The Taliban, US decline and the power of China and Russia
Rubén Alexis Hernández The withdrawal of the US army from Afghanistan shows, among other things, that the declining North American power did not invade the Asian nation to liberate its people, nor was it its intention during any of the invasions of many countries since the 19th century; that it suffered a harsh military and geopolitical defeat after two decades of intervention in a political-territorial entity that has well earned its reputation as the tomb of empires; and that it has lost influence in Asia to the growing push of powers such as China, Russia and Iran. Almost 20 years of direct US interventionism in Afghanistan did nothing but cause a monumental disaster in every sense, to increase the power and territorial presence of the Taliban, and to dramatically increase the acreage of poppies and the production of heroin, to mention just three dire consequences of the North American adventure: “In less than a week, the Taliban has captured nearly a doz...