The United States Finally Leaving Afghanistan?

President Joe Biden has announced the US will be ending its war in Afghanistan this year 2021. The last 2,500 soldiers will begin returning home from this May to September. The last US Soldiers are to leave by September 11th, which would mark the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

In 2017 I wrote a post about ways to end to the War in Afghanistan. I suggested that the US either enter into negotiations with the Taliban or just get out. A year later after that the US did begin talk with the Taliban. The US signed a peace agreement with the Taliban in Febuarary 2020. President Donald Trump began bringing troops home. He faced a lot of opposition from the Republican Party for doing that. The Republican Party have always been the loudest voices calling for an endless continuation for the War in Afghanistan. Do I believe that are actually concerned about Democracy or Women’s Rights in Afghanistan? No I don’t believe that. I do know that Defense Contract companies have made the war in Afghanistan a cash cow. This has been 19 years of fluid business to them. The defense contract companies bought both Democrats and Republicans decades ago as well as the Pentagon. So many Generals in the Pentagon join Defense Contract companies after they retire from the military and become part of the board of directors of companies such as Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, etc. It’s called the military industrial complex, something even President Dwight Eisenhower made a speech about in the 1950s.

Zalmay Khalilzad, left, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group’s top political leader sign a peace agreement between Taliban and U.S. officials in Doha, Qatar, on Feb. 29, 2020.

Donald Trump faced lots of resistance from the Republican Party Leadership. Now Biden is facing criticism from Republicans for bringing the troops home. I honestly thought Biden would expand the war. I didn’t not think he would bring any troops home, but make more excuses why we have to stay there.

23 Dec 2009, Helmand Province, Afghanistan — US Marines of 3rd Recon Battalion, USMC detain a suspected Taliban insurgent during operations in the Washir Valley, Helmand Province.

Every American Veteran I have met that has served in Afghanistan is against the war now. They see the war as pointless and un-winnable. I have watched many Afghan Combat Veterans videos on youtube and interviews about their views on Afghanistan and they are against the war. They compare it to forever running on a treadmill and not getting anywhere.

When the US invaded Afghanistan on October 7th 2001, it seemed the necessary thing to do after the September 11th Attacks

But I don’t like using the September 11th Attacks as the event that lead us to our involvement in Afghanistan. No. I go back to the 1980s when Russia was occupying Afghanistan and Ronny Reagan decided to support the Afghan rebels in what was known as Operation Cyclone.

In the 1980s the US was simply thinking “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” If the Afghans were going to kill some Russians, then by golly we’ll help them do that. Despite the fact that many of these Afghan Rebels were also opium/heroin smugglers. We gave guided missile weapons to these rebels to train them to shoot down Russian Aircraft. Osama Bin Laden was also involved in that war. The rich young Saudi Arabian decided to travel to Afghanistan in 1980 when he was 23, and wanted to join in the “Holy War” against the Russians.

When the Russians suffered humiliating losses and the USSR was crumbling they retreated from Afghanistan in 1989. America gave itself a big pat on the back. And then Afghanistan collapsed into all out Civil War!

The same Afghan Rebels America had been supporting began killing each other after the Russians left. They were killing each other with the very weapons America gave them. The tribal differences between the Afghans left to fighting over control of the country. The United States and the International Community abandoned Afghanistan at that point in the 1990s. In that chaotic civil war, Afghanistan became a terrorist safe haven for groups such as the Al-Qaeda. The Al-Qaeda was able to plan out the 9/11 attacks from Afghanistan.

So when the US invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, it was just suppossed to be about going after the Al-Qaeda and their training camps and toppling the Taliban Regime. But by 2002,, George W. Bush decided to embark on a foolish nation building campaign in Afghanistan. It seemed very benevolent to want to re-build Afghanistan after so many years of war and destruction, but we had no idea. It was foolish when the Bush Administration wanted to try and turn Afghanistan into a Western Style Democracy. It was also foolish when Bush made it a goal for the US to destroy and disrupt the opium trade in Afghanistan. It all failed!

Democracy simply does not work in a country such as Afghanistan. Trying to destroy opium in a far away remote country is not the job of the United States. And history has shown that the Afghan People will not passively accept being occupied. Afghanistan is called the graveyard of empires. They have been invaded many times over the centuries. Alexander the Great, The Persians, The Mongolians, The Huns, India, The British Empire, and the Soviet Union. Now the USA. It was naive for us in 2001, to think the Afghan People would view us as “liberators” We as Americans have a very “white knight” mentality and think we can “save the world” often times making things worse.

I hope we finally leave Afghanistan this year! So many people have died. The Afghan People have been the biggest victims. They have been killed by each other and many Afghan Non-Combatants have been killed by the US Military. Which just makes the Afghan People hate America more. The War in Afghanistan has cost the United States an estimated $2 Trillion. There is really nothing to show for.

Of course Afghanistan could completely collapse once the US leaves. Most of the Pentagon Leadership admits the Taliban could take over the government once the USA leaves. But trying to be the police officers of Afghanistan is ridiculous. Sending American Men to a country that hates them, in a country that no one ever wins. Over 2,000 US soldiers have died in Afghanistan over the past 19 years. Countless other have lost their limbs and suffered permanent injuries. Many of them will live with PTSD forever and are mentally messed up. Some become drug addicts and are introduced to heroin in Afghanistan. We also need to leave Iraq.

Afghanistan needs to serve as a learning lesson. Because there are many Republicans that want to go into war with Iran and also invade Venezuela. They are blinded only by the money they will make from their wars and blind to the failures that will happen. They still aren’t willing to admit Afghanistan has been a failure. The few Republicans that are against the war in Afghanistan are not liked by their fellow party.

I also want to share Afghanistan’s Current Freedom Ranking according to Freedom House. https://freedomhouse.org/country/afghanistan/freedom-world/2021 Afghanistan is clearly identified as NOT FREE. They have a very low score of freedom. 27/100. 19 years of Nation Building and it didn’t work.