Afghanistan Failure

Writing about the United States withdrawal, more resembling dismal surrender, from the twenty-year-war in Afghanistan is going to be difficult as a United States Army veteran, as a human being viewing great suffering, and as a citizen of one of the nations potentially placed into danger of increasing terrorism. Almost every single update reveals new information about who knew what and when, who ordered such a large amount of top-line military equipment to be surrendered to the Taliban and other acts of incompetent malfeasance. Even listing each and every failure over the last six-weeks, if not six-months, is next to impossible as they are legion. Still, there are the few errors which are so far beyond the pale that they stick out head and shoulders above the rest, and we will examine a few errors and ramifications of the Biden pullout from Afghanistan.

Probably the greatest of tactical military blunders is the surrendering of Bagram Air Base which led directly to the liberation of Parwan Detention Facility and the thousands of terrorists and America’s enemies detained therein. The release of these ‘people of interest’ into a population where they can melt away only to form-up and plot attacks on the Western World, Israel and especially opposing Arab and Islamic nations not following the Taliban version of strict Shariah should be a concern for everyone. Also, about the surrender of Bagram Air Base also muted any ability for immediate responses to any situation using air power. This was probably the second largest reason for the apparent chaos around Kabul International Airport and its single runway. Bagram Air Base, by comparison, has a pair of longer runways and is located centered in open area making defense far superior to the situation in central Kabul. Lastly, the majority of plans provided to President Biden included retaining the Bagram Air Base in order to retain deterrence against the reforming of the terror groups including but not limited to ISIS, al-Qaeda and the Taliban and project real power for any future situations including terrorist plots to attack the American mainland.

Hamid Karzai International Airport Last Call in Afghanistan

 We have read about how military advantage after advantage surrendered away by President Biden gave the appearance that the obvious ineptness was intentional. The Taliban rapidly and steadily took control of regions including numerous major cities and regional capitals. Refusing to retain control of Kabul, the American plan was to hold only the airport and surrender control over who reached Kabul International Airport to the Taliban. This led directly to the catastrophic terror bombing at one of the gates killing thirteen American service heroes and nearly two-hundred Afghanis including numerous children while injuring numbers beyond those reported by the media. As far as many could ascertain, the sole overarching motivation pressing decisions made during the withdrawal appeared to be which is the fastest means to get all military forces back to the Embassy and Kabul International Airport, subsequently only the airport after losing the Embassy. These plans were the reason there was no pushback to the Taliban advance and performed with such urgency that a vacuum was left in the wake of the withdrawal allowing for the collapse of all Afghani forces who were being denied the necessary air cover and support they depended upon.

The most egregious malfeasance was leaving United States citizens, and to a slightly less extent our Afghan allies and translators, behind on the ground and behind Taliban enemy lines. There should have been numerous escort squads of United States Rangers allowed to go out into the Taliban controlled regions in order to bring every last American out who desired to leave Afghanistan. Please do not believe the mistruths and propaganda which claims that only one or two-hundred Americans remaining in Afghanistan under total Taliban and other terror groups rule as the math does not balance. We were initially informed that ten to fifteen thousand American citizens remained in Afghanistan desiring to be taken home as promised by American Military Code. Only orders from the Commander in Chief, General of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of Defense or Central Command in the Pentagon would allow for such actions. Now the United States Military, one of if not the finest in the world, has to wear the stain of leaving Americans behind to the tender mercies of the Taliban, et al. The only pertinent item affecting us directly is the placing of ourselves and all Israelis in greater danger of renewed and rejuvenated terror attacks from Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Sinai Peninsula, Syria, Jordan or from the Mediterranean Sea. Further, the weaponry, including combat vehicles, C17’s, Blackhawk Helicopters, machine guns, armored vehicles, night vision scopes, sniper rifles and unbelievable amounts of other material and supporting materials as all of Bagram Air Base was left completely intact will be used against the free world. There are and were so many egregious blunders committed during the withdrawal and ensuing vetting of thousands of Afghanis who had received no clearance or even background checks, that it pains us to even think about the entirety of the Afghanistan disaster, let alone writing about them. Thus, we will allow the news, for the time being, to try and ignore Afghanistan as if it occurred years ago.

Beyond the Cusp

Obama Initiates Countdown to Horrific Afghanistan Civil War

President Obama stated in his recent State of the Union Address, “When I took office, nearly 180,000 Americans were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, all our troops are out of Iraq. More than sixty-thousands of our troops have already come home from Afghanistan. With Afghan forces now in the lead for their own security, our troops have moved to a support role. Together with our allies, we will complete our mission there by the end of this year, and America’s longest war will finally be over.” The statement ignores the reality that though the participation of American and allied troops will have ended, the war in Iraq continues to escalate and the war in Afghanistan is heating up simply waiting for the Americans to completely depart from operations to begin a full blown civil war to decide who will take control in Afghanistan. Taking the open civil war engulfing Iraq first, one needs to realize that the Sunni center of the nation has fallen to al-Qaeda with their central power being in the Anbar Province and Fallujah, some of the names that represent some of the hardest won victories for the American troops during the Iraq War. The fact that all of the gains won by the sacrifice and dedication of the United States military troops and with the equally praiseworthy sacrifice given by their families have been squandered needlessly and without a second thought by the Administration of President Obama is enough to make any patriot ill. The truth behind this story is indicative of the entirety of President Obama’s lack of concern or attention of all things foreign policy.

 

The only requirement that fell at President Obama’s feet was to negotiate a continuance for a reserve force to remain in what is referred to as a Status of Forces Agreement. With such an agreement there would have been a contingency of American forces remaining in country with one mission, to assure that the hard won victories and the hard work putting Iraq on the road to becoming a functioning democratically based nation where the differences between people and groups are worked out peaceably through debate and political measures. Instead, without any American presence, the Iraqis returned to their historic measures of solving differences, the use of force and violence. The Shiites took control of the government after arresting or chasing off the Sunni members in the government which ignited the beginning of a civil war and the return of al-Qaeda to Iraq. The violence has been steadily building and Iraq threatens to become simply another front in the Shiite-Sunni civil war in neighboring Syria. The two sides will be backed by the same outside forces with Iran and the IRGC allied with the Shiites and al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood in support of the Sunnis. This is exactly the same situation faced by the Iraqi people under Saddam Hussein with the tables turned with the Shiites now in control of the government suppressing the Sunni minority which were the oppressive government under Saddam Hussein victimizing the non-Sunni population.

 

There is one gain, one victory, made by the investment made with the blood, sweat and tears of the American efforts in Iraq which owes nothing to President Obama. This victory is in the northern providences of Iraq. These areas are under Kurdish autonomous rule who also formed their own military and took control of their own destiny. The Kurds probably faced the worst under Saddam Hussein and took responsibility for their own security and only participated in the government in a spirit of Iraqi unity. Now that the government no longer honors that unity, the Kurds have simply closed their southern border with the rest of the nation and created a virtual Kurdistan though they have yet to attempt to establish an independent nation. The world should now fulfill a promise made to the Kurdish people after the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I and allow the establishment of Kurdistan. The British reneged on their promise to the Kurds in order to incorporate the northern oil fields in a greater Iraq in order to obtain the rights for Getty Oil. The time has come to correct that wrong and finally make good on the promise to an ancient people and give them back their homeland and their culture.

 

In Afghanistan the story parallels Iraq as Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is currently refusing to sign a Status of Forces Agreement demanding that President Obama take whatever steps are required to assure his reelection as President before signing the agreement. This difficulty has come to be simply because President Karzai does not fear or respect United States President Obama. The loss of trust between the two men began when President Obama began to conduct negotiations with the Taliban attempting to arrange some sharing of power agreement behind President Karzai’s back. This resulted in President Karzai returning the favor and conducting his own secretive negotiations with the Taliban. Meanwhile, the Taliban figured out that there was trouble in Afghanistan’s future and that would enable them to return to power if they simply out waited the United States and swept in once the last American troops had gone home. So the Taliban broke off negotiations with the United States and strung along President Karzai and are apparently biding their time before turning Afghanistan into the next Iraq or Syria. There have already been signs of increasing violence in Afghanistan and it will likely only grow worse with time. Afghanistan has been a nation of often warring tribes since before Alexander the Great rode in and forced a peace by marrying off the daughters of a number of his generals to the many tribes and then forcing them to keep the others under control. This was Alexander’s attempt to untie the Gordian Knott, by cleaving it in half with a sword, not exactly tactful. Afghanistan can be expected to return to tumultuous violence soon after the last American and allied troop departs and there does not appear to be much that President Obama is going to do to alter the situation. As the Americans continue to return home, or be sent to Africa as some Afghanistan veterans have been diverted, the clock will slowly tick towards a civil war in Afghanistan.

 

Meanwhile, it appears that the slow and inexorable buildup will be starting across Africa with United States forces being deployed to Mali and thirty-four other African nations to train and prepare the indigenous military forces who are possibly facing potential violence. Gen. David Rodriguez, the head of U.S. Army Forces Command told the AP “If they want them for (military) operations, the brigade is our first sourcing solution because they’re prepared. But that has to go back to the secretary of defense to get an execute order.” Other troops will be heading to Libya, Sudan, Algeria, Kenya and Niger in order to prepare for advances from al-Qaeda linked forces. Additionally and ominously, American forces will be returning to Somalia, reportedly, in order to stand up to al-Shabab terrorist militants. Perhaps President Obama is on the leading edge of placing American troops in another conflict, this time across most of Africa enveloping much of the continent and not simply a nation or two as President George W. Bush accomplished. I wonder when these troop assignments will enter the regular news cycle or will the American public wake up one morning to reports of a conflict with across the African continent with total American involvement in over thirty nations. All this from the President who declared al-Qaeda on the run, finished as a force needing to be contained and the war on terror won and completed. Somebody may need to tell the Defense Department that the War on Terror is over so they can stop fighting it, or tell the American people the truth for once, pick one.

 

Beyond the Cusp