Leaving Afghanistan Was A Failure
Dear Editor,
Afghanistan is neither our longest nor our costliest conflict. We have historically lost much more, over longer periods of time and for so much less. In World War II, 407,316 US service members died after Japan attacked a naval base in what was, at the time, a US territory 2,500 miles away. America suffered 54,260 and 47,434 casualties in Korea and Vietnam respectively to contain communism. We have continued financially burdensome military presence in Europe, Japan, Korea and Kuwait. We have remained actively postured for war at any moment in Korea for 70 years. In 20 years, only 2,455 US military died in Afghanistan after an attack on US soil.
During Afghanistan withdrawal hearings, several elected officials defended pulling out of the lengthy, costly “never-ending” war. The Taliban government aided killing 3,000 US civilians within our border. At the center of those terrorist’s ideology was a racist demonization of westerners. They despised our culture, racial integration and religious tolerance to the point that our lives meant nothing. What is the point of a military when we lack the patience to defend our citizens from foreign attack?
Certainly, the decision when to leave or whether to stay was difficult three months ago. In hindsight this was a monumental mistake. Hopefully, the Taliban retaking Afghanistan will be the worst consequence. Hope is a dangerous strategy. We signaled failure to bring the war to the terrorists. This was an enormous morale boost and political win for terrorism supporters. The global environment greatly shifted. Since intelligence failed leading up to the withdrawal, when we had boots on ground, it will logically worsen after departing the region. Naive dependence on the same intelligence is insane. Ignoring this shift and depending on previously failed intelligence will undoubtedly be disastrous. In light of these changes, we need to reevaluate our antiterrorism defenses. Now more than ever, we must secure the border.
We left Afghanistan, while terrorists continue the war.
Alan Burke
I agree with you Alan, but who in our current administration or military is going to do so? We have quickly become an international laughingstock that has failed our allies, our men and women in uniform and have put our citizens at great risk. Anyone who believes that so called “domestic terrorists” are out real concern rather than the Taliban, Isis and all the other fundamentalist nuts in the world needs to have their head examined. Our country is in a terrible state of affairs. Washington needs to be cleaned out from top to bottom and the country should be run by citizen politicians, not life-long professional politicians who are so far detached from reality that they no longer have the capacity to be leaders.
No to some recommendations in America for improvements .the first improvement is to vote out all Democrats.They have lost their way and want to stay in power from now on.They think that they are overrunning the US with an underclass that will vote for them .Hence Haitians,central Americans ,and parts west and east for any prisoners from any country in the world.Like when Cater was Pres.Cuba let all prisoners out to come to America.Joe Bide n has to be getting a kickback from the Mexicans coyotes who have become billionaires .They are Getty money from every illegal that crosses our border,and look at the drugs coming from China and crossing our border.At least 50-60,000 young people are dying from these drugs.Does it seem that the Democrats care-NO.
The idiotic, disastrous idea that one could build a nation that has had a tribal society for centuries. over 70% of the population illiterate , graft, corruption, and bribes are the only mechanism to get anything done should have ruled out any notion of nation building. In addition the only commodity they had was poppy and the lack of any structure of a civil society should have deterred the Neo Con morons who thought they could turn Afghanistan into Canada.. It was doomed to fail. The level of ignorance, hubris and any basic understanding of human motivation and behavior is breathtaking. Notice I have not even mention the savage religious fanatics that have held power for all that time. Many culprits in this disaster of epic proportions, but start there in 2002.
Bill, your reference to graft, corruption, and bribes being the only way to get things done sounds much like the Biden admin. and current majority in Congress, and may also refer to decisions made in the botched withdrawal. Remember, we were not there just to get UBL. We also were there to maintain a presence in the region to thwart terrorist attacks within our own borders…when we still had them, and the ability to maintain credible intel on the ground relies heavily on relationships with indigenous tribes that were opposed to Taliban rule. The nation building was as much a part of that maintenance as was The Abraham Accords which Biden also vacated. The POTUS has given Russia and China great confidence in the display of weakness and upheaval created by our leadership and will seize every opportunity to advance and relieve us of our freedoms just as they have in their countries. We have gone from war and nation building in Afghanistan to war and nation destruction on our own Country.
Bill, when you mention “savage religious fanatics” are you talking about Afghanistan, or the Republican Party in the United States of America?
I do not engage with obvious morons like you.
Bill is right; the Afghan occupation was ultimately futile. Oh we had every right to invade and occupy Afghanistan, especially since they refused to extradite Bin Laden, but a twenty year occupation..?
The Neo-Cons were always fools. They thought they could make Afghanistan another California. We should have invaded, wiped out Al Quaeda and the Taliban, and tossed them the keys, and left. Sure there’d be a vacuum, but we can’t remain in a state of permanent occupation. It reminds me of the sketch in Monty Python’s “Meaning of Life” in which the school Headmaster, at morning chapel, solemnly reminds the students that … “Today is China Day boys, when we recognise and remember all our brave lads who died to keep China British”.
Quite.
What was the cost in Blood and Treasure? How many of our guys KIA, or maimed? There were reports that Karzai’s brother showed up in Saudi Arabia with $250 Million in cash, I wonder were that came from? This entire endeavor was a disaster from its planning and inception. Now thanks to the moron Biden and the cadre of grossly incompetent fools we have a situation that words cannot fully describe.