Great upheaval is taking place in India’s neighbourhood. The United States is leaving Afghanistan, with the final date for total withdrawal set for September 11, 2021. This week, US troops vacated the Bagram base near Kabul, their de facto operational HQ in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years. They did not even alert the Afghan military. In the middle of the night, US troops simply packed up and left. In the morning, when local people began scavenging and looting the base for whatever was left lying around, the Afghan government came to know.
That’s liberal America, trusted savior of democracy around the world.
Meanwhile, the Taliban is already in control of one-quarter of Afghanistan. In the last few weeks, the shabbily armed Afghan military, low on morale and abandoned by Americans, has surrendered to the Taliban in droves. Several thousand Afghan forces crossed the border into Tajikistan, seeking refuge. All across the country, the victorious Taliban are closing in. US intelligence estimates that they will take Kabul within six months or less.
And here, from yesterday, is Joseph R Biden, the President of the United States and ‘leader of the free world’.
Yes, the official stance of the liberal American government is that they can trust the Afghan military to defeat the Taliban. Never mind that their own intelligence estimates say that the Afghan government won’t last another six months. The President doesn’t trust the Taliban (nor his own US intelligence) but he is leaving the country to them. Or maybe he isn’t. If you could not follow that, you are asking a silly question.
And notice how he does not say whether the US will be responsible for civilian deaths in Afghanistan after the Taliban takes over. He clarifies that later when pressed on the issue.
He said NO. Four times in quick succession. No, the US doesn’t know what will happen in Afghanistan. Even though they know. They are not responsible for what the Taliban does to innocent people abandoned by the US. Because the US doesn’t care. Is it clear now?
But I am not American, so who am I to comment on this? Maybe, but when a large section of the Indian elite is looking at this liberal American administration to overrule our democratically elected Indian government, it is kind of my business too. So you’re telling me that the liberal American government will just leave their allies to die at the hands of the Taliban? And I am supposed to believe that the same liberal American administration is sitting in Washington DC, worried sick about humanitarian causes and civil liberties in India?
They are worried about Modi’s BJP but not about the Taliban? Seriously?
Excuse me for knowing history, but it is the Americans who went into Afghanistan, promising freedom and democracy. They rallied the Afghans to fight the Taliban. And now that America is bored, they just pack up and leave? Can you imagine the bloody revenge that the Taliban will now extract on innocent Afghan civilians? But the President says America is not responsible for that. They don’t care.
So let me get this straight. The American establishment chooses a country at random and decides to “reform” it, like a child picking up a toy. The powerful American military, political and academic establishment cheers the intervention. One day they toss their toy away.
Right now, India is their obsession. The American liberals have decided that India needs “reform.” We have fallen short of the highest ideals of freedom and democracy. We need to be improved. The New York Times and the Washington Post have informed their readers. India is a bad country run by an evil regime. India needs change. Their sponsored academics and activists all agree. India needs “change.”
No, America is not going to invade India. Mostly because it makes no sense. Because they already have people at every level in India already willing to do their bidding. They just need to ramp up the ecosystem support, financial or otherwise, to subversive elements in India.
Remember how Indian liberals accuse the BJP of being “Hindu Taliban”? Now you see what the idea was. It was a dog whistle to America. Come and intervene, because we are ready to do your dirty work.
This is how an innocent Indian wearing a Hanuman T-shirt gets featured in global newspapers as a potential terrorist. Have you seen the sudden curiosity with which the New York Times, Washington Post, BBC and others are picking apart even the tiniest aspects of Indian life and putting a spin on them? Someone alleged that sarees could be a sign of Hindu fundamentalism. Another said that Indians referring to their own country as “Bharat” is a way to hide majoritarian Nazi designs from the world community. Even in London, Vice News found that immigrants Southall (unofficially called “Little India”) are “incubating” the virus!
In other words, if you find yourself anywhere near an Indian, just run. The world needs to be in a state of panic. Because Indians are bad. And there are lots of them. If Indians look like harmless, common people, that’s just an illusion. Because Indians are very good at living double lives. For example, it may appear that Indians go to the voting booths and freely choose their leaders, but they actually don’t. India is an “electoral autocracy.” If that sounds like a contradiction in terms, that is just because you don’t understand how evil and duplicitous Indians actually are.
So how can the world stay silent? How can the Prime Minister of Canada or the New York Times or Rihanna be silent even as India hits innocent farmers with water cannons?
Why would America care about what the Taliban does to dissenters in Afghanistan? Does the Taliban use water cannons? I can bet you they don’t. So why bother?
So, dear average Indian, get ready. It’s your lucky day because the liberal American establishment has chosen you for reform. It is time to abandon your miserable existence under India’s electoral autocracy. The New York Times is here because they love us. It is time to give ourselves up and embrace the universal love that is on offer from the liberal American establishment. It’s not going to hurt at all. It’s just reform.
