Zarifa Gharifi

FT: Ghafari is scathing about the 20 years of US intervention. “It was not a ‘war on terror’. It was war to produce more terrorism,” she says. “They [US forces] destroyed entire villages. And if you asked, they would say, ‘There was one or two Taliban.’” In Afghanistan’s perennial woes she sees the traces of constant foreign interference. She describes Washington’s Afghan policy since the Soviet Union invaded the country in 1979 as “the game”. It consists of pitting ethnic tribes and local warlords against one another, she says, and culminated in Donald Trump’s deal with the Taliban in February 2020 ahead of a US withdrawal. “We were so hopeful. And then once again the Taliban rose and they signed a deal with the Taliban. They sold Afghanistan to the Taliban.” Click here to read more (external link).