Qatari Government-Owned Daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi Mocks U.S.: It Wanted To Overthrow The Taliban And Now It Has To Rely On Its Help; U.S. Is Responsible For Emergence Of ISIS

In the days since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, the London-based Qatari daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi published several editorials slamming the U.S., mocking its “failure” despite its status as a “global superpower,” and attacking its invasion of the country 20 years ago.

One of the editorials states that the withdrawal from Afghanistan included scenes of failure, humiliation, defeat, destruction and despair, and that the U.S., which invaded the country to overthrow the Taliban rule there, and paid a heavy price in both money and lives, is now forced to recognize the Taliban rule and even rely on its help. The article notes in contempt that the last of the U.S. troops will leave Afghanistan just a few days before the 20^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which were the “excuse” for the invasion of the country. It also notes with satisfaction that the U.S. presidents, past and present, who were responsible for the war in Afghanistan have been forced to witness the scenes of failure and humiliation in Kabul, and called on the U.S. to realize that invasions never last and end up harming the invaders.

Another editorial addresses the severe suicide attack perpetrated by ISIS in Kabul airport on August 26, 2021, in which 13 Americans and 170 Afghans were killed, saying that the U.S. is responsible for the emergence of ISIS in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in other countries.

Contempt for the U.S. was also expressed in cartoons published in the daily and in other Qatari papers, which showed it fleeing from Afghanistan in defeat or kicked out by the Taliban.

It should be noted that Qatar, which presents itself as a fair and neutral intermediary between the Taliban and the U.S., effectively supports the Taliban and other terror movements, and has hosted Taliban leaders on its soil in recent years. Following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, many regional players sponsored by Qatar – including Hamas leaders, the MB and reporters  for the Al-Jazeera channel – have expressed satisfaction over the “American defeat” and praised the path of jihad. [1] 

The Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily is owned by the Qatari regime. It was purchased in 2013 from its previous owner, journalist ‘Abd Al-Bari Al-Atwan, by the Qatari Emir (then crown prince), one month before he assumed the throne.[2]

Taliban booting U.S. out of Afghanistan (Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Qatar, September 2, 2021) 

The following are translated excerpts from two Al-Quds Al-Arabi editorials.  

After Countless Casualties, U.S. Has Left Afghanistan In Fear, Is Compelled To Recognize Taliban Rule

Al-Quds Al-Arabi’s September 1, 2021 editorial said: “The images that came out of Kabul airport after the withdrawal of the U.S. troops did not look like a [fitting] end to America’s 20-year ‘war on terror.’ They looked more like surreal scenes of ruin, destruction and failure… [left behind] by an invading superpower that has withdrawn in haste and confusion…  

"That world superpower caused much bloodshed: 75 thousand  members of the Afghan military and police, 71 thousand Afghan civilians, and 3,500 members of the U.S. forces and of the armies of 42 foreign countries [were killed]. It also [paid] as a steep material price: about 822 billion dollars in military gear, and the results were very poor, proving that [its plot] ended up backfiring. [The U.S.] invaded Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban and withdrew after handing it back to them."    

Historical Irony: The Last U.S. Soldiers Will Leave Afghanistan Just Before 9/11

“Paradoxically, history arranged for the last invading American soldier to leave [Afghanistan] just a few days before the 20^th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks… which were the first excuse used by former U.S. president George W. Bush to invade Afghanistan… History also wanted the four U.S. presidents responsible for America’s longest war –George W. Bush, Barak Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden – to see with their own eyes the scenes... of humiliation, withdrawal, despair and bloodshed [that took place] at Kabul airport after the capital fell to the Taliban and the [Afghan] president, Ashraf Ghani, fled…”

The Lesson To Be Drawn From The U.S. Withdrawal: Foreign Invasions Don’t Last, And End Up Harming The Invaders

“The first lesson [to be drawn] from this bloodshed and this wretched outcome [in Afghanistan] is that no foreign invasion lasts long… and that [an invasion] can have [negative] effects on the invaders themselves and hurt them more than the victims of the invasion… The near future will tell if the world superpower has reexamined its illusions in light of the defeats and failures so as to avoid repeating its past [mistakes], or whether the arrogance of the ‘world’s policeman’ will persist in the minds of this or that administration, cementing the ideology of military intervention, invasion and subjugation.

“It was the Republican president [George] W. Bush who began the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, and another Republican president, Trump, who officially recognized the movement 19 years later. A Democratic president, [Barack] Obama, was the first who promised to withdraw [from Afghanistan], and [another] Democratic president, Biden, completed this withdrawal. This means that there is no essential difference between the two parties in terms of spreading illusions about the invasion and attempting to whitewash it.

“The gist of the lesson is that the resident of the White House, either the present one or his successor, will have to deal with the outcome [in Afghanistan] by [cooperating with] the Taliban rule – the very same rule that [the U.S.] considered to be the root of the illness and which it now sees is the key to the cure.”[3]

Cartoons in Qatari dailies show last U.S. soldier leaving Afghanistan:

 
(Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Qatar, September 2, 2021)

(Al-Watan, September 1, 2021; the bag says “defeat” in Arabic)

The U.S. Responsible For Advent Of ISIS In Iraq, Afghanistan

An editorial published August 27, 2021, in the wake of the ISIS terror attack in Kabul airport, said: “The U.S. Department of Defense described the events that took place in Kabul the other day as the ‘gravest’ attacks on its troops since the [Taliban’s] downing of the [U.S.] helicopter in August 2011. It is no coincidence that in the very same year… the Taliban left their strongholds and started approaching the capital, Kabul.

“The U.S. administration and its military forces continued to make the same mistake, which they would eventually be forced to admit. After exacting a heavy price from the Afghans, and after the U.S. itself and its allies lost thousands of troops and billions [of dollars], it eventually decided to withdraw [from Afghanistan], at the cost of further humiliation. After all this, it also sustained a severe military blow [i.e., the ISIS attack in Kabul], which placed President Joe Biden and his administration in a new crisis that may push him to [decide on further] military operations, and who knows where it will end. It should be mentioned that ‘ISIS in Khorasan,’ which carried out the latest attacks against civilians,  U.S. troops and the Taliban operatives [in Kabul airport] did not exist [in 2011] because it emerged only in 2013.

“It is not too great an exaggeration to blame [the emergence of ISIS] on the policy of the U.S., which decided, in response to the 9/11 attacks, to occupy Afghanistan and later Iraq… [It was] the ramifications of the U.S. takeover of Iraq that led to the establishment of the ‘Islamic State’ organization, which captured Mosul in an blitz attack and later took over large parts of Syria, threatened the countries of the region and became a magnet and an inspiration for armed Salafi groups that raised its flag in Asia and Africa and perpetrated terror attacks all over the world under the influence of its ideology. Among these organizations is [ISIS] in Khorasan, which surpasses the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and all the organizations that preceded it in violence and in open warfare against the entire world…

“We should also look to history, [and see] what became of [America’s] failed attempt to turn Iraq into Afghanistan: the leaders of armed Afghan groups declared their loyalty to an organization that was had been founded in an Arab country occupied by the U.S. [i.e., pledged loyalty to ISIS, which had been founded in Iraq], 12 years after Iraq was strangely included in America’s revenge for the [9/11] attacks, which were blamed on the [Al-Qaeda] organization, founded by [Osama Bin Laden], a Saudi of Yemeni origin who lived in Afghanistan, and this despite the fact that the Taliban agreed at the time to put him on trial on their soil…”[4]

Cartoon in Qatari daily: The Taliban iceberg sinks the U.S. (Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Qatar, September 4, 2021)