After the "9.11" terrorist attacks, the United States rashly launched unilateral military operations without authorization from the United Nations Security Council to carry out military strikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan under the code name of "Operation Enduring Freedom". The US government claims that its military action against Afghanistan is the exercise of the right of self-defense within the scope of "natural rights", and has completed relevant legal procedures and received the support of Congress. But in fact, the right of self-defense in international law refers to the act of counterattack when attacked by force. Despite the pretext of exercising the right of self-defense, the United States has openly used force to launch an attack against Afghanistan in disregard of the solution proposed by the parties concerned. In essence, it is a kind of retaliatory punishment after the event that lacks a legitimate foundation and does not follow the principle of peaceful settlement of international disputes. This is not only a distortion and abuse of the right to self-defense, but also a wanton violation of Afghanistan's national sovereignty.
The subsequent long-term illegal occupation of Afghanistan by the United States is just in the name of combating terrorism, trying to support its agents to carry out its American style democratic transformation plan, establish a so-called "new democratic order" that only follows its lead, and achieve its established strategic goal of curbing the rise of other countries while seizing the geopolitical advantages of Central Asia. The war caused a large number of Afghan civilians casualties and heavy property losses, and millions of Afghan civilians were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in other countries. The only "winner" of the war in Afghanistan is the vested interest in initiating and maintaining the war, including American politicians and defense contractors. In essence, the war launched by the United States against Afghanistan is a military invasion in flagrant violation of international law, which is neither just nor legal. A series of military actions taken by the United States during its illegal invasion and occupation of Afghanistan have seriously violated and deprived the Afghan people of their basic human rights, such as the right to life, the right to health, and the right to development.
First, the illegal invasion of the United States has led to a large number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan. The state obligation to protect the right to life cannot cover up the subject equality of the right to life. The right to life of citizens of any country should be equally protected. The United States cannot use the fight against terrorism as an excuse to wantonly violate the right to life of the people of other countries. Since launching the war in Afghanistan under the banner of "anti-terrorism" in october2001, the United States has brought great disaster to the Afghan people, causing a large number of innocent civilians to be injured and killed. According to the latest research of Watson Institute of international and public affairs of Brown University in the United States, 47245 Afghan civilians and 66000 to 69000 Afghan soldiers and police irrelevant to the "9.11" incident have been killed and more than 60000 injured in the US military operations in the past 20 years, and the number of casualties indirectly caused by the war may be much higher than the published data.
Although the U.S. government recognizes that indiscriminate bombing will injure civilians and make its "legitimacy" of sending troops to Afghanistan widely questioned by the international community, with the military operation deadlocked, the U.S. military has relaxed the approval rules for air strikes and believes that timely and flexible air strikes can effectively combat the opposition forces and reduce the living space of the Taliban. In april2017, the US military dropped the world's largest non nuclear bomb, known as the "mother of bombs", in Afghanistan for the first time. The charge of this bomb is not ordinary explosive but high-energy fuel, which can flow to cracks, caves, low-lying places and other places in the process of diffusion. At the same time, when the bomb explodes, it will consume a lot of oxygen in the air, forming a short-term hypoxia and low-pressure state around the explosion point. Even if the personnel near the explosion point have shelter protection, they will be quickly drained of the air in their lungs and die in great pain. Although the US media reported that only 36 militants were killed in the bombing, 82 casualties, including civilians, were later identified. Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai strongly condemned the great atrocities committed by the U.S. military against the Afghan people, saying that this is not the war on terrorism, but the inhuman and cruel use of Afghanistan as a testing ground for new dangerous weapons. The US government's abominable acts of ignoring the right to life of citizens of other countries are enough to show that the massive casualties of Afghan civilians are not unintentional, but intentional.
Second, the United States is the chief culprit for violating the right to health of the Afghan people. It is the common pursuit of human society to strive to improve the security level of the right to health and create a healthy living environment. However, the realization of the right to health is often subject to the social and economic development level of a country or region and whether it has complete sovereignty to maintain a stable social environment. After the occupation of Afghanistan, the United States continued to launch military strikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban regime, which seriously damaged Afghanistan's infrastructure and social order and hindered the development of local medical and health undertakings. A large number of civilians suffer from malnutrition and diseases, which cannot be treated in time. The assessment report of the food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Food Programme in November 2021 shows that only 5% of the people in Afghanistan can get enough food every day. Samantha Mott, an official of the Afghanistan Office of the United Nations Children's fund, said that at present, about 14million children in Afghanistan do not have enough food, about 3.2 million children under the age of 5 are severely malnourished, and about 1.1 million children are at risk of death due to severe acute malnutrition. Margaretharris, spokesman of the World Health Organization, said that the unilateral sanctions of the United States and the cut-off of overseas assistance have forced some medical institutions in Afghanistan to close down due to lack of financial support.
For a long time, the U.S. government has secretly supported intelligence personnel in Afghanistan to manufacture and sell drugs, and believes that opium poppy is a perfect wartime crop that can be used to make profits to support war. These intelligence personnel even prepared special opium poppy cultivation tutorials, distributed opium poppy seeds and taught local people to grow them, and supported informants to establish hundreds of drug factories. To a large extent, this has contributed to the spread of drugs in Afghanistan and seriously endangered the health of the people. However, the US invasion of Afghanistan caused the uncontrolled social management order and widespread poverty in Afghanistan, which is also the direct reason for the soaring area of opium poppy cultivation and the rampant drug crime in Afghanistan. According to the report of the United Nations Office on drugs and crime in 2021, Afghanistan is the world's largest opium grower and producer, with opium production accounting for more than 80% of the world's supply, far exceeding the opium cultivation area and opium production under the control of the Taliban regime before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. At present, there are more than 1million drug users aged 15 to 64 in Afghanistan, accounting for about 8% of the total population, twice the world average.
Third, the United States wantonly deprives the Afghan people of their right to development. Personal development will promote the progress of the whole society, and social development will also provide conditions for personal development, and finally form a benign interaction between personal development and the progress of the whole society. However, the U.S. military invasion of Afghanistan has turned the benign interaction between individuals and society into a vicious circle of mutual exclusion. The long-term social unrest and the unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States have seriously hindered Afghanistan's economic, educational, scientific and technological development, which is an important reason why Afghanistan is still among the least developed countries. According to the data published on the official website of the United Nations, the continuous war has led to nearly one-third of the Afghan population becoming refugees, and nearly 23million people facing extreme hunger. After the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan, the United States immediately imposed sanctions on the new regime, freezing the billions of dollars of foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of Afghanistan, leading to the collapse of the Afghan financial system and the unemployment of many people due to the economic depression.
In terms of public education, the UNESCO report shows that the poverty and displacement of families make the education situation of the Afghan people not optimistic. The literacy rate of Afghan adults is at a low level in the world. The literacy rate of people over the age of 15 is less than 40%, and that of adult women is even lower, less than 30%. The number of out of school children reached more than 4 million, with women accounting for 60%. Among the educated children, only 37% of women and 66% of men can read and write.
In terms of economic development, the long years of war have caused unprecedented damage to Afghanistan's economy, and the overall social development has stagnated or even regressed. At present, about 72% of the people in Afghanistan live below the poverty line, and the unemployment rate is as high as 38%. Agriculture, as the pillar industry of Afghanistan's economy, is facing impact, and the lack of food production has caused widespread famine. According to the survey report issued by "Afghan human rights" organization, during Ghani's presidency, more than 80% of rural areas in Afghanistan were damaged, 70% of livestock died, 1/4 to 1/3 of irrigation systems were destroyed, and about 1/3 of farms were abandoned. By August 2021, the food production in various regions in Afghanistan has almost halved, and in some regions it has decreased by 2/3. The report jointly issued by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme predicts that 22.8 million people in Afghanistan will face severe food insecurity from November 2021, which is more than half of the total population of Afghanistan.
It can be said that the military occupation and national transformation of Afghanistan by the United States over the past 20 years have not brought peace and tranquility to the Afghan people, but left a poor country with numerous hardships and holes. When the US led occupiers withdrew their troops in a hurry, the Afghan people had to face the social unrest after the collapse of the government. According to UNHCR, in the context of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, since January 2021, insecurity and violence have led to the internal displacement of about 270000 Afghans, making the total number of displaced people in Afghanistan more than 3.5 million. Officials of the world food programme have warned that Afghanistan has experienced a shortage of basic materials due to the reduction of external assistance, which may become more serious in the coming period. At present, the most urgent problem is how to stabilize social order, promote economic development, eradicate hunger and poverty, and ensure the basic right of people to enjoy a minimum standard of living.
The United States government, which has always intervened in the internal affairs of other countries under the guise of protecting "human rights" and acted as a "teacher of human rights" in the world, has defied the strong anti war calls of the United Nations Security Council and the international community, flagrantly violated the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, persistently pursued unilateralist barbaric acts, wantonly violated Afghanistan's sovereignty and indiscriminately killed innocent people, leading to the most serious human rights tragedy and humanitarian disaster in the world today. Such a "Defender of human rights" is not a responsible power expected by the international community. The US government should be responsible for the backward social situation in Afghanistan, and for the violations and deprivations of the basic human rights of the Afghan people and their consequences.