Here's Why Pulling Out Of Afghanistan Needed To Be Done

 

     I'm watching the news right now. I'm watching the Taliban regain control of Afghanistan. I've seen a lot of horrible things around the world, and I have learned to view things not emotionally, but factually. I'm thinking right now, about the United States.

     Less than a month from now, it will have been exactly 20 years since the September 11th terrorist attacks killed 3,000 people, and in October, it will have been 20 years since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, the longest war in American history. It goes back a lot further than that, to the Cold War: Afghanistan was a playground for American-backed Islamic fundamentalists to fight Soviet invaders. There was the Soviet-Afghan War and then three civil wars, with the Taliban holding control of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Then, of course, came the forever wars. 43 years of fighting have killed more than two million people.

     Taliban-led Afghanistan was hell: acts of genocide, ties to the al-Qaeda insurgents who committed the atrocities on 9/11, a generation of women and girls without access to education, and even draconian bans on things like flying kites and listening to music. The generation that first experienced war is having their grandchildren experience the exact same thing. In 2001, we overthrew the Taliban in two months, and, rather than bolster security and rebuild society, we decided on an endless stalemate of an occupation while we went about spreading "liberty" to Iraq. 

     While President Obama ran on getting troops out of Afghanistan by 2014, he ultimately decided not to, citing the bad security situation in the nation despite 15 years of occupation. Trump also largely backed off on withdrawing, deciding to negotiate with the Taliban in Doha and at Camp David. We spent 20 years in Afghanistan, spending $1 trillion on the war itself (let alone caring for dead and physically- or mentally-ill veterans and their families) to train 300,000 Afghanistani troops. There are only 75,000 Taliban according to the latest estimate, and the nation fell before the withdrawal was complete. I remember former defense secretary Ash Carter saying something to the effect of, "you can give men weapons and money, but not the will to fight." This applies here. The government had every advantage except what the Taliban has (albeit horrible and misguided): motivation and purpose.

     I draw parallels to Iraq. After the U.S.'s work overthrowing Saddam Hussein in 2003 and leaving in 2011, ISIL took advantage of the Syrian Civil War to waltz through Eastern Syria and Western Iraq. The Iraqi government fled Mosul and other key cities, leaving behind U.S.-provided weapons that made their advance easier. Like Afghanistan, Iraq is a very tribal nation, with Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish peoples controlling various regions with varying degrees of autonomy. However, as we all know, Iraq ended very differently. These peoples, in the forms of a central military and militias backed by a U.S.-led coalition mainly involving air strikes (which in theory, are less effective in holding territory than troops) drove ISIL out of Iraq by 2017. ISIL lost Syria in 2019, and they have been driven underground. As the U.S. combat mission comes to an end this year, the Iraqi government continues to arrest hundreds of people for being members of sleeper cells mostly conducting small-scale terror attacks. While still dangerous and undergoing a wave of anti-corruption protests, Iraq is a relatively stable democracy not being overrun by terrorists. This country, which essentially serves as a punching bag directly between Saudi Arabia and Iran, succeeded where Afghanistan is failing.

     In 2019, Donald Trump, apparently intent on getting the Nobel Peace Prize (which he has yet to do for obvious reasons, including actively seeking it), negotiated an agreement that left the Taliban in its strongest position since 2001 and gave America a deadline for withdrawal by May 1st, 2021. President Biden had a choice: either give America a few extra months to withdraw or keep fighting, continue for maybe another 20 years and end up with the same result down the road, and subject U.S. forces on the ground to more violence while tarnishing America's reputation. He picked the better option of two bad situations.

     Afghanistan has not been conquered in almost 500 years. This war did not end in defeat because winning was never an option. This was never a war in the traditional sense, with the entirety of a nation as the enemy, and we need to stop treating it like it ever was.