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An end to the ‘ambiguous’ war in Afghanistan

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Four days after launching the war in Afghanistan, President George W. Bush held a press conference at the White House as the entire United States was not completely shocked by the 9/11 attacks.

President George W. Bush sits in the White House after announcing that the US and Britain began bombing Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, marking the beginning of the longest war in American history. Photo: Reuters

Although at the time, most Americans supported President Bush’s decision to go to war, doubts remained as to how the war would play out and how long it could last.

Bush, then 55 years old, took office in less than nine months. On the evening of October 11, 2001, he tried to reassure the American people that the government was aware of the lessons from the past and that they were determined not to let the US bogged down in an irrational war in Asia.

“We have learned some very important lessons in Vietnam,” Mr. Bush affirmed. “This is another war that requires a different approach and a completely different spirit.”

While he did not guarantee how long the war would last, Bush made a sure promise that America would win.

“This battle will last until the al-Qaeda terrorist organization is brought to justice,” he announced. two years, but we will win this war. “

But from the very beginning, the US government did not seem to have determined the goal of achieving “victory”. On Wednesday, current US President Joe Biden announced that he would withdraw all military forces in Afghanistan by September 11.

US soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division carried an injured Afghan man toward the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in Kandahar province on October 23, 2010. At that time, about 150,000 US and international troops. has been deployed to Afghanistan. Photo: AFP

This decision still does not answer the ever-standing question that his three predecessors had hoped or envisioned a outcome for the war that they always claimed America would win.

In the beginning, the goal of this war was to destroy al-Qaeda and make sure that the terrorist group could not use Afghanistan as a base to launch any other terrorist attack against the United States. In just 6 months, that goal was achieved. The al-Qaeda chiefs were either destroyed, captured or fled Afghanistan.

However, instead of declaring an end to the war, Bush at that time set out new “missions” for this war. In April 2002, he announced new political and military goals.

He announced that the United States will help its allies in Afghanistan build an increasingly modernized country with a stable democracy, a powerful military force, and good healthcare facilities. and a public education system for children.

“We understand that peace can only be true when the Afghan people have the potential to achieve their own wishes,” he said in a speech at the Virginia Military Academy.

Although setting out very noble and respectable goals, former President Bush did not set specific standards to achieve them and did not give any information about the US military. How long will you have to stay there. He replied generally, “We will stay until the mission is completed.”

Like former President Bush, the two successors, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, both put themselves in invisible bonds vowing to win in Afghanistan, raising expectations for a victory. The military side of this war.

General Dan McNeill, who served two terms as commander of the US military in Afghanistan during the Bush administration, said the end was always “murky, dark.”

Mr. McNeill then shared that: “Some people have thought of Jeffersonian democracy (in the thought of late President Thomas Jefferson), but that will not happen in Afghanistan”.

In a secret report sent to senior Pentagon officials in October 2003, former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also expressed skepticism: “Whether we are winning or losing in Global war on terror? “.

By 2006, as the Taliban rebelled and escalated their attacks, the suspicions became more and more common.

On August 29, 2006, former US ambassador Ronald Neumann in Afghanistan sent a warning to Washington, in which he affirmed: “We will not be able to win in Afghanistan”.

However, in public, the US government continued to declare the opposite.

“We are winning,” General Karl Eikenberry, former commander of US forces in Afghanistan, told ABC News just two weeks after Neumann issued the warning. When asked if the US would lose the war, Eikenberry bluntly replied: “Victory is not an option in the war in Afghanistan”.

Two years later, the US battlefield commanders in Afghanistan had to ask the Pentagon to send reinforcements because they were out of position as the Taliban had increased the number of troops from 7,000 to 11,000 fighters. American generals were very difficult to mobilize more troops, but still continuously declared a victory “invisible”.

In September 2008, US Army General Jeffrey Schloesser, former commander of US forces in eastern Afghanistan, after repeatedly asked by reporters about whether he thought that US troops were still winning. , commented: “I would say that we will not lose any war, at any cost. This is just a victory that takes more time, I guess. ”

By the time Mr. Obama took office in 2009, US military officials admitted they were facing a terrible uprising. Obama then announced an expansion strategy to send thousands more soldiers to Afghanistan and spend tens of billions of dollars to rebuild the Kabul government.

President Barack Obama talks with Defense Secretary Robert Gates (left), and General David Petraeus at the Oval Office on March 14, 2011. Photo: White House

“For terrorists against America, my consistent message is: America will defeat all hostile forces,” former President Obama announced in March 2009.

Yet again, no one in the Obama administration can tell what the outcome of that victory will be.

“How do we know when this is over? And how will it end? ”Democratic Sen. James Webb questioned Michèle Flournoy, former Deputy Secretary of Defense under President Obama and General David Petraeus at a congressional hearing on. April 2009.

Obama administration officials gradually became contradictory in subsequent steps. On the one hand, they are beginning to admit that a military victory is quite unlikely and the only way to end the conflict is for the warring parties in Afghanistan to reach a “political solution”.

On the other hand, when the US number reached 100,000, generals under the Obama administration continued their attacks on the Taliban instead of using diplomatic means.

In public, some Obama administration officials began to dodge when questioned about the war.

At a congressional testimony in June 2011, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked whether the US is winning or losing in Afghanistan, replying: “I believe we are succeeding in the war. strategy of the President “.

A week later, at another hearing, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not directly comment, but only said: “I do not think it is a matter of winning or losing.”

Throughout his term, the Obama administration has planned to train and equip the Afghan security force of 352,000 soldiers and paramilitary police with the belief that these allied forces will overwhelm the Taliban. thanks to the support of the US.

Former President Obama once pledged to withdraw all US military forces from Afghanistan by the end of his second term. But he withdrew and ordered about 8,400 soldiers to stay, seeing that the Afghan security forces were incapable of defending against Taliban attacks.

By the time Donald Trump took office in 2017, things were pretty bleak. The Taliban have grown stronger in Obama’s eight years in power, adding about 60,000 combat troops. The Afghan army and police are suffering so much damage that the Kabul government has to keep the casualties a secret to avoid weakening morale.

The special forces in the Afghan National Army train at a base near Kabul on March 5, 2020. Afghan commandos often perform missions with the US military. Photo: Washington Post

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis admitted to the US Senate Committee on Armed Services in June 2017: “Right now, we are not having the upper hand in Afghanistan.”

By August 2017, former President Donald Trump announced a new strategy for the war. In a speech at the Fort Myer base, he pledged to end the 16-year conflict in Afghanistan and vowed to help the US regain full victory.

“Our army will fight to win,” Trump announced. “From now on, victory will be clearly defined: attack our enemies, destroy ISIS, take down al-Qaeda, stop the Taliban from taking Afghanistan and stop mass terrorist attacks. “.

The war in Afghanistan under Trump is heating up with the number of US troops reaching 14,000. The Washington administration also ordered a series of drastic airstrikes, with the largest number of bombs and missiles since the outbreak of the war.

According to the strategy outlined by former President Donald Trump, the US military is simply trying to weaken the Taliban to gain political leverage for the peace talks. In February 2020, the Trump administration reached an agreement with the Taliban, paving the way for the gradual withdrawal of all US troops from the West Asian country.

On April 14, 2021, President Joe Biden officially announced plans to withdraw all US military forces from Afghanistan from May 1 and end on September 11.

This will be the end of the promises of a “vague” victory and end the war that lasted for two decades, spanning four presidents and is the longest war in American history.

Sapphire

According to the Washington Post

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