The attack which killed American soldiers and Afghan citizens through a suicide bomber is a horrific reminder of the horrors of war. The toll of this war from a human perspective has been borne by a small segment of the nation unlike World War II where most families were affected one way or another. Unfortunately, too many Americans have been lulled into a false sense of American know-how which changes to incredulity when something unexpected and unwanted occurs.
The media has been creating a narrative that does nothing to inform the public. The focus during the last two weeks while rightfully on the suicide bomber attack has been overly one sided. The chaos witnessed during the last two weeks stems out of twenty years of a failed policy not a flawed plan to evacuate. The critique that this could have been conducted better is nonsensical, irrational and puts focus on the wrong emphasis of this twenty year debacle.
Because of the advertising revenue base of news, the last few days are more reminiscent of the William Hearst sensationalizing which helped to create the conditions for the Spanish American war. The over emphasis on the suicide bombing has led a feeble minded public, that suffers from attention deficit disorder, to change their minds about the evacuation. It is interesting to note that no equal emotion has been shown about the almost two hundred thousand civilian Afghans killed since the NATO/US invasion.
The attack raises questions as to the rationale behind this. There are various possible scenarios. One is that Isis Khorasan wanted to embarrass the Taliban and send a clear message that they are not in charge. A second scenario is that Isis and the Taliban are in partnership to embarrass the United States. A third scenario could be that other external forces are determined to keep America in Afghanistan to keep the faucet of funds flowing to their coffers. One only has to recall the illegal intervention by then presidential candidate Richard Nixon into the Paris peace talks to give credence to this theory.
The attack by Isis Khorasan is not the first attack on the soil of Afghanistan. It is believed that this terrorist organization was responsible for killing pregnant women at a maternity ward last year as well as an attack on a funeral resulting in the deaths of thirty two people. In May it was reported that a car bomb killed at least ninety people. Most of the victims were young girls. All of these attacks were attributed to Isis-K.
Because the suicide attack took place in the context of the evacuation, the response has often been an immediate, emotional and irrational knee jerk reaction. Americans have too much of a Leave it to Beaver attitude when it comes to war and it’s consequences. Unfortunately, what should come as a surprise is that there has only been this one attack thus far as the evacuation draws down to an end. Some of the critique has been that the United States should have started earlier. The idiocy of that response cannot be overstated. Does anyone really believe that Isis-K which has been carrying out attacks prior to the evacuation would not have noticed the rush of C-17s coming in to take Americans and Afghans out of the country? Another critique has been whether the closing of Bagram Air Force base was a good idea. Bagram was open when those young girls were killed by Isis-K. Bagram was open when pregnant women were killed in a maternity ward. Bagram was open when according to the Washington Post, at the request of so-called military personnel on the ground in 2017 “The United States dropped the “mother of all bombs” — the most powerful conventional bomb in the American arsenal — on an Islamic State cave complex in Afghanistan on Thursday, the Pentagon said, unleashing a weapon so massive that it had to be dropped from the rear of a cargo plane.” Nonetheless, despite the bomb killing ninety Isis-K members and some civilians, Isis-K kept coming. What military genius on the ground believed that Isis-K wouldn’t attempt to exact vengeance at some point in time. Isis-K doesn’t play according to the Geneva convention.
Given the nature of Afghanistan’s history, and recent attacks that received little coverage, the fact that there will be attacks on the American military as it was leaving should not be a surprise to anyone. These attacks were going to happen. The inane sentiment of political commentators that this could have been planned better betrays a middle class arrogance about the nature of war and it’s consequences. Too often Americans view things through their middle class context formed by Hollywood endings which run contrary to reality.
As one looks at the history of Afghanistan, it has never been a cohesive society with a centralized government. While modern Afghanistan begins in the 18th century, it’s actual history dates back to 500 BCE. It has been overrun by military leaders such as Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great. It has been deemed as unconquerable and nicknamed in the 19th century as the “graveyard of empires.”
George Santayana said “those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it.”
Unfortunately, the United States fell victim to this axiom and is paying the cost in blood, money and maybe reputation in front of the whole world.
America fell prey to its own perceived military prowess in a situation for which it was not designed.
What the suicide attack will do is give a bullhorn to those whose economic fortunes are centered in the tentacles of the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned the country about over 50 years ago.
It may be cynical to give credence to a belief that the biggest advocates for remaining and critics of the evacuation are those who benefit the most from the military industrial complex. Nonetheless, when one looks at the money spent on this war, the sentiment is understandable. It may be too early to question the motives of Congresspersons Seth Moulton and Peter Meijer ill-advised trip to Afghanistan. Nonetheless, given the nature of politics it is fairly easy to credit it to political self aggrandizement and a desire for higher political office.
A great service that can be done for the public by major news organizations is a complete analysis of the financial ramifications of the last twenty years in Afghanistan.
Questions need to be asked and answered about what has the American treasure of two trillion dollars actually done for the safety of the American people. Questions need to be asked about companies like the Blackwater group which made billions off the war and even as of now it’s founder Eric Prince is charging people $6500 per person to get them out of Afghanistan.
The original sin was deviating from the original goal of capturing Osama bin Laden, who was actually captured in Pakistan, and not Afghanistan and working to limit terrorist organization’s ability to establish a base of operations. Those were the goals articulated by America yet its arrogance transformed into remaking the nation in its own image. Afghanistan was not destined to become a Jeffersonian democracy.
One has to get tired of the hand ringing from journalists from either side of the political spectrum. Politicians such as Ben Sasse and Kevin McCarthy who for political purposes are now engaging in kabuki theatre upon the graves of the soldiers who courageously gave their lives.
John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address said “Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside” In this case Afghanistan is the tiger that America and through history many nations tried to ride and wound up inside.
War is always about power hidden behind the veneer of righteousness and humanitarian concerns.While some of that may be present the reality is that war is always about self-interest in all of it’s various contexts.
President Biden made a decision that is the correct one even with the casualties. His armchair critics are wrong not only about their critique but the target of their critique as well.
The evacuation has largely been a success at a time when critics were saying the United States would be lucky to get forty thousand people out of the country. Nonetheless, one hundred and twenty thousand people have been evacuated thus far.
Unfortunately, Americans are easy to distract from the central issue which is that NATO/America invaded a sovereign nation.
Americans like their wars neat and without casualties at least any that they can see. They like the video game veneer of a bloodless encounter. They ignored the truth as laid out in the Afghanistan Papers, ignored the deaths of two hundred thousand Afghans and now may be thirsty for vengeance leading to an extended presence in the region.
Americans aided by the major media organizations from both political spectrums are now riveted to an event they ignored for almost twenty years as the deaths of American soldiers has pulled on their patriotic heartstrings. What is rarely said is that no one leaves a war unscathed. America was not leaving until Isis-K exacted what it rightly or wrongly considered it’s “pound of flesh.”
Perhaps if Americans want to place proper blame they should look no further than the person staring back in the mirror. Through their Rip Van Winkle complacency and neglect to call upon their political leaders (with the exception of Congresswoman Barbara Lee) to leave in 2002 when it’s stated mission had been completed, the public has blood on it’s hands.
Unfortunately, the American public likes simplistic and immediate rationales for anything that is contrarian to its infantile belief of American military and intellectual superiority. It needs to place blame on the nearest thing available in order to avoid a deeper understanding (including its own complicity) of the complexities of the nation’s policies and actions. While no plan is perfect, thirteen Americans were killed not because of bad planning of the evacuation but because of a war that should have ended years ago. To think otherwise is to ignore history, American military arrogance, critical analysis, and to set aside key lessons for America when it enters its next conflict.