Roshni Ahmed and Seelai Karzai

“America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on earth, inspiring the awe and admiration of the entire world,” Trump claimed at his second inaugural address this past January. But many impacted by the injustices of the United States share a different reality.

America touts itself as the blueprint for democracy and freedom, but simultaneously engages in anti-democratic practices both at home and abroad. We often divorce domestic and international issues, neglecting to remember that America’s existence as an imperial power is deeply connected to the outcome of people both within and outside the U.S. For example, despite a majority of Americans calling for an end to the genocide in Palestine, U.S. political leaders have not made any material shift in supplying Israel with military weapons. This egregious stain on humanity reminds us of the U.S.’s long legacy of violent and inhumane policies in many parts of the world, including in Muslim-majority countries.

With Trump inheriting the reins of the so-called “Global War on Terror” yet again, this new era lifts all facades of the U.S. as a beacon of freedom and democracy, as Trump’s fascist policies reach people at home and globally. From reinstating a travel ban against foreign nationals in certain countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, and Syria, to expanding immigration customs enforcement operations, Trump 2.0 has accelerated America’s white supremacist and imperialist project.

The Afghan people are keenly aware of this legacy: the 20-year war in Afghanistan was never going to be a lasting solution for democracy, freedom, and equality. Moreover, with Trump’s Executive Order to pause the U.S. Refugee Admission Program, vulnerable Afghans and those who were allies of the U.S are now being denied safety.

Trump shared his many plans for his presidency, including scrutinizing the Biden Administration’s horrific withdrawal process from Afghanistan in 2021. Currently, the Taliban is only formally recognized by Russia, and not by the U.S. The Taliban hopes this can change with this new administration.

We are already seeing the impacts of this administration’s new policies for Afghans in the U.S. and in Afghanistan. Regardless of how Trump’s approach shifts in terms of U.S.-Afghan relations, pushing back against American militarism and imperialism must remain at the forefront of our advocacy.

The War on Terror

American mainstream narratives purposefully erase the history of U.S. foreign relations and interventions. This is precisely why we must examine the relationships between the U.S. and those our government chooses to label ‘adversaries or allies.’ On paper, the “War on Terror” began the moment the Twin Towers were struck by planes hijacked by members of Al-Qaeda. Yet the conflict between Osama bin Laden and the United States long preceded the 9/11 attacks.

Propaganda infused with the intentional manufacturing of ignorance has meant that many Americans are not aware of the history of the U.S.’s relationship with bin Laden, and how he was once considered a key ally in efforts to quell the Soviet influence on Afghanistan in the 1980s.

In fact, the CIA provided direct financial assistance to bin Laden and the mujahideen – some of whom would later form the Taliban. In 1988, Al-Qaeda was designated as a terrorist organization by the United States when it was based in Afghanistan. This overt, public distancing from Al-Qaeda had its roots in a broader imperial agenda the U.S. was carrying out. Over time, the war crimes that America and its allies committed in other parts of the world, including Palestine, Lebanon, and Kashmir, incensed bin Laden, laying the groundwork for future confrontations.

In the moments after the attack on 9/11, a narrative about terrorism and enemies of the U.S. began to form, with a feverish intensity. The proxy wars fought in Afghanistan and Pakistan invariably led to the expansion of military force, surveillance, and the erosion of civil liberties. U.S. Congress immediately authorized several pieces of legislation that have exposed the two-facedness of their outwardly “anti-terrorist” narrative: the U.S. Patriot Act and the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).

These two pieces of legislation display the contradictions of America parading itself as the land of the free, while employing military intervention to bring its faux democracy to other countries, and simultaneously stripping Americans of their civil liberties and rights.

U.S Intervention in Afghanistan

With the Authorization for Use of Military Force in its back pocket, the United States initiated its invasion of Afghanistan on October 7th, 2001. Under the guise of responding to the 9/11 attacks and to oust the Taliban (an enemy the U.S. created in the first place) from authority, this military response quickly evolved into a state-building and ‘democracy-building’ mission.

The initial motivation for the intervention in Afghanistan was by no means altruistic or to liberate the Afghan people, and women in particular. American officials have been outspoken about how this invasion was about asserting military force in a country that the U.S. felt threatened by, due to the presence of the Taliban and their manufactured connection to Al Qaeda. In fact, the United States Institute of Peace shared how the U.S. was actually “fixated on a purely military solution, to the neglect of a political solution.”

Bush’s remarks at a Press Conference in 2004 highlighted this hypocrisy even further. He says: “The world and the United States stand with [the people of Afghanistan] as partners in their quest for peace and prosperity and stability and democracy.”

The U.S. government relied on harmful, racist, and anti-Muslim narratives to advance its goal. This was not merely the start, but rather a continuation of dehumanizing tropes of Afghan and Muslim men, represented by stereotypes to paint them as barbaric and terrorists. This messaging was successful in spurring Islamophobic rhetoric in America and ultimately driving support for wars conducted in the name of ‘anti-terrorism and homeland security.’

Twenty years of occupation left Afghanistan devastated. Brown University’s Cost of War project estimates that 243,000 people were killed in the Afghanistan and Pakistan war zone. The U.S. spent $2.3 trillion on a war that has left Afghanistan in economic turmoil, gender apartheid, and a grave humanitarian crisis after the disastrous withdrawal process in 2021. The total cost of war in the past 20 years was $8.04 trillion. The government claims it is unable to fund necessities such as education, healthcare, and housing for its own people. Still, it has an endless budget for killing Black and brown bodies to serve its imperial goals.

Connecting the U.S. nation-building project in Afghanistan and other military interventions to domestic policies reminds us that our struggles are intertwined. Militarism, policing, and incarceration, whether in the U.S. or elsewhere, will always infringe on fundamental human rights and stifle opportunities for true democracy.

Resisting U.S.-Imposed ‘Democracy‘

When a people are engaged in a democratic form of government, they do so with the desire to have a say in how they are governed. Democracy has been understood as a system in which the people directly govern or are involved in decision-making processes that are then executed by the state or governing body.

Our notions of democracy have also been viewed through a Western perspective, and countries like the United States have constructed themselves as being the most actual embodiment of democracy. The U.S. political system was established as a representative democracy, at least on paper – its origins and structure ultimately ensure that the owners of private property have the final say through mechanisms like the Supreme Court, which “interprets” the Constitution – a document created to protect the rights of private property owners.

In the context of Afghanistan, Afghans shared reservations about participating in a “democracy” imposed by the U.S. and other Afghan leaders, whom Afghans felt were already corrupt power holders. In 2001, during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, international actors and the U.S. collaborated to create a transitional and interim government headed by leader Hamid Karzai.

Investments in development projects led to an increase in women’s enrollment in school and other promising markers of equality, but how can national building, justice, and equity be meaningfully sustained when an imperial agenda coerces them?

In speaking with Afghans who were most directly impacted by the U.S. withdrawal in 2021, it’s also clear that they continue to embody the values of democracy – outside the realm of U.S. influence – that they hope to bring with them into the future. One woman who was evacuated from Afghanistan in August 2021, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said democracy meant “freedom of speech, of work, the freedom to criticize, to earn an education.” For her, when the U.S. initially invaded Afghanistan, there was a minimal, if any, grassroots movement to convince traditional, conservative people to accept democratic ideas, as imposed by U.S. diplomacy.

For the anonymous evacuee, the instigating push to get involved in acting on their rights after 2001 was “the situation of Afghanistan itself: the way families were living, with days getting worse after decades of war. They knew how important systemic change is to their lives.”

However, in a country as diverse and populous as Afghanistan, the application of democratic processes has had varying levels of success. The 2014 elections in Afghanistan led to a second run-off vote, a situation that was met with widespread disillusionment. Then U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry intervened and negotiated a national unity government between the leading candidates- an outcome that Afghans did not vote for.

Many Afghans were understandably disappointed by these results. The evacuee we spoke with reflected on this moment: “If the U.S. believed in democracy, they would have allowed it to practice there [in Afghanistan].”

The disillusionment of Afghans, a population comprised of diverse ethnic backgrounds and identities, coupled with a lack of stability in the economy after decades of war and civil strife, serves as a reminder that winning “hearts and minds” as a neocolonial, global policing mindset will never account for genuine peacebuilding or authentic democracy.

Domestic Failures of U.S. ‘Democracy’

Even the U.S. is not definitively characterized as a true democracy, but rather an oligarchy. A system in which a few political and corporate elites dictate U.S. policy and prioritize profit for corporations over people’s well-being. While the U.S. government continues to fund militarism and incarceration, Americans are left without a social safety net and have had to fend for themselves during natural disasters over the past several months.

For example, not only were many American cities ill-prepared for these disasters, but communities were also calling on the federal government to return to session to approve more funding for FEMA last September. The Institute of Middle Eastern Understanding observed the irony that FEMA was facing a $9 billion deficit, the same day that the U.S. government sent $8.7 billion in military funding to Israel.

Trump and the right used this as an opportunity to falsely demonize migrants as the reason for this shortfall, while spending trillions on war, using immigrants as political bargaining chips, and neglecting the urgent needs of the people. This shows us how U.S. policy, regardless of who is on the receiving end, is inhumane – and rooted in the continuation of its imperialist agenda of destabilization, domination, and global market control.

Additionally, this administration has indefinitely suspended refugee and asylum seeker admissions to the United States through an Executive Order, citing that “entry into the United States of refugees under the USRAP would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.” This exclusionary policy ignores the fact that the United States created such refugees in the first place.

Aftermath Since 2021

We have witnessed, though, how, regardless of political party, the U.S. has failed the Afghan people. When the Doha Accord negotiations with the Taliban were underway under the first Trump administration in 2020, the presence of civil society at the bargaining table was virtually nonexistent. This was deeply concerning for all those involved in grassroots movements, especially the Afghan people of conscience.

The lack of involvement showed, yet again, that every day Afghan perspectives were not valued in the peacemaking process, even on an international diplomatic level. With no Afghan women present in the talks, the Doha process was flawed from the outset.

In 2021, the Biden administration also failed to adequately plan for the removal of the U.S. military presence from Afghanistan and ensure a peaceful transition of power. In the aftermath of the U.S./NATO withdrawal more than four years ago, the Taliban have regained power in Afghanistan.

Although the group initially claimed it would uphold the principles of democracy and human rights, its many edicts and decrees have since made clear that women’s rights to education, public assembly, free speech, and other fundamental freedoms are incompatible with its vision of governance.

Now, one of the many executive orders as soon as Trump took office included an order to “Reevaluate and Realign United States Foreign Aid.” This order initially called for a 90-day suspension of all foreign development assistance programs, including the suspension of foreign aid to Afghanistan, with only limited exceptions for emergency food aid.

Just a few days after this action, 50 charities partially paused their operations in Afghanistan. The impact of this policy cannot be understated, as the U.S. had been the most significant humanitarian donor through USAID programs, despite a decrease in aid ever since the withdrawal in 2021. With over half the population, 23 million people, entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance, this will have dire consequences for Afghans who continue to face poverty amid an ongoing economic crisis. This is yet another consequence of imperialism – dependency on the imperialist occupier for basic resources and functions. Imperialists, at a moment’s notice, can reshuffle their priorities and send thousands of people into crisis.

Furthermore, Afghan evacuees who were brought to the United States continue to face legal uncertainty, as DHS announced the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghanistan as of July 2025. The decision impacts 11,000 Afghans with TPS, and it has a chilling effect on the protections they should be guaranteed. Afghans in the U.S. require legal and material support as they rebuild their lives here, which is the least they are owed, given the grim possibilities of real accountability.

Afghans continue to face multiple displacements, from Iran to Pakistan, after having lived there for decades, and extremely precarious economic conditions inside Afghanistan. We must vocally support and amplify their struggles to undo the damage of gender apartheid and a human-made crisis in Afghanistan.

Conclusion

With such a dark blueprint, we cannot simply rely on our elected officials to have the political will to do better in the present moment and near future. It is not enough to oppose one right-wing presidency, as U.S. militarism has existed across party lines since America’s inception.

The foundations of the government’s increasingly fascist surveillance and heightened state repression have always existed for marginalized communities. It has been further exacerbated through the war on terror. Our solidarity and resistance to those impacted by our government’s complicity in genocide, war, and mass incarceration must remain unwavering. Communities whose blood has been shed at the hands of U.S. bombs funded by our taxpayer dollars, currently and over the past several decades, may never be humanized or memorialized. Still, their martyrdom must not be in vain.

As we reflect on the breadth of what it means to flourish under a true democracy, as envisioned by the people, whether in Afghanistan, the U.S., or elsewhere, there are inspiring examples of people fighting for that future. From Afghan women’s rights activists resisting their erasure by the Taliban, to the Afghan community in the U.S. sponsoring and organizing networks for resettlement, to students calling for divestment, and workers striking across the world to end the genocide in Gaza, the people’s hope, imagination, and vision for the future must propel us forward.

This presidency marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing struggle for freedom, dignity, and justice for people everywhere.

Roshni Ahmed is an organizer, writer and full-spectrum doula committed to a free Palestine, immigrant justice and liberation for all. As a Narrative and Political Education Fellow with the Muslim Counterpublics Lab, she focuses on narratives to challenge the war on terror and Islamophobia.

Seelai Karzai is a poet, cultural organizer, and refugee advocate from Queens, New York. A member of the Afghan American Artists and Writers Association, her work has appeared in The Massachusetts Review, Northwest Review, as well as in the New Moons anthology edited by Kazim Ali and published by Red Hen Press. She is co-editor, with Sahar Muradi, of Writing Afghan Lives Beyond the Forever War: An Anthology of Writing from Afghanistan and its Diaspora. Seelai earned an MFA from the University of Oregon.