Afghanistan

A sad place, Afghanistan. A troubled land with warring war lords, Taliban, and incompetent civilian leadership. Even their military is lackluster and has received decades of international support for training, equipping and organizational development just to defend its own land and people.

The story is one of failure. Continuous failure.

Not for the lack of trying. Russia tried it for many disastrous years. So did America for more than 20 years. And other nations have stepped in to help. Some of that help was a hindrance, some was a tilted mess toward the interests of the helper, but just the same, Afghanistan has consistently not done well as an independent country.

With American military withdrawal, Bagram Air Base, regional military bases, and equipment left behind will all be looted by anyone with an interest. Mostly Taliban and their supporters, but others are on site to line their pockets with whatever they can grab. This is consistent with Afghanistan history. Nothing new.

Reports are rife that China and Russia are licking their chops to enter the region and take up where Americans left off. For what end geopolitically? That is the question, but the reality is Afghanistan will continue to be the mire that frustrates all efforts.

Afghanistan was of critical importance as America tracked down Bin Laden. But it also was of strategic interest in waging the nonsense war within Iraq. We should have left Afghanistan when Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan. We should never have entered Iraq. End of story.

But no, the story continued because leaders in the White House at the time (Bush W and mostly Cheney) waged their war of hubris. At the cost of nearly $7 trillion dollars of our taxpayer resources. That does not count thousands of our war dead and hundreds of thousands of injured and maimed American troops. Then there is the war dead and injured on the side of Iraqi and Afghani nationality. Civilian death counts in both countries are enormous.

That is and has been the cost of waging a war of hubris. Make no mistake, this political, military, and diplomatic mission was of no strategic consequence for America. It was a colossal failure as have been most wars.  

Waging war appears to be a specialty of America. I wonder what would happen if we waged peace?

Perhaps we should attempt some strategic moves on that plane?

July 6, 2021