[THREAD] A few thoughts on the below article and how the GCC and Saudi, in particular, should tread carefully when dealing with the situation in #Afghanistan … gulfif.org
It seems that we’ve come full circle, and seeing that the article was probably written before the collapse of the Afghan government, it didn’t account for how fast that was going to happen.
Let me say that, unlike the author, I think that the GCC should try and mitigate the effects of that situation on their homelands but should tread with caution when it comes to interfering in #Afghanistan proper …
This is especially true for #Saudi Arabia. A country that joined a US effort to remove the Soviets from #Afghanistan in the 80s, only to see the Americans completely disengage after that goal was achieved.
And despite numerous attempts by the Saudi government to outline the dangers of what was going on in #Afghanistan in the 90s and to highlight OBL’s terrorist activities, the US was simply uninterested in listening.
When Saudi first called OBL a terrorist, the Americans told them he was merely a “dissident.” That only started to change in 1998, after the US embassy bombings in Africa. That change was too little, too late.
Fast forward to 2001 and the 9/11 attacks and the aftermath on the region and Saudi Arabia in particular. Especially the reputational damage in the media and general population narrative when it came to its now-debunked role in that attack.
As if the US had no role leading up to those terrible events in 2001 when it cut and left #Afghanistan after it achieved its military objectives with the Soviets gone.
As I said, we’ve come full circle. And Saudi Arabia would do well to learn from past mistakes. The Americans have cut and left #Afghanistan yet again. And Saudi Arabia shouldn’t do anything that will leave it to deal with the consequences of that decision a second time.
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