Withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, the US is still concerned about al-Qaeda. (Source: Reuters) In a report to the National Assembly entitled “Strengthening security and stability in Afghanistan”, the US Department of Defense emphasized: “The Al-Qaeda terrorist group still poses a threat to its soldiers and US allies in Afghanistan through ongoing interaction with local Taliban chiefs ”. Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden approved the complete withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan by 9/11. Same day, CNN quoted three US defense officials as saying that some of the US military equipment began to be shipped out of Afghanistan, which were unnecessary equipment and supplies, which were not destroyed or transferred to the force. Afghan security. Meanwhile, outdated equipment will be destroyed. This is the first move by the US military since President Joe Biden last week announced details of a plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan with a deadline of 9/11, the full 20 years of the crisis. father in 2001 and also the event that sparked the US war in this southwest Asian country. (Reuters)

According to Politico, Pentagon officials have passed intelligence on the suspected attacks to US lawmakers. However, a Defense Department spokesperson told the site that the agency was ignorant of direct energy attacks against US troops in Syria. US military soldiers in Syria. Photo: US Army Even so, according to two former US national security officials involved in investigative efforts, direct energy attacks on US soldiers abroad, suspected of being behind by Russia, are becoming. of such concern that the Pentagon’s Office of Special Operations and low-intensity conflicts began an investigation last year. It is unclear exactly how many US soldiers were injured or how badly they were injured. Direct energy attacks are used to describe directing certain energy sources to a specific target, such as using lasers or microwave energy, to cause total harm to human health. The investigation is part of a broader effort to investigate direct energy attacks on US government officials and agencies, Politico said. Previously, many US officials in Cuba, China and Russia mysteriously fell ill, with the main reasons allegedly being affected by microwave radiation sources.

Project Iceworm was the US Army’s 1958 Cold War experiment to hide hundreds of missiles under the ice caps of Greenland. This secret site is believed to be an ideal place to launch attacks against the Soviet Union if war breaks out. The project started with the construction of a prototype ice base called Camp Century. This work consists of a system of tunnels made of ice, steel and snow, arranged into scientific laboratories, a hospital and is home to more than 200 people. Project Iceworm was a technical miracle, but the displacement of the ice cubes disrupted the consistency of the structure making the site not a safe place to protect nuclear weapons. The project was stopped in 1966. Project Pigeon: Renowned psychologist BF Skinner came up with the idea for a new weapon during World War II. What’s even more remarkable is that the US military actually invested in this experiment with the idea of ​​training missile-guided pigeons to more accurately target enemy targets. Psychologist Skinner observed the pigeon’s excellent vision and mobility and believed these would help his experiment. He trained the pigeons to cut into a number of predetermined images, such as enemy ships, and then place them in a small compartment with a screen showing the missile’s flight path. Recognizing the targets, the pigeon pecks on similar images on the screen, leading the missile to its destination. Surprisingly, the pigeons have demonstrated their outstanding ability, while the Skinner scientist’s experiment has been praised by both psychologists and physicists. However, the US military later thought the idea was too bizarre that it ceased to apply in practice. During World War II, a dentist named Lytle S. Adams contacted the White House to present his bat-bomb ideas amid the US seeking to attack Japan. Accordingly, when the incendiary devices mounted on the bats were activated, the towns would be engulfed in flames. However, when the US military tested the idea, it failed and they accidentally burned their own Air Force Base in New Mexico. In 1972, the US military received information that the Soviet Union was investing millions of dollars in psychic experiments and controlling objects with thoughts. Not wanting to be left behind, they launched the Star Gate Project. Uri Geller led this research. Although he was known for his ability to bend metal objects with his thoughts, the military was more interested in his ability to read and even control the minds of others. The psychic were then invited to assume the role of “remote observer”. They endeavor to use their abilities to gather intelligence about the enemy. They have participated in countless anti-terrorist campaigns and have helped track down the fugitives in the heart of America. However, the Star Gate project ended in 1995 with complicated results. Dark sighting plays a very important role on the battlefield, so night vision goggles are an indispensable part of the soldiers. However, the US Navy wanted to improve vision in the dark, so it mimicked the visual abilities of night creatures like raccoons. Raccoons have pigments in their eyes that allow them to see infrared light that cannot be seen by humans. The goal of the project is to help soldiers detect infrared signals, facilitating the transmission of confidential information. However, this idea does not seem to be working. Carriers are usually large ships because they have to carry tons of fighter jets and other vehicles. However, in the 1930s, the US military tested an aircraft carrier in the air. They created two such aircraft carriers, the USS Akron and USS Macon, with a length of 244 meters and each carrying about five fighters. However, in the end, as both carriers crashed, the test was abandoned.

CIA director William Burns is concerned about losing intelligence when the US withdraws its troops from Afghanista. Photo: Reuters

According to Reuters (UK), at the hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. William Burns highlighted the important risk inherent in the decision of President Joe Biden, to withdraw all remaining forces. of the United States in Afghanistan, despite the existence of al-Qaeda and Islamic State militants.

“By the time US troops withdraw from Afghanistan, the US government’s ability to gather information and act on threats will decline. It’s the truth, ”said Burns, a veteran US deputy foreign minister, who took over as CIA director last month.

However, the head of the CIA also added that the US government is likely to keep some parts after the withdrawal, to help make intelligence predictions and resist efforts to restore the team. al-Qaeda terrorist organization.

Mr. Burns’ warning reflects the concerns of many experts that the withdrawal will significantly less secure US intelligence officers, limiting their ability to gather information in a timely manner.

“In the broader perspective, surveillance for US threats will be significantly reduced so that preventive measures can be taken. The Washington administration will no longer be able to cooperate directly with the Afghan security forces, ”said Lisa Curtis, a former White House top advisor to Afghanistan during the former Trump administration.

Ms. Curtis also questioned which US anti-terrorist forces would be relocated outside of Afghanistan, citing “historical hardship” that had placed American forces in “the most appropriate locations. “is Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

American soldiers step out of bases in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan. Photo: Reuters

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said the US will still monitor terrorist threats, reorganize its counterterrorism forces and retain substantial assets in the region to respond to threats from Afghanistan after withdrawal.

Marc Polymeropoulos, a former top CIA officer who served in Afghanistan, said intelligence agencies often rely on the US military for critical assistance such as security and medical evacuation. He worries if US troops withdraw from here, how the intelligence community will stay.

Previously, President Joe Biden announced that he would withdraw the last 2,500 US troops from Afghanistan before 9/11, the 20th anniversary of al Qaeda’s terrorist attack on the US and usher in the country’s longest war.

President Biden’s decision shows that the US military presence is no longer decisive in achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan, a core assumption that the Pentagon uses as a foundation for military deployment. American team here.

A UN report in January said there are still up to 500 al Qaeda terrorist fighters in Afghanistan. At the same time, the Taliban are also maintaining a close relationship with this terrorist organization. However, the Taliban denied the allegation and claimed that no al-Qaeda members remained active in Afghanistan.

The US raised the range of the S-400 killer to three times.

After improving the range of this new missile to reach about 1,600 km, which is about three times more than the current PrSM missile.

Currently, the US military continues to order old Tomahawk missiles and SM-6 supersonic missiles as temporary medium-range weapons. However, in the long run, they will replace this missile with a new generation missile, including the upgraded PrSM version.

The US military has researched and concluded that they need a medium-range missile with a range of 500 to 2,000 km, such a missile should be in service as soon as possible, at least by 2023.

General John Rafferty, who is in charge of upgrading the US’s long-range precision firepower, said that in the future these weapons will change everything in both Europe and the Pacific. He also did not hesitate to call the PrSM missile a killer capable of destroying Russia’s S-400 air defense system.

Before that, in March 2017, the US military began conducting the PrSM program. The goal of this program is to create a new generation of high-precision missiles with an official range of 60 to 499 kilometers to replace the existing US Lockheed Martin MGM-140 ATACMS tactical line of tactical missiles. .

Like the ATACMS, the PrSM missile is also launched from the standard launchers of the US M270A1 MLRS and M142 HIMARS missile systems. However, unlike ATACMS, the launcher M270A1 MLRS can carry four PrSM missiles (this pedestal can only carry two ATACMS) and the M142 HIMARS launcher can carry two PrSMs. ).

General John Rafferty said that the US military is currently researching and has committed to create a version of the PrSM capable of firing “medium range” that is about 1,500 to 2,000 km. The general also admitted that the range of this new missile violates the INF agreement, but the advantage is that the US has withdrawn from the treaty.

General Rafferty also revealed that this year, there will be four launches of the PrSM long-range precision attack missile. These tests will include a range of 400 km at the White Sands missile test site in New Mexico in May, in August the full-range missile launch will take place at Vandenberg airbase in California and These two long-range missile launches will take place in the fall.

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