Finding Blame

The occupation of Afghanistan was bound to end badly. Twenty years ago our troops entered the country to find Osama bin Laden. We didn’t find him there; rather he had holed up in Pakistan with their full cooperation. That’s another story. Pakistan figures large in the Middle East drama. Has for a very long time and is not an ally really. A player yes; loyalist no.

Anyway, Bin Laden was found and killed in Pakistan 10 years or so ago. That’s when we should have left Afghanistan. Hindsight can be focused but is not reliable in determining future actions. So, America remained in country for another 10 years. We used our encampment to supply our meddling in Iraq. The reliance on Afghanistan as a strategic position to support our war in Iraq should have warned us off from Middle Eastern adventures. But political games in Washington rely on foreign entanglements and military showmanship.

Getting into Afghanistan is one thing: getting out quite another. Deep down we knew this was folly. If the solution would land on another’s desk, what did it matter? And that’s the weakness of the Afghanistan involvement in a nutshell.

George W. Bush did not have a clue how we would exit Afghanistan. All he knew was he needed a supply base for his plans for Iraq. The fact that Osama Bin Lama and Al Qaeda launched the 9/11 attack on America from Afghanistan gave reason to our occupation there. The rest of the story unfolded pretty much as anyone could have forecast.

So why is everyone acting surprised at the chaos in Afghanistan today? And why would they place any blame for this outcome on the sitting President? He had nothing to do with the decision to occupy Afghanistan or invade Iraq. He was just the guy behind the desk when the house of cards in Afghanistan fell in a heap.

The death and disability incurred by our military is one heavy price for this folly. The death, disability, and dislocation of millions in Afghanistan is another heavy price paid by locals. American treasure totaling $2 trillion is another ghastly price exacted. But more prices exist: nation building does not work; America the Brave and Big is not all-powerful; meddling in other nations’ lives does not always work well for anyone; enemies gain much from America’s failure to perform; and we can add that allies perceived are not always friends to count on in the end.

The military/industrial complex in America remains intact and highly profitable. Eisenhower warned against this inevitability, but each President has played a losing game with that complex. It owns and plays Congress like a fined-tuned orchestra. Foreign policy, treaties, military adventures, and aggrandizement all come from this game. Generals, Chiefs of Staff, National Security Advisor Councils, diplomats, and the Office of the President itself are not in charge of America’s visibility on the world stage. That honor belongs solely to the military/industrial complex. And they know who they are.

We who pay the terrible price for their decisions, do not know who they are. They hide from public view. That allows them to rake in more loot for themselves while government forces pretend to be in charge.

If a scape goat for Afghanistan is desired, Biden is not the patsy. Mitch McConnell is a better target for that, but even more are the decision makers in funding the military and its vendors.

We should also learn that congress continues to misplay its role. It is failing the American public and has done so for generations. Shame on them is too soft a sobriquet.

August 23, 2021