brewing disaster at home and abroad
BERGEN
: Were you surprised how quickly the Taliban took control of most of the country?
RAHMANI:
No. I think many people in the international community were surprised, but I was aware of the deterioration of morale among our security forces, of the division of politics in Afghanistan.
In many places, Afghanistan's law enforcement agencies were not supported by Kabul.
BERGEN:
Does this remind you of the Iraq summer of 2014 when ISIS took control and the army did not fight?
RAHMANI:
Yes, there are certain similarities.
First of all, it is about the same thing, how the country's leaders ignored the reality of Iraq.
They were not an inclusive government.
And there was a lack of maturity in the conduct of military policy and strategy.
ANALYSIS |
Afghans face a return to the dark age in the midst of the digital age
BERGEN:
The message goes out from the White House that President Joe Biden was right, that recent events show that Afghanistan's government and military are weak, and the fact that everything has collapsed so quickly shows that he was right. .
RAHMANI:
I understand President Biden's position because when he says that if he did this in six months or a year instead of now, there wouldn't be much of a difference, unfortunately I agree with that.
There wouldn't be much of a difference.
Why?
Because, unfortunately, the international community did not negotiate or implement in time an agreement that would lead to the establishment of a new inclusive government, which could have been held together with the help of a peacekeeping mission.
BERGEN:
But was it necessary to get to zero US troops in Afghanistan?
Because, in addition, there are another 7,000 NATO soldiers who have also left and 16,000 contractors.
Was necessary?
RAHMANI:
Of course, that sped up the Taliban takeover process to the speed of light.
There is no doubt about it.
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People get on a plane at the Kabul airport.
Thousands of people forcibly entered the airport, trying to flee the feared Taliban hard line.
See the most shocking images of the situation in Afghanistan (Credit: WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP via Getty Images)
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An American soldier points his gun at an Afghan passenger at the Kabul airport after thousands of people forcibly entered the scene trying to flee (Credit: WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP via Getty Images)
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Taliban standing guard in a vehicle on a Kabul street (AFP credit via Getty Images)
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Afghan citizens return to the country after trying to cross the border with Pakistan, after the advance of the Taliban (AFP credit via Getty Images)
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A crowd of Afghan citizens wait at the airport to flee the country (Credit: SHAKIB RAHMANI / AFP via Getty Images)
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Afghan security forces soldiers travel in an armed vehicle in Panjshir province (Credit: AHMAD SAHEL ARMAN / AFP via Getty Images)
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Taliban stand guard in a vehicle on a street in the province of Jalalabad (Credit: AFP via Getty Images)
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Afghan families displaced in the interior of the country due to the advance of the Taliban (Credit: WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP via Getty Images)
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Charyar, 70, looks through a fence from a camp for displaced people in Afghanistan (Credit: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images)
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Displaced citizens wait outside a camp after desperately fleeing their homes in the face of the Taliban advance (Credit: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images)
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Afghans observe damage caused by fighting between Taliban and Afghan security forces in Kunduz, 8 August 2021
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A crowd tries to get on a plane in Kabul
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New satellite images of Maxar showed crowds of people on the runway at Kabul International Airport on Monday (Credit: Satellite image © 2021 Maxar Technologies)
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New satellite images of Maxar showed crowds of people on the runway at Kabul International Airport on Monday (Credit: Satellite image © 2021 Maxar Technologies)
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New satellite images of Maxar showed crowds of people on the runway at Kabul International Airport on Monday (Credit: Satellite image © 2021 Maxar Technologies)
BERGEN:
You are the first Afghan ambassador to the United States who is a woman.
Do you think a Taliban-controlled government will send female ambassadors in the future?
RAHMANI:
No. Based on what I know about them and their actions on the ground, I am afraid that the most basic rights of women are on the way to being sacrificed.
BERGEN:
What rights are in danger?
RAHMANI:
Access to education, employment, not even the physical presence of women in the public sphere is not tolerated.
I have heard that one of the representatives of the Taliban in Herat was asked if women could work in the administration and in the judiciary, and he said, "Oh, that would be very difficult. Women could only work in education and in the health sector ".
So this is the mindset.
What the Taliban are going to offer women falls far short of equal citizenship.
There is little reason to think that anyone has citizenship rights under the Taliban, based on past experience.
But even so, women will be treated as a "lower class", deemed fit only for specific roles and nothing more.
Kabul women in Afghanistan