The Tragedy of the Afghanistan War

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Following 9/11 most Americans were gung ho to go into Afghanistan guns blazing to wipe out the Al Qaeda-harboring Taliban. The United States military and its NATO partners did just that, pushing the Taliban out of Afghanistan, sending them across the border into Pakistan. In Pakistan they established bases of power awaiting the opportunity to cross the border back into Afghanistan. That opportunity arose in March 2003 – less than 18 months later.

On March 19, 2003 George Bush initiated the ill-advised Iraq war, shifting America’s focus to Iraq and pushing Afghanistan to the back burner. The de-emphasis of the war in Afghanistan took the pressure off the Taliban allowing it to establish its strength in Pakistan and reestablish its strength in Afghanistan. The 2009 surge tactic in Afghanistan has resulted in significantly increased US & NATO casualties as once again 8 years later they take the fight to the Taliban in Afghanistan. With the killing of Osama bin Laden under the Obama administration the calls are getting louder for an accelerated withdrawal from Afghanistan beginning in July 2011.

President Obama’s plan to withdraw US troops by 2014 announced in a 6/22/11 primetime speech to the nation, did not please Republicans, Democrats, Pentagon brass and some of his top advisors. As a whole, Democrats want a more accelerated drawdown schedule. As a whole, Republicans and the Pentagon want the withdrawal to be over a longer period of time, thus allowing … victory maybe?

What is victory in Afghanistan? Establishing a democratic government able to provide for its own security, including the suppression of the Taliban? If the current Afghan government is a democracy, it is so in name only. The corruption that permeates top level government in Afghanistan is well known to our government – so pervasive and blatant as to make our own politicians blush. The war in Afghanistan is the longest in American history, approaching 10 years in October 2011 – 13 years by 2014. If Afghan forces haven’t learned how to provide for their country’s security by 2014 they’re just not going to get it. Maintaining US forces in the Afghanistan Theater of war beyond 2014 serves no purpose whatsoever.

The US & NATO presence will be a memory by 2015. With allied military personnel out of the picture the Taliban are undoubtedly preparing right now for the opportunity to reestablish its power in Afghanistan, again providing a safe haven for Al Qaeda and other terrorist gangs. NATO will depart Afghanistan leaving a corrupt, ineffective government and a fragile military. With such institutions being responsible for preventing the Taliban from gaining power throughout Afghanistan, the US & NATO will leave the country pretty much as we found it in the fall of 2001.

Caught up in patriotic fervor after 9/11, our government failed to learn from history. Throughout Afghanistan’s history the country has never remained conquered by a foreign power. Ask the Russians about that. The former Soviet Union was finally forced to withdraw due to economic conditions at home. The war was too expensive for the USSR. The current war has become too expensive for the US. As this country faces monster deficits and a debt ceiling debate, spending billions on a war with nothing to gain is the epitome of stupidity.

What have we gained? Other than a prayer of the Afghan government succeeding, I don’t know. What have we lost? Thousands of Americans killed and wounded, funded by nearly half a trillion dollars. We have accomplished nothing. What a horrible waste.

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