Image from Frontline video on Afghanistan.
By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | Recently “America and the Taliban” appeared on PBS’ Frontline Report. Marine Seth Sharp was shown, shot in the neck and killed during Afghanistan counterinsurgency efforts. He was a 20-year-old from Bartow County, Ga., where I went to high school and my youngest brother was born.
Our country invaded because of Afghanistan’s complicity with Osama Bin Laden, the brains behind the 9-11 attack. Many Americans agreed with George W. Bush’s Administration acting against the brutal, fanatical al-Qaeda terrorists that the Afghans shielded. But W made major mistakes, as did other administrations over the next 20 years as our longest war stumbled on towards infamy.
One of his worst missteps was the USA unilaterally starting the Iraq War. Given that Iraq had nothing to do with al-Qaeda and 9-11 (while Saudi Arabia did), there was no justification for this war. And it split our efforts into two far-away fronts, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Here’s the background leading to “the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq”, per W’s immortal faux pas.
Iraq had been thorn in our side even before our first invasion in 2003. After Iraq invaded Kuwait, Saddam Hussein was beaten into submission by President Bush (senior). He then declared victory and left, a brilliant move, without removing Hussein, a horrible dictator. He left Hussein in power because he was fighting Iran, our enemy.
When George W. Bush was elected, some believe he had “Daddy issues,”-wanting to show Bush senior that he could remove Hussein whereas Daddy didn’t. Although he later stated: “No one was more shocked and angry than I was when we didn’t find the weapons.” George W, who indirectly influenced those providing input to him on weapons of mass destruction. It appears that his advisers told him what he wanted to hear.
So the upshot is that we fought two wars, neither very well. The mess continued under President Obama, who (like W) had very little foreign affairs experience.
President Trump wanted out, the right direction. But Trump was notorious for having big ideas and failing to have them well thought out. Remember the wall that Mexico was going to pay for?
The Trump administration cut a deal with the Taliban, incredibly, without involving the Afghan government. Trump gave the Taliban the kitchen sink, undercutting the Afghan regime. Guaranteeing unilateral withdrawal by May 2021, it “contained no enforcement mechanisms and included no penalties on the Taliban for failing to comply with its terms.”
Thus, when President Biden came into office, the Afghanistan situation was already hopeless. His choices were:
- withdraw per the Trump agreement;
- renege on that agreement and return to fighting a never-ending war; or
- renegotiate.
He tried the latter, but the Taliban refused. So, he stuck with the Trump agreement. The State Department and our military made a total mess of the actual withdrawal, leaving friendlies behind. It was reminiscent of President Nixon and us leaving Vietnam.
But at least we are now out of the quicksand of Afghanistan, the “Graveyard of Empires.” (Ask Russia!) Let’s hope we learned our lesson and stop blaming President Biden and his Administration alone.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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