America should pull out of Afghanistan; For good.

Written By: Alfred Xavier

September 11, 2001; This date has rung through the minds of the majority of Americans for the past two decades. 

That day started a long chain of events leading to a quagmire for the United States that perpetuates to even now. Since then, we have lost 2,448 Americans in the conflict we all know as the War in Afghanistan, better known as the War on Terror. There is arguably nothing else that has remained as controversial and prominent in US politics as this topic, so it is worth talking about--especially in light of recent events. As of August 15, 2021, the Taliban have marched into Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, and have declared the War in Afghanistan over, forming an interim government and declaring the pre-existing Afghan government as no more. Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president, has fled from the country in fear of bloodshed, and the soldiers of the Afghan National Army have provided little to no resistance against the arrival of the group, hinting at their weakness at the face of the group. Does this not all sound familiar? If we were to take a time machine and travel precisely 20 years ago today, it would have been the same situation. A Taliban interim government in Afghanistan exercised an iron grip over its citizens and the country itself. Yet, after spending trillions of dollars, thousands of lives, and two decades trying to fight an insurgent group, the US has found itself in the same situation it did even before 9/11. To all the Americans, if this in and of itself is not convincing enough to make one realize how futile this war was, let us dig deeper and truly understand just how important it is for the US to distance itself from this issue as soon as possible. Finally realizing just how monumental of a task it will be to try solving this problem--again. 

Afghanistan is, at its core, an unwinnable war. From the country’s terrain to the Taliban’s iron grip on its people, it seems as though America is trying to work with an unwilling and fearful Afghan national army in an environment that is a breeding ground for terrorist deception. The terrain is the first concern. Afghanistan is a country that houses caves, mountains, deserts, and many other uninhabitable and inaccessible locations that are perfect for terrorists to recruit and utilize to carry out operations in secret. Just ask the Soviets how they felt about this; The Mujahideen, a group of Islamic Rebels, would hide in these places and wait for convoys to stage ambushes and fire rockets, slaughtering Russian soldiers than speeding away before having to fight for a prolonged amount of time. This is one of the main reasons why the Soviets, and the Americans, had such a difficult time fighting in the nation and eventually gave up-- it is a country perfectly suited for guerilla warfare. The Taliban are far too accustomed to the terrain of Afghanistan, which is why they’ve had so much success staging counterattacks, surviving extensive bombing campaigns, and evading troops. They’re very, very good at hiding. With this undefeatable advantage for the Taliban in mind, it seems as though the morale on behalf of the troops fighting them has consequently lowered, especially that of the Afghan National Army (1). President Biden, in his own words, made a great point that “ We gave them every tool they could need. We paid their salaries, provided for the maintenance of their air force — something the Taliban doesn’t have. We gave them every chance to determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to fight for that future”(1). The importance of this is that the US cannot continue to fight a war on behalf of a group of people who are unwilling/incapable of fighting it on their own (1). There are too many factors that account for this problem, ranging from US intelligence failures and poor predictions to the capabilities of Taliban fighters and Taliban scare tactics as well (1). Threats to families, executions, and barbarism were things the Afghan civilians could not withstand, leading to an instilling of fear (2). Not only this, it must not be forgotten that Afghanistan is an incredibly diverse country with numerous ethnic minorities that simply cannot find the will to unite and overcome the Taliban’s iron grip on them (2). It should also be mentioned that the Taliban belongs to the most powerful ethnic group in the nation, the Pashtuns. All of this points to the fact that the US has strived for goals that simply cannot be implemented. Its plans for democracy and united Afghanistan were poorly planned and executed, and the Taliban simply used their connection with the people to their advantage. 

This war is reminiscent of Vietnam. Even if the US manages to pull off something that successfully pushes the Taliban out of major places like Kandahar and Kabul as it did initially after the 2001 invasion, the Taliban will continue to recruit, instill dominance among Afghan populations, and maintain political support. The United States mopped the floor with the Vietcong militarily--even in the Tet offensive--yet could not win the war due to the simple misfortune of not connecting to the Vietnamese or even its own people. Are we going to repeat this mistake? Even the Soviets realized this, yet we fought for double the time they did to get the same results. Sources from CNBC make powerful statements that a centralized government in Afghanistan is simply impossible due to the number of ethnic minorities that exist within the nation, (2) and unlike America, which is able to assimilate its diverse groups into one culture within its own nation, it seems as though it is incapable of doing so in a separate one. Why is that? Well, this is where the Taliban comes in. Touching upon the aforementioned point that they belong to the most powerful ethnic group, the Taliban uses its advantage of ‘ethnic superiority’ to unite the nation through fear and dominance, essentially exercising the advantage of unity and political support. America’s Judeo-Christian values and Western ideals of liberalism and democracy are not going to fare well in a country that shares values that greatly differ from this (2). With this being said, a centralized government(if it must be proposed) must be thought out much more and planned more decisively, if that even is a feasible plan. This is not World War ll where the Americans are being cheered on to take on the enemy, as even though in war, military strength matters a lot, so does political and economic strength. Building upon that, it must be understood that even planning a careful implementation of a centralized government in Afghanistan is simply not feasible due to the financial demands of such a measure. 

This war is a money drain. American taxpayers have had to dish out billions of dollars a year since 2001 towards a war that has ultimately failed in all aspects. With the pandemic and the resulting poor economic health in mind, such a reboot or even a more well thought and planned out war in Afghanistan cannot even be supported financially. This country is drowning in trillions of debt, with this war’s costs being 1/14th of that amount. In the meantime, people are discussing starting another military intervention in hopes that something different will happen. Let’s say something different can happen. Do we have the money to support it? This is a losing situation in all aspects, especially because of the problems pertaining to financial security within the United States. Unemployment is still high, small businesses are still being affected by pandemic restrictions, and the US economy is still repairing itself. Starting a war is infeasible considering the fact that the US armed forces will be tasked with trying to once again retake a widely Taliban-controlled Afghanistan(which will take an immense amount of resources, troops, and money), let alone secure some amounts of territory for the Afghan National Army to sustain and fight for themselves. The cost of another operation should not be underestimated. It must be understood that this country is not any good place to be starting any sort of war and instead should focus on repairing itself financially before it even thinks about increasing its SUPPORT for the ANA, let alone its presence. All of this isn’t even accounting for the amount of investment and planning needed if a new operation does enjoy success, as then the US will then be required to stabilize the nation and set a new authority. 

The true cost of this war is incalculable, not only to the pockets of America and the lives of Americans themselves but to the American spirit. For two decades, we have fought for a lost cause in a place on the other side of the globe for a bunch of people we don’t connect with to no avail. All of these reasons are only a scratch on the surface of the myriad of reasons why the US should move on and deal with the monumental task it has of rebuilding itself after a pandemic in all aspects. Leave Afghanistan alone and start paying attention to what matters, America. We lost, and we aren’t going to win this--ever. 

Sources: (1)“Remarks by President Biden on Afghanistan.” The White House, The United States Government, 16 Aug. 2021, www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/08/16/remarks-by-president-b iden-on-Afghanistan/. (2)Turak, Natasha, et al. “'Intelligence Failure of the Highest Order' - How AFGHANISTAN Fell to the TALIBAN so Quickly.” CNBC, CNBC, 18 Aug. 2021, www.cnbc.com/2021/08/16/how-afghanistan-fell-to-the-taliban-so-quickly.html.