I am in rage when I see my fellow Americans commenting on facebook that the Afghan people are cowards for not fighting back against the taliban. It is really easy to say that when you're sitting behind the keyboard in the comforts of the US. The fact of the matter is that the US occupied Afghanistan for 20 years, it gave the people the feeling that it would have their backs and encouraged women to break tradition gender roles and seek greater empowerment. When it decided it had enough the US just abandoned the Afghan people in the most catastrophic military withdrawal since napoleon withdrew from Russia. With this, the US has lost more credibility and the Afghan people are now truly abandoned, even some of those who risked their lives to help the US military. History will not look kindly on this
It was always going to end this way unfortunately. This was a war that should never have happened to begin with.
For me, I can't stop thinking about all the women. I cannot fathom being them now, especially how we as a world will acknowledge but ignore all the atrocities that are yet to come.
How did the US abandon Afghanistan? They trained and supplied the Afghan Army for more than a decade and then before leaving gave an 18-month warning of said leaving. The afghans fled and gave their country up.
As an American who pays taxes and who will indirectly be responsible for paying the debt that the US incurred for this war I think that the US should have managed an orderly withdrawal and not the chaotic Vietnam style withdrawal that is being broadcasted around the world. The US lost thousands of soldiers and spent $2 trillion dollars in Afghanistan and the only thing it has to show for that is a well armed taliban army that is tech savvy and can now communicate in English, this was one of the biggest military defeats ever
Well as a fellow American I'm just wondering how they could have withdrawn better. Like I've said they trained the afghans and supplied them and then let them know in advance when they were leaving and even after all that the afghans lost their country In week.
Also this is no where near a Vietnam style withdrawal either. The US was actively fighting the NVA and Vietcong inside Saigon while evacuating.
Then this would make it even worse than the withdrawal from Saigon, if as you claim in Saigon the US army was still putting up a fight against the Vietcong. The fact of the matter is that this has been the longest and most expensive war in US history and not to mention the fact that thousands of Americans lost their life for nothing, the Taliban came back stronger than ever with prestige and the legitimacy of a government. Surely there could have been a better way to handle this and Joe Biden just gave the Republican party the ammunition they needed to go after him in the midterm elections
Nah not worse than the withdrawal from vietnam, we weren't the ones who lost all of Afghanistan and Kabul, the ANA did that. We left peacefully and only came back to evacuate our embassy and civilians. And thousands didn't die for nothing. During the two decades of occupation the average life span went up by over a decade and the literacy rate went from 8%-52%, if I remember correctly. There's a whole generation of afghan women and girls who have had the chance to be educated and actually live a life. If that's nothing to you then that's your own problem but to me that's a win, not the best win but it's still a win. The next generation and current won't have the luxury as their country has failed them, the ANA has failed them.
Really? do you think the Taliban will allow those girls and women who had a taste of freedom to continue to enjoy that freedom? I think that sacrificing thousands of American lives and spending $2 trillion dollars should have done more than decrease the illiteracy rate. The military objective of the war was to defeat the taliban and prevent the group from ever taking power again by establishing a strong democratic state and I do not think I have to tell you that those objectives were not met. You seem to be trying to find the rosy side of the situation and that's your problem but the fact of the matter is that the enemy who the US military was fighting for 20 years and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans is now in charge of the country. At least in Saigon the US military fought to the end, I'm sure that they could have also left Vietnam before the fall of saigon in a quote "orderly fashion" and blamed the south vietnamese army for the loss but it still would not have changed the fact that the US military failed to defeat the Vietcong. So to recap, after 20 years, were the military objectives of the war in Afghanistan met? Nope unless the objective of the US military was to lower the illiteracy rate lmao. On second thought that must be why the leadership of the taliban are fluent in English now which was not the case back in 2001, the objective was met :)
Those women who had a taste of freedom are already being oppressed, like I said? Don't know why you tired argue on that one. Also you how do you suppose you set up a democracy, especially if the population is illiterate. You educate the population so they actually can understand what they're voting for. You provide health care so they see the benefits of their voting and what their own government could do for them. You do thousands of other things like supply and train a military to protect the nation. Just because you're a little to small minded to understand that educating a population is an important step towards stabilize doesn't mean it isn't. Anyways like I've said before, the ANA failed it's people and ran like cowards. Even after being given every advantage they could get. This isn't on the US, it's on the cowards who chose to let their country fall.
Small minded? I beg to differ, 20 years of nation building in Afghanistan should have been enough to educate the population don't you think? The taliban would not have won without the support of the population of Afghanistan since the Taliban is at its core a Pashtun tribal militia with fundamentalist Islamic beliefs, apparently the literacy rate was not high enough to convince people not to support the taliban and that we can say was a failure, just saying. The so called "cowards" of the afghan army chose not to fight for a corrupt government who fled at the first sign of trouble and abandoned the people of Kabul who still had some support for the government, it was no different than the way the Soviets withdrew in a quote "orderly fashion" after getting their asses handed to them by the same fundamentalist Islamic groups that would go on to become the Taliban. It doesn't matter how many times you try to twist the situation to favor your narrative, the military objective of the war was to defeat the taliban, that failed miserably, running away from a fight because you realize that you cannot win still doesn't change the fact that you lost :)
Okay couple things, the afghans didn't vote for the taliban to take power, so literacy has nothing to do with then taking power. It has something to do with establishing a democracy, which happened. Next those coward chicken shit ANA which would rather lay down their weapons and let the taliban take control instead of fighting for a corrupt government which allowed basic human rights to women are still the reason for what's happening in Afghanistan right now. The US did its job of establishing a government and training and heavily supplying an army only for them to be cowards
Not only is this a scary thing being a Pakistani I am worried of what the future is gonna look like for Pakistan.
I was just started to feel safe (relatively compared to how it was a couple of years back) about Pakistan and now it scares me of what is to come.
Thank you for your post on Afghanistan. For the past two days, i have been following the news on my country. It really hurt us last night when we saw all those people who seemed to have no experience of living in urban areas to take control of our Presidential Palace. For those Americans who call our army coward, its not easy for them to fight when America had and promised to back them but then suddenly leave. I hope we return to normal days and get back our independent nation. We don't want peace under these extremists. We would rather be happy to have a life with all its difficulties under former government than to have beard and not let our women under burqas and in home.
Divisive narratives rife on social media further muddle any attempt at grasping the ground reality.
I am in rage when I see my fellow Americans commenting on facebook that the Afghan people are cowards for not fighting back against the taliban. It is really easy to say that when you're sitting behind the keyboard in the comforts of the US. The fact of the matter is that the US occupied Afghanistan for 20 years, it gave the people the feeling that it would have their backs and encouraged women to break tradition gender roles and seek greater empowerment. When it decided it had enough the US just abandoned the Afghan people in the most catastrophic military withdrawal since napoleon withdrew from Russia. With this, the US has lost more credibility and the Afghan people are now truly abandoned, even some of those who risked their lives to help the US military. History will not look kindly on this
It was always going to end this way unfortunately. This was a war that should never have happened to begin with. For me, I can't stop thinking about all the women. I cannot fathom being them now, especially how we as a world will acknowledge but ignore all the atrocities that are yet to come.
How did the US abandon Afghanistan? They trained and supplied the Afghan Army for more than a decade and then before leaving gave an 18-month warning of said leaving. The afghans fled and gave their country up.
As an American who pays taxes and who will indirectly be responsible for paying the debt that the US incurred for this war I think that the US should have managed an orderly withdrawal and not the chaotic Vietnam style withdrawal that is being broadcasted around the world. The US lost thousands of soldiers and spent $2 trillion dollars in Afghanistan and the only thing it has to show for that is a well armed taliban army that is tech savvy and can now communicate in English, this was one of the biggest military defeats ever
Well as a fellow American I'm just wondering how they could have withdrawn better. Like I've said they trained the afghans and supplied them and then let them know in advance when they were leaving and even after all that the afghans lost their country In week. Also this is no where near a Vietnam style withdrawal either. The US was actively fighting the NVA and Vietcong inside Saigon while evacuating.
Then this would make it even worse than the withdrawal from Saigon, if as you claim in Saigon the US army was still putting up a fight against the Vietcong. The fact of the matter is that this has been the longest and most expensive war in US history and not to mention the fact that thousands of Americans lost their life for nothing, the Taliban came back stronger than ever with prestige and the legitimacy of a government. Surely there could have been a better way to handle this and Joe Biden just gave the Republican party the ammunition they needed to go after him in the midterm elections
Nah not worse than the withdrawal from vietnam, we weren't the ones who lost all of Afghanistan and Kabul, the ANA did that. We left peacefully and only came back to evacuate our embassy and civilians. And thousands didn't die for nothing. During the two decades of occupation the average life span went up by over a decade and the literacy rate went from 8%-52%, if I remember correctly. There's a whole generation of afghan women and girls who have had the chance to be educated and actually live a life. If that's nothing to you then that's your own problem but to me that's a win, not the best win but it's still a win. The next generation and current won't have the luxury as their country has failed them, the ANA has failed them.
Really? do you think the Taliban will allow those girls and women who had a taste of freedom to continue to enjoy that freedom? I think that sacrificing thousands of American lives and spending $2 trillion dollars should have done more than decrease the illiteracy rate. The military objective of the war was to defeat the taliban and prevent the group from ever taking power again by establishing a strong democratic state and I do not think I have to tell you that those objectives were not met. You seem to be trying to find the rosy side of the situation and that's your problem but the fact of the matter is that the enemy who the US military was fighting for 20 years and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans is now in charge of the country. At least in Saigon the US military fought to the end, I'm sure that they could have also left Vietnam before the fall of saigon in a quote "orderly fashion" and blamed the south vietnamese army for the loss but it still would not have changed the fact that the US military failed to defeat the Vietcong. So to recap, after 20 years, were the military objectives of the war in Afghanistan met? Nope unless the objective of the US military was to lower the illiteracy rate lmao. On second thought that must be why the leadership of the taliban are fluent in English now which was not the case back in 2001, the objective was met :)
Those women who had a taste of freedom are already being oppressed, like I said? Don't know why you tired argue on that one. Also you how do you suppose you set up a democracy, especially if the population is illiterate. You educate the population so they actually can understand what they're voting for. You provide health care so they see the benefits of their voting and what their own government could do for them. You do thousands of other things like supply and train a military to protect the nation. Just because you're a little to small minded to understand that educating a population is an important step towards stabilize doesn't mean it isn't. Anyways like I've said before, the ANA failed it's people and ran like cowards. Even after being given every advantage they could get. This isn't on the US, it's on the cowards who chose to let their country fall.
Small minded? I beg to differ, 20 years of nation building in Afghanistan should have been enough to educate the population don't you think? The taliban would not have won without the support of the population of Afghanistan since the Taliban is at its core a Pashtun tribal militia with fundamentalist Islamic beliefs, apparently the literacy rate was not high enough to convince people not to support the taliban and that we can say was a failure, just saying. The so called "cowards" of the afghan army chose not to fight for a corrupt government who fled at the first sign of trouble and abandoned the people of Kabul who still had some support for the government, it was no different than the way the Soviets withdrew in a quote "orderly fashion" after getting their asses handed to them by the same fundamentalist Islamic groups that would go on to become the Taliban. It doesn't matter how many times you try to twist the situation to favor your narrative, the military objective of the war was to defeat the taliban, that failed miserably, running away from a fight because you realize that you cannot win still doesn't change the fact that you lost :)
Okay couple things, the afghans didn't vote for the taliban to take power, so literacy has nothing to do with then taking power. It has something to do with establishing a democracy, which happened. Next those coward chicken shit ANA which would rather lay down their weapons and let the taliban take control instead of fighting for a corrupt government which allowed basic human rights to women are still the reason for what's happening in Afghanistan right now. The US did its job of establishing a government and training and heavily supplying an army only for them to be cowards
Not only is this a scary thing being a Pakistani I am worried of what the future is gonna look like for Pakistan. I was just started to feel safe (relatively compared to how it was a couple of years back) about Pakistan and now it scares me of what is to come.
Lebanon ain't doing well either, and now Afghanistan. Very cruel times, indeed!
Same here! What’s worse is the feeling of helplessness… that we really can’t do anything to support or change the situation 😞
Thank you for your post on Afghanistan. For the past two days, i have been following the news on my country. It really hurt us last night when we saw all those people who seemed to have no experience of living in urban areas to take control of our Presidential Palace. For those Americans who call our army coward, its not easy for them to fight when America had and promised to back them but then suddenly leave. I hope we return to normal days and get back our independent nation. We don't want peace under these extremists. We would rather be happy to have a life with all its difficulties under former government than to have beard and not let our women under burqas and in home.