Mako Comments on Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan
Shamiran Mako, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, commented on the Taliban’s usurpation of power in Afghanistan as part of an article in BU’s The Brink.
In the article, titled “In Afghanistan Crisis, Experts Say the United States Is Responsible for Holding the Taliban Accountable,” Mako states that the United States should not be surprised by the humanitarian crisis that has unfolded after President Biden’s announcement that US troops were withdrawing and the ensuing Taliban takeover of Kabul. She notes that the rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan has left those who allied with US susceptible to Taliban retaliation, and the same consideration being given to US embassy and military personnel should be given to the most vulnerable Afghans fearing for their future.
An excerpt:
Mako says, the United States did consider the implications its military withdrawal would pose for US embassy and military members – and it made effective plans to evacuate American personnel from the country. That same level of consideration should have been made for Afghan people, she says, by engaging with the United Nations, UNICEF, and allies in Europe and Canada to open up humanitarian corridors to allow for the most vulnerable Afghans to safely flee the country.
‘The US and its allied partners are losing leverage to provide humanitarian assistance inside the country, given the Taliban’s catastrophic takeover,’ Mako says.
The full article can be read on The Brink’s website.
Shamiran Mako is an assistant professor of international relations at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. She is also a member of the Graduate Faculty at the Political Science Department at Boston University. Her research explores the historical and contemporary drivers of inter and intra-state conflicts that produce weak and fragile states across the MENA region. She is the author of After the Uprisings: Progress and Stagnation in the Middle East and North Africa, with Valentine Moghadam (forthcoming June 2021). Read more about Professor Mako on her faculty profile.