I recently attended my cousin's funeral. The vicar gave a well meaning eulogy about coping with the loss of a loved one. He then talked about my cousin John’s service in the British army which led to him developing PTSD. What was missing from the eulogy was any mention of how my cousin developed PTSD. His experiences of the horrors of the battlefield in Afghanistan, where he was shot and seriously wounded by a Taliban sniper, led to his trauma. The PTSD he suffered from was particularly acute and was a factor in his untimely death.
Following recovery from his wound John was dismissed by the army. It no longer had any use for a traumatised veteran which had just used him as cannon fodder for yet another imperial adventure that was failing.
After the funeral it made me reflect and take stock of my cousin’s bloody experience in Afghanistan. He fought in a war that has caused over 150,000 Afghan causalities, the deaths and wounding of thousands of US/NATO soldiers, never mind the trillions wasted in fighting an unwinnable war.
Sadly, the US military and political establishment has learned nothing from its defeat and is gearing up for further economic and military confrontation with China and to a lesser degree Russia. It's been said Generals are always fighting the last war.
Mission accomplished as Biden draws a line under the Afghan war
As the United States frantically evacuates its diplomatic/military presence from Afghanistan the MSM and politicians of all political colours wring their hands in horror at the victory of the Taliban. For those of us who have followed America’s longest war over the last 20 years it comes as no surprise that the US is experiencing another ‘Saigon’ moment.
Following the Taliban’s victory President Joe Biden gave a sanctimonious self serving address to the American people trying to whitewash yet another defeat for US imperialism.
In his 20 minute address Biden explained that the US invasion of Afghanistan was motivated by the desire to defeat the Al-Qaeda forces that carried out the 9/11 attacks. If that were truly the case why didn’t the US and its allies seriously engage in negotiations with the Taliban to hand over Bin Laden. Let us not forget that back in 1998 the Taliban had offered to hand over the leader of Al-Qaeda. After 9/11 the leader of the Taliban Mullah Omar stated that the Taliban wanted the US to provide evidence of Bin Laden’s role in the attacks after which it would hand over the Al-Qaeda leader to a neutral third party.
Why did US and is allies invade Afghanistan in 2001?
The American ruling class full of hubris and imperial confidence after its victory in Gulf War 1 had got over its Vietnam syndrome. Its defeat in Vietnam was a distant memory. Now the US was determined to embark upon a series of regime change wars that would decisively reshape the Middle East in its interests.
The United States believed that its position as the world’s sole superpower together with its massive military machine guaranteed a quick victory over the Taliban and the imposition of a puppet regime subservient to the interests of Washington. It had no geopolitical rivals to oppose the invasion and cause trouble for its occupation forces as the US had done for the Red Army during the 1980s.
US and NATO committed themselves to fighting an unwinnable war
The Graveyard of Empires
The US/NATO defeat was baked into the cake from the outset of its invasion in October 2001 following the 9/11 attack.
Washington believed that it could impose a political settlement on Afghanistan that would secure its long term geo-political and economic interests. This simplistic approach ignored the fact that the Taliban, deeply embedded within the Pashtun people who comprise 40% of population, would never reconcile itself to a foreign occupation. Afghanistan, just like Vietnam, lacked the economic basis for any comprador regime to establish a base of support amongst a majority of the population.
At its peak over 100,000 troops were fighting the Taliban, but they failed to establish the Kabul government’s remit beyond the major cities. The Taliban fought the US and its NATO allies to a standstill and established a shadow government across large swathes of the countryside.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon and successive presidents lied to the American people claiming that the military mission was making progress and on the way to victory over the Taliban. In 2019 the Washington Post published documents from the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) revealing that the Pentagon knew from early on that the military occupation was failing and had no long term prospects of success.
Meanwhile, American taxpayers have seen hundreds of billions being poured into the pockets of the military-industrial complex. The total cost of the war to US tax payers is estimated to be over $2.21 trillion. It has also had the effect of turning Afghanistan into one of the most corrupt nations on the planet.
Biden ignores the massive death toll caused by the US led occupation
In his self serving speech Biden made no mention of the horrific death toll inflicted by the US led occupation of Afghanistan.
Estimates vary of how many civilians died during the last 20 years but one conservative estimate by Brown University put the number of civilian deaths at 47,245 this of course does not count the hundreds of thousands of people injured by the fighting caused by the occupation. This is in sharp contrast to the estimate of over 116,000 civilians killed that was provided by BodyCount: Physicians for Social Responsiblity back in 2015.
Over the last 20 years the US and its NATO allies have dropped tens of thousands of bombs on Afghanistan killing and wounding many thousands of civilians. Of course, this does not take into account the thousands of civilians killed/wounded by US led forces and the Taliban during the fighting.
Never mind, the untold number of civilians killed by US death squads such as Task Force 373 that were operated by the CIA and Special Forces which was revealed by [WikiLeaks] back in 2010.
Worse still, is the role played by Afghan death squads that were trained and led by the CIA which roamed around the country committing numerous massacres. We shall never know how many innocents died as these death squads often left no eye witnesses. Investigative journalist Abby Martin of The Empire Files has produced a shocking film on these CIA led death squads.
Biden refuses to acknowledge the US defeat
In the conclusion to his speech Biden puts the blame for the Taliban being ‘in the strongest position militarily since 2001’ on his predecessor Trump. This blatant falsehood reflects the unwillingness of the current commander in chief to acknowledge the humiliation defeat that the United States has suffered.
Early on in the occupation the Pentagon was aware of how hopeless the position was and that the US was fighting another unwinnable war as in Vietnam. Still imperial hubris got the better of them thinking somehow that it could be different this time around.
From the outset the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan was best by fundamental problems. Former Trump aide General Michael Flynn, a former director of military intelligence in Afghanistan was interviewed by SIGAR. His interview provides numerous insights as to why the U.S. occupation failed to stabilize Afghanistan and defeat its enemy in one of the poorest countries on the planet.
Other metrics in recent years such as the historically high levels of opium production, the 20% increase in ‘effective’ attacks by the Taliban on the Afghan army which has suffered from a horrendous casualty/desertion rate and the sharp rise in civilians casualties all testify to how the US was bogged down in an unwinnable war.
There is an uncanny resemblance to the Paris peace talks in the early 1970s which President Nixon used to extricate America from the war that it was losing in Vietnam.
Having said this, the most critical reason for the US decision to withdraw from Afghanistan is the growing confrontation with China. Above all else, this factor will shape American geo-political action over the next decade.
