Hezbollah Chief Says Afghan Government’s Rapid Collapse Dispels Myth of US’ ‘Half God-like’ Status

The Afghan capital fell to the Sunni Islamist group on Sunday, less than two weeks after the Taliban began a series of offensives targeting urban areas, and almost exactly four months after US President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of American troops from the war-torn country after over 19 years of occupation.

Recent developments in Afghanistan will have “global repercussions," the dimensions of which the people of the Middle East should strive to understand, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has announced.

“The images [coming out of Afghanistan] are completely identical to the scenes of Saigon in Vietnam, they are a photocopy,” Nasrallah said, speaking in a broadcast of Lebanon’s al-Manar TV on Tuesday night.

“Listen to [Joe] Biden, listen to the secretary of state, listen to the national security advisor, because now they have to explain this to the American people. The American people are astonished by what happened, by this humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan…[US officials] can really help us understand the strategic defeat and this failure of NATO in Afghanistan,” Nasrallah added.

PHOTO 1: US diplomat evacuate US from embassy via helicopter as the #Taliban enter #Kabul from all sides. #Afghanistan (2021)

PHOTO 2: US diplomat evacuate US from embassy via helicopter as the PAVN & Viet Cong capture of Saigon, Vietnam (1975) pic.twitter.com/YamWmzjOay

— Stefan Simanowitz (@StefSimanowitz) August 15, 2021

Commenting on President Biden’s recent statement that the speed of the Afghan government’s collapse was a surprise even for Washington, Nasrallah suggested that it shows “to those people who say that America is a half-god, that it’s all-seeing and that it can do anything that it wants” that this perception is just a mirage. “No, this America that you’re seeing in the region – it is ignorant, it is incapable, they continue to repeat the same mistakes, they continue to make the same wrong practices over and over again,” he said.

On Monday, Biden admitted that the pro-US government’s “rapid” collapse “did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated.”

In his remarks, Nasrallah recalled that the US had spent over $1 trillion in Afghanistan, but has been forced to leave the country “empty-handed. They left with nothing, they left humiliated and in shame. In their media and international media this is an example of failure, it’s an example of ignorance, it’s an example of foolishness.”

“The Americans removed equipment and even the sniffer dogs, from Afghanistan, but they did not take out those who worked with them,” Nasrallah added. “Biden said that it is not the Americans’ duty to fight for anyone. This is a message to those who are waiting for him to fight on their behalf,” he suggested.

Founded in 1985 to resist the Israeli occupation of Lebanon, Hezbollah has been a major political and military force in the country ever since, and has engaged Tel Aviv in multiple skirmishes and major battles. The US and its allies designate Hezbollah a terrorist group, but a range of other countries, including Syria, Iran, China, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela and others consider the group as a legitimate sociopolitical organisation.