The international community has only a few weeks to save Afghanistan, a country of 39 million men, women and children, from a civil war which will have a deeper impact on some of the most populous regions in the world.

With the US abandoning its oft-stated goal of stabilising Afghanistan since September 2001, the Taliban, an ally of the al Qaeda, is ravaging through the war-ravaged country, revoking dread and disillusion among the people.

Towns and cities have been captured and brought under a brutal regimen which forbids women from walking alone, men from shaving off their beards and children from going to school.

Inch by inch, Afghanistan, which had risen from the ashes of war and destruction to a brighter future for its citizens, especially children, is being pushed back by a group of armed militants, supported by countries which have no interest in the welfare of the people. This must be stopped.

There are more compelling reasons to save Afghanistan today than 2001. Twenty years have seen a steady, if small, regeneration of hope and determination among the people of Afghanistan, especially the young, and women.

They were trying to put the past of war and subjugation behind them. Women breathed freely. They played and sang, and even dared to join a masculine sport like powerlifting. They set up shops, became architects and designers and teachers and doctors.

The young saw opportunities in rebuilding their country; they enjoyed good education, training and investment. These hopes will crash once the Taliban comes to power. A country of aspirations will revert to a barbaric state.

The Afghan leadership has been meeting and persuading world leaders to give them a chance to get their nation on rail. The US withdrawal cannot become the reason for the destruction of Afghanistan, and the tsunami of repercussions it will have for the security and order in the neighbourhood as well as the world.

The British and European governments must step in to fill the void, in terms of security, investment and political support, left behind by the US abandonment. Countries like Japan, Australia, Singapore and Canada have the wherewithal to support Afghanistan and they must.

The international community has a responsibility towards Afghan people, and to their own people who, not long ago, were afflicted with a wave of terrorism emanating from the Taliban-ruled Afgahnistan. The Taliban’s return will bring back terrorism of even a more virulent form-new actors, greater brutality and a wider and deeper fertile breeding ground of terrorism.

If Taliban is not stopped, the world must brace itself for the return of al Qaeda or a mutant form of global jihad. It could be worse than the onslaught of an epidemic. In fact, the rise of terrorism on the back of a raging epidemic could spell double disaster.

Most of the countries are struggling to cope up with the devastations of the epidemic. To deal with a resurgent global jihad could prove to be the last straw for many of these poorer nations.

It could also mean another greater challenge for the world to deal with in the coming months. This virus of terrorism can be stopped in its tracks if the world comes together to help the Afghan people to keep themselves free of the Taliban scourge.

Vanguard News Nigeria