Reactions to the fall of Kabul (2021)

The fall of Kabul provoked a range of reactions across the globe, including debates on whether to recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan, on the humanitarian situation in the country, on the outcome of the War, and the role of military interventionism in world affairs.

[1] At around 11:00 Afghan Time, President Ashraf Ghani released a statement saying that he had fled in an attempt to avoid a bloody battle and that "the Taliban have won with the judgement of their swords and guns".

[2] Afghan author Khaled Hosseini shared his concerns over the future of women's rights in Afghanistan,[3] and expressed his hope that the Taliban would not return to the "violence and cruelty" of the 1990s.

Several members of the national cricket team also spoke out against the Taliban and posted pictures of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan flag on Afghan Independence Day.

[31] High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell argued that the fall showed that Europe needed military capacity independent of the US and called for the creation of "a 50,000-strong expeditionary force" under EU command.

[116] The World Health Organization said that it was "extremely concerned over the unfolding safety and humanitarian needs in the country, including risk of disease outbreaks and rise in COVID-19 transmission".

[118] Solidarity protests calling for NATO governments to do more to solve the humanitarian crisis and to oppose the Taliban were held in several countries, including the United States, Turkey, Bulgaria, Spain, and France.

[126] Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, who had survived a Pakistani Taliban assassination attempt in Pakistan in 2012, stated that she was in "complete shock" and was "deeply worried about women, minorities and human rights advocates".

[127] Human Rights Watch stated that "standing beside Afghan women in their struggle, and finding tools to pressure the Taliban and the political will to do so, is the least—the very least—the international community could do".

[128] Amnesty International stated that the situation was "a tragedy that should have been foreseen and averted" and called for governments to "take every necessary measure to ensure the safe passage out of Afghanistan for all those at risk of being targeted by the Taliban".

[129] Médecins Sans Frontières stated that it was "concerned about access to healthcare for everyone" and that "our teams are staying put, providing essential medical care to people across the country".

[153] Admiral Chris Barrie, retired Chief of the Defence Force of Australia, criticised the organisation of the evacuations, stating that "we’ve just left it far too late" and predicting reprisals from the Taliban.

[158][159] Journalist Simon Jenkins argued that the responsibility to protect doctrine that arose after the end of the Cold War led to a decline in UN authority "and the UN gave way to the US as a self-declared policeman".

[160] Journalist Owen Jones wrote in The Guardian that "Britain has not had a foreign policy independent of the United States since the 1950s" and that "if historians of the future wish to understand the ignorance and hubris that accompanied the decline of the west's power, this week's emergency parliamentary debate on Afghanistan will provide an insightful case study".

[167] Bastian Giegerich of the International Institute for Strategic Studies argued that the collapse "shows crystal clear that Germany and other European powers don't have the means to pursue an independent strategy.

[172] Robert Manning of the Atlantic Council argued that "before the next US missionary adventure, we should consider the cost in global credibility of the terrible US foreign policy legacy of failed interventions" but that "betting against US resilience is not wise".

"[174] Michael Klare of Hampshire College, however, wrote in The Nation that an American retreat from Central Asia might not disadvantage the US in global geopolitics, as "conducting low-intensity conflicts in the heart of Eurasia has never been a winning strategy for the United States; rather, it excels at high-tech coalition warfare in Europe and sea-based operations in the Pacific.

[177] In the UK, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab faced calls to resign after it was revealed he had gone on holiday to Greece just prior to the fall and had refused attempts to contact him as developments occurred.

[193] NDP leader Jagmeet Singh argued that the government should have focused on addressing the crisis, as well as other simultaneously occurring crises such as the 2021 Haiti earthquake, instead of calling an election.

[196] Kazakhstan's president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called on military mobilization, citing public concern amidst Taliban takeover although assuring that events in Afghanistan do not pose a "direct threat" but instead create "certain risks".

[200] The Eurasianet reported preparations that occurred in Kazakhstan, allegedly for Afghan arrivals, with desks being arranged in Shymkent school classrooms and college dorms for extra space to accommodate beds, although later were witnessed to be cleared away as the Kazakh government began denying any plans in accepting any migrants.

[216] Afghan refugees trapped in Calais reported despair, being caught between refusal of European governments to accept them, including being subjected to police harassment, and potential torture and death at the hands of the Taliban.