Taliban’s Capture of Power in Afghanistan Despite the United States Huge Investment: Lessons to Sub-Saharan Africa in their Fight Against (ISWAP) and Other Extremists Groups

Abstract

The Taliban are a crusade of religious scholars (talib) from the Pashtun regions of eastern and southern Afghanistan who were cultured in traditional Islamic conservatories in Pakistan. Their capture of Afghan on the wee hour of 15^th August 2021 amidst US huge spending in last 20 years clearly sends a negative signal to global peace. From late 90s to year 2001, the Taliban held power over jaggedly three-quarters of Afghanistan, and imposed a strict clarification of Sharia, or Islamic law. The group became popular after 9/11 attacks in US, the attacks targeted World trade Centre and Pentagon all in United States. US alleged that Afghanistan were sheltering Osama Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda war lords linked to the September 11 attacks. In October 2001, Afghanistan recorded a heavy presence of US troop to oust Taliban. US troop to Afghanistan grew as White House poured in billions of dollars to fight a Taliban insurrection and fund rebuilding. As at August 15, 2021, US in the last 20 years spent about $2.26trillon dollars which is equivalent to $300million dollars per a day. The sub-Saharan African lacks such capital to fight terrorism in its region. Data form African Development bank shows that the continent is composed of low-income countries, lower-middle-income countries, upper-middle-income countries, and high-income countries, 20 of these countries are fragile or conflict-affected with either ISWAP (Islamic state west African Province) or other extremists like Boko Haram, Lord’s Resistance Army, al Qaeda, in West Africa, Sada al- Jihad. The continent also has 13 small states, characterized by a small population with limited human and material resources, and a cramped land area. Fighting terrorism remains an uphill task due to paucity of fund. The fund expended by the continent in the last 20 years cannot be compared with what US alone put in Taliban war in Afghanistan. This paper will try to examine if killing extremist leader amount to total defeat of terrorist group as we popularly celebrate such feat. This work will apply content analysis approach via secondary source of data to draw its inference and recommendation including among others includes; a free, fair and credible electoral processes void of external influence, equity and fairness in distributing the wealth of nations in sub-Saharan Africa. The work will be anchored on the linkages between organized crime and terrorism theoretical framework Makarenko model.