The floodgates of hell are being opened slowly in Afghanistan. The bloodletting is about to start and prisons filled. The torturers are getting out their manuals. Now the suffering will begin. Sharia Law, so touted by the Taliban as the mainstay of their ambitions, can be, according to many sensible, rational people both Muslim and non-Muslim alike, incompatible with the ideals of democracy, human rights, freedom of thought, women's rights, LGBT rights, and banking. It's the equivalent of enshrining into American law the edicts in the Book of Leviticus.

The Taliban, having been allowed back in, will now seize the best houses and estates of the previous leaders and in the name of God, install themselves and their retinues, and wives and live comfortably enjoying their new found wealth and responsibilities. They will use their power to silence opposition and the media.They will require absolute obedience and of course they will quote the Quran to justify their decisions. Like the Bible, the Quran contains enough contradictions to last a lifetime. For the ordinary citizen the choice is either suffering in silence or death. Women must remain in the home. Outside they must be covered. Islamic fundamentalism in its true glory. Prepare for videos of women being stoned in pits for adultery, of executions for heresy, of hands being chopped off for stealing.

Abdul Baradar, a colleague of the infamous one eyed Omar, who founded the Taliban, will be the "go to man" in authority and has already been welcomed back into the country. Having been imprisoned in Pakistan as the behest of America, he was released at Trump's request so that he could partake in the so-called peace conference in Doha. Look at his photograph, particularly his eyes and mouth. He makes Iran's Ruhollah Khomeini, look positively friendly. Baradar will be out for revenge. Blood will be spilled in the name of Allah. Religion is capable of inspiring so much cruelty. Like our burning and torturing of heretics in the 16th century, it will be done to save the victims' souls and in the name of God.

So, another great colonial experiment gone wrong. Whether it's the nordic Anglo-Saxon instinct to colonize or the desire to demonstrate the superiority of Western political ideals and technology, we end up leaving in the end with our tail between our legs. Many lives have been lost and treasure wasted. The British in their heyday acquired an Empire on which the sun never set. Kabul still has its British cemetery where all that is left are the vandalized head stones of British soldiers from the failed war in 1870. But the seeds of democracy were planted there and across the globe and flourished. Some successful democracies like Singapore, India , Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan have emerged. Vietnam is now doing well. Perhaps we have planted seeds in Afghanistan which will yet flourish - a society ruled by laws voted for by the people. For the time being it's back to autocracy where the whims of an individual decide life and death and the lives of ordinary people play second fiddle to religious orthodoxy. Now we can only hope and pray and do our best to look after those who stood by us and hope that the United Nations will do something to mitigate the disaster.