Afghanistan: Not with a Bang but a Whimper

Worldometers.info

     Back in 2001, the US began the war in Afghanistan.  It was a direct response to the 9-11 attacks on New York and Washington, DC by Al-Qaeda.  Intelligence determined that Al-Qaeda and their leader Osama Bin Laden were based in Afghanistan which was governed the Taliban who imposed a most strict and brutal version of Islamic Sharia law.  It was a brutal war that lasted until 2014 when the US combat mission ended there.  It was the longest war in US history. 

Since then, the US has had a troop presence there trying to make the current government and military self-reliant.  President Biden set a September deadline to move the US troops out of the country.  As a result, it appears that the Taliban, which we never defeated, is poised to take over the country again mostly likely via a civil war. 

The US has been there for two decades.  Before the US, the Soviets were there from 1979 to 1989.  From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban were in charge.  So, for the past 40 years, Afghanistan was at war or run by a brutal regime at least 29 of those years. 

2,312 US military personnel gave their lives in Afghanistan with 20,066 wounded.  239,000 combatants died in the war zones of Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Approximately 70,000 of those were civilians.  It cost the US $824 Billion for operations there 2001.  What a horrible cost for what can only be called a failure.

15,000 Soviet military were killed they sustained 35,000 wounded during their ten years there.  There was an estimated 2 million Afghanis killed.  They spent $50 billion for their war.  They were driven out of Afghanistan in what was a failure for them.

We were fond of calling the Soviet War in Afghanistan their Vietnam.  If that is true, then our war in Afghanistan was our Vietnam II. 

When we first went into Afghanistan in 2001, there was an article in, I believe, the New York Times on the history of western countries waging war in Afghanistan.  They were basically all dismal failures.  The article questioned what made us think our result would be any different.  It was brilliantly written and foretold the result we that is apparently unfolding right now.  I remember emailing a copy of the article to my cousin David.  He shared my view of the article. I never saved a copy, I could not find the email, nor did a NYT’s or google search reveal the article.  I would love to read it again today just to see if resonates as strongly as it did back then.

Were we right to go into Afghanistan to disrupt Al-Qaeda and try to capture Osama Bin Laden.  We almost got him in our first battle in Afghanistan at Tora Bora December 6-17, 2001.  He escaped and eluded us for another nine and a half years.  In the interim, we drove the Taliban out of power and tried to install a democracy which the country never fully accepted and therefore could not sustain.  We drove the Taliban from power but did not eradicate them.  Thus, they are poised to return to power in the security vacuum left by our withdrawal of our troops.

I feel bad the families that lost loved ones that served in this prolonged war.  I feel bad for those that served and lost limbs or sustained brain injuries from the guerilla war they faced there.  It has to sting more given that we did not quite succeed in our mission to oust the Taliban and transform Afghanistan into a democracy that would bring peace to this war torn country.

We are a mighty country with an amazing military capability.  We can easily overrun a country with lesser numbers or capabilities.  Our enemies melt into the population and continue the battle the only way they have any chance… a guerilla war.  We are not as good at this style of warfare that is prolonged and one of attrition.  The enemy assume that we will lose energy and interest the longer the war lasts and the more troops we lose.  I suppose they are right given where we are at today.  The price paid in terms of human life has been so grave.  It is telling that the end of this twenty-year engagement is barely a whimper but more so indifference as we inanely bicker over masking.

I am actually glad we are withdrawing, finally.  I am sad at the result and our general indifference.  Lastly, I fear we have yet to learn the lesson that would keep us from entering a Vietnam III military engagement.