The Taliban say they will be a new, moderate ruling group in Afghanistan. United Nations officials and international experts say that seems unlikely.
With warnings of food shortages and a weakened economy, generous international aid enjoyed by the previous government will be sorely missed. The most important issue for Americans now is the ongoing evacuation.
Nancy Soderberg, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and current director of the Public Service Leadership Program at the University of North Florida, is concerned for the Afghan people as the Taliban takeover continues. She doesn’t believe Taliban claims of change.
“They’re saying they (women) could still go to school and work, but, in Sharia law, no one really knows what that means, but we know who the Taliban are,” Soderberg said. “They ruled Afghanistan in the 90s until 2001, were horrific. They beheaded people. They wouldn’t let women go to school or work -- they had to be at home, fully covered. Dancing was outlawed. Music was outlawed, and the country was just imploding.”
Implosion is one of the descriptions for what’s happened in the past two weeks when American troops withdrew. Now, evacuation of Americans and allies has produced images of chaos and tragedy.
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, born in Jacksonville, served in Afghanistan a decade ago.
“We look like we were not prepared. Something as important as policy for getting African interpreters out. You know, this is not normal emigration. This is a situation that we knew was coming, and we should have had those kind of policies in place already,” Hodges said.
U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott have called on the defense secretary to explain military equipment left behind in Afghanistan. They’re concerned it can fall into the hands of Taliban or their terrorist allies. They want a full account of that equipment.
News4Jax asked retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Joseph DiSalvo, who lives in Northeast Florida, about it.
“A couple of things. You have no option. With 20 years of training, assist and equip, that mission, there’s so much equipment there it’d be impossible to recollect it now,” DiSalvo said. “With all due respect to the senators, there’s no way in heck they’re going to be able to account for all equipment. It’s impossible.”
The Taliban, so far, have not given specifics on how they plan to lead other than to say they will be by Islamic law.