Using GIS To Understand The Taliban Take Over.
It shocked the world as nobody saw it coming, the Taliban launched an attack and took only two months to capture the capital city of Kabul on the 15 of August 2021. The Afghan army which was thought to be well trained and equip by the International Community did not even put up a resistance. The military offensive began on May 15 2021 soon after the US Army withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years of military intervention. City by city, the Taliban started gaining ground and in due time, they were in power.
Earth imagery and GIS mapping can help you understand how this great ordeal occurred. From the time the military offensive began until the city of Kabul fell, one can see how the Taliban gained hold. They were very strategic and calculated in their approach.
The two maps illustrate how the Taliban were aggressive in their take over of Afghanistan, the operation was swift once the US army departed. In just under a month there were no more government-held areas as the second map points out.
This also highlights the inefficiency of the Afghan government as they just watch as all of this unfolded. After 20 years of being financed and train by the International community, it was expected they would have at least put up a brave fight, but that was not the case.
MAPPING THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
his in turn has caused a humanitarian crisis, as the info-graphic map shows almost 600,000 afghans are now internally displaced, a majority of them women and children. Analysts are predicting another refugee spill over to Turkey and Europe like the one witnessed in 2015 due to the Syrian war.
Food insecurity is another factor that the Afghans have to deal with as many provinces are on the brink of famine or have a chance of experiencing high food insecurity levels as map two shows. Many provinces are either at the emergency or crisis level.
GIS is playing an important role in helping one understand the conflict and its dynamics by extracting meaningful information such as info-graphics. However, let us hope that the Taliban situation will get better as the Afghan people deserve to leave in peace.
