Despite Afghanistan Withdrawal, U.S. Hasn't Learned Its Lesson
Biden's withdrawal from an ugly war was always going to be ugly, and credit must be given to the fact that he followed through. However, there is no sign we've stopped trying to turn blood into money.
For two decades, the war in Afghanistan was an ugly display of deception, greed, and heartlessness. For 20 years, without the public being entirely aware of its true nature, the war continued year after year costing the lives of over a million, and for what? Are Americans expected to think it was for the greater good? For democracy? For progress?
In 2019, through the Freedom of Information Act, a trove of documents were compiled showing the false realities prolonging the Afghanistan War and the concerted effort to keep those clandestine truths out of the public view with false narratives and statistics. The accumulation of the documents lead to the publishing of a Washington Post article entitled At War with Truth written by Craig Whitlock, which brought to many people's attention the confirmed horrific and useless operation our military was undertaking, including the seemingly widespread knowledge the Afghan Security Forces and the Afghan government were falsely inflated with hot air.
The whole intent for the presidents, cabinet leaders, and generals who participated in this decades-long deception campaign was to make it appear the war was not only necessary, but also going very well.
As we know, this was not the reality. And that's why the withdrawal— as ugly as it was— needed to occur.
This was a grotesque war and it was only natural that it would end with a grotesque screech of the long-awaited curtains to be drawn. Therefore credit needs to be given to actually drawing them closed.
Back in April, President Biden announced the intention to follow through with the withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of the summer. As noted in this space, there was certainly a heavy dose of pressure headed Biden's way to push him to not follow through. From generals to the media to various leaders, that pressure was felt in the form of grim warnings about the Taliban, about the wellbeing of Afghans, and about the overall security of the region.
What those warnings neglected was that all the potential dangers were a result of America in the first place— who funded the Mujiahadeen rebellion which lead to extremism (Al-Qaeda) and the Taliban takeover shortly after the Soviets left— and that pulling out— no matter how messy— is the only way to stop any further infliction of this endless cycle of fear, anxiety, and bloodshed.
This is why Biden's decision to stick by his withdrawal needs to be given the applause it deserves. And many agree.
It was horrific, though. Like the sharp jab of a knife, the agonizing removal of the blade brings with it a bloody scene. And it inexcusably unfolded on the back of a failure— spanning a year and a half— to assess and prevent the ensuing chaos.
Before we knew it the Afghan Security Forces were defeated and President Ghani was in Tajikistan with 169 million U.S. dollars. Mobs of Afghans were seen desperately trying to flee the nation flooded the airwaves and social media timelines. Billions of dollars in U.S. weapons and technology were in the hands of the Taliban. And our leaders— namely Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Gen. Lloyd Austin, and Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley— were apparently mistaken about the expediency of the whole matter.
Needless to say, even though it was a positive move, the whole thing— the withdrawal from an endless conflict that was damaging our nation and the lives of people in other countries while the powerful few reaped their rewards— could not have gone any worse in terms of thoroughness and especially optics.
The United States spent $83 billion over two decades on the Afghan Security Forces. In 2013, then-Lt. Gen. Mark Milley claimed that in terms of the Afghanistan War, the media and thus the nation was failing to recognize the efficacy of the forces. "This army and this police force have been very, very effective in combat against the insurgents every single day," Milley told reporters eight years ago.
Despite the rapid Taliban takeover that the world witnessed, in the lead up to their conquest, one would have been lead to believe this would not occur, or at least not this fast. Biden, Blinken, Austin, and, perhaps most of all, Milley contributed to this perception.
In June, with the focus still radiating around "white rage," Milley was asked by Rep. Seth Moulton if there was a plan at the ready in case the services chief were to evacuate Afghanistan.
"We have the military capability to do whatever’s directed by the President of United States with respect to our allies and those that have worked with us," Milley responded, with reassurance.
In early July, Secretary Blinken was asked about the possibility of a declining security in Afghanistan after U.S. troops are withdrawn, he said "I don’t think it’s going to be something that happens from a Friday to a Monday."
Shortly after that, Biden remained adamant that a Taliban takeover was not a surefire conclusion, saying "the Afghan government and leadership . . . clearly have the capacity to sustain the government in place." He then denied that his intelligence community was warning of the opposite.
The President was pressed later by a reporter about the potential parallels with Vietnam, to which Biden cast aside the worry in a manner that seemed fitting for a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode. "The Taliban is not ... the North Vietnamese army. They’re not — they’re not remotely comparable in terms of capability. There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy in the — of the United States from Afghanistan. It is not at all comparable."
Later in July, Milley and Lloyd Austin spoke at a press briefing. There, Austin laid out the picture that there was an anticipated future for the Security Forces and Afghan government.
"We remain committed to protecting our diplomatic presence in Afghanistan and to providing funding to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, and to advising Afghan security ministries, and to preventing the — the reemergence of transnational terrorist organizations," Austin said of the situation.
At the same press briefing, Milley offered a similar outlook with an added emphasis on the supposed capabilities of the Security Forces. "The Afghan Security Forces have the capacity to sufficiently fight and defend their country, and we will continue to support the Afghan Security Forces where necessary in accordance with the guidance from the president and the secretary of defense," he said, adding that "a Taliban automatic military takeover, is not a forgone conclusion."
Gen. Milley seemed to wobble on the issue a little, for later he noted the momentum of the Taliban and the possibility of a takeover:
"And roughly speaking ... a significant amount of territory has been seized over the course of six, eight, 10 months ... by the Taliban. So ... strategic momentum appears to be sort of with the Taliban.
...
"There's a possibility of a negotiated outcome that's still out there. There's a possibility of a complete Taliban takeover or a possibility of any number of other scenarios — breakdowns, warlordism, all kinds of other scenarios that are out there."
Even now, the looks of surprise remain.
Why were they so wrong? Were they honest mistakes? Or were they concerted deceptions embedded with other intentions? No one can say for sure without proper evidence, of course, and speculation is unhelpful, but either we have a wholly incompetent leadership and military or we have other problems worth drinking about. The U.S. was, after all, failing to secure the two-mile road between the Kabul airport and the embassy, so incompetence is a possibility. But then again, such lofty mistakes usually end up in resignations, but nothing of the sort seems as if it is going to happen in a country where failing upward is a favorite pastime of the powerful.
Even in Biden's speech— where he did say some key facts that no president in the "war on terror" era ever said— he seemed quick to blame the Afghans as if the Security Forces and the Ghani government were acting freely from the United States.
No accountability to be found here, folks. All we have now is a public relations nightmare and a need to take in hundreds of thousands of refugees.
But withdrawing had to happen.
The reality dictates that not withdrawing would have broken the peace agreement— known as the Doha Agreement— with the Taliban that was made 18 months prior during the Trump administration. Doing so would have defied the deal and immediately put American and other lives at immediate risk.
Not to mention the fact the war was a complete sham to enrich the powerful that was presented as some phony mission to restore democracy. Though Biden admitted, correctly so, that the mission of the U.S. in Afghanistan "was never supposed to have been nation building," that was what the people were sold by the media who performed crowd control for the military industrial complex and the powerful agencies and individuals that profit heavily from it.
They won big, even with these ugly scenes of withdrawal.
In a piece published on Foreign Policy and written by C. Christine Fair, an associate professor at Georgetown University’s security studies program, it was noted that, as of late June, the U.S. was spending roughly $144.98 billion for "reconstruction and other related activities in Afghanistan since fiscal year 2002."
While saying that's a lot is an understatement, the investment was not lost:
"Although these numbers are staggering, much of U.S. investment did not stay in Afghanistan. Because of heavy reliance on a complex ecosystem of defense contractors, Washington banditry, and aid contractors, between 80 and 90 percent of outlays actually returned to the U.S. economy. Of the 10 to 20 percent of the contracts that remained in the country, the United States rarely cared about the efficacy of the initiative."
The return on investment specifically for the five leading weapons manufacturers was massive:
Even as the correct decision was made in the end regarding the presence of coalition forces, it is clear the U.S. has not really learned anything. In fact, we are bound to commit the same atrocities again because there's so much financial opportunity for the powerful.
Those who are to blame— those who profit from this beyond scummy game— are also the ones decrying this withdrawal and losing their minds over the loss of their channel of cash flow. They are the ones who benefitted from it, and they are the ones who will benefit from any further warfare.
Even before the Afghanistan Papers, WikiLeaks published the Afghan War Logs which highlighted the secret reality of this seemingly endless war. Julian Assange even highlighted the massive lie in 2011:
The fact is that war is one of the biggest and exploitative generators of cash for the already powerful. Tax payer money, innocent lives, an entire country and it's natural minerals, and want-to-do-right people are all claimed and misused by a select few who turn it around into personal gain. And this nation's powerful have a keen hunger for such dividends.
Recall, in 2007, when Democracy Now! interviewed Gen. Wesley Clark where the general described the days and weeks following 9/11 and the complex, sinister blueprints for a seven nation plan of regime change— of aggressive and profitable use of combat. (Below the video is a transcript of the clip.)
About 10 days after 9/11, I went through the Pentagon, and I saw Secretary Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. I went downstairs just to say hello to some of the people on the Joint Staff who used to work for me, and one of the generals called me in. He said, “Sir, you’ve got to come in and talk to me a second.” I said, “Well, you’re too busy.” He said, “No, no.” He says, “We’ve made the decision we’re going to war with Iraq.” This was on or about the 20th of September. I said, “We’re going to war with Iraq? Why?” He said, “I don’t know.” He said, “I guess they don’t know what else to do.” So I said, “Well, did they find some information connecting Saddam to al-Qaeda?” He said, “No, no.” He says, “There’s nothing new that way. They just made the decision to go to war with Iraq.” He said, “I guess it’s like we don’t know what to do about terrorists, but we’ve got a good military, and we can take down governments.” And he said, “I guess if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem has to look like a nail.”
So I came back to see him a few weeks later, and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan. I said, “Are we still going to war with Iraq?” And he said, “Oh, it’s worse than that.” He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, “I just got this down from upstairs” — meaning the secretary of defense’s office — “today.” And he said, “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” I said, “Is it classified?” He said, “Yes, sir.” I said, “Well, don’t show it to me.”
It's highly unlikely that America has learned any valuable lesson about wars and the desires for regime change— the profit motive is still present. And even with the withdrawal, there are, as Gen. Clark noted, plenty of other places to perform this bloody kind of business.
In the aftermath of the withdrawal, it was hard not to hear about Taiwan, whether it's an establishment media outlet hypocritically complaining about China's concept of provocations (earlier this month, the U.S. did approve a $750 million arms sale to the island of Taiwan which prompted Chinese military drills) or some CNN schmuck thinking he's profound (by essentially likening higher aggression with wider spread peace, ludicrously).
Concerns among the mainstream media and the powerful extend to Israel, too.
It's also worth noting that the United States is continuing its dirty war on the people of Syria, depriving innocent people of essential food, goods, and services.
The Biden administration has also notably performed multiple bombing campaigns in mineral-rich, and geographically-strategic Somalia, a nation with a 70% poverty rate.
And with the way the media's covering this whole withdrawal, don't take Afghanistan off the table completely— there are plenty who want to reverse the withdrawal.
Really, though, the simple truth is that America's powerful will always find a way to turn blood into money.
Was the Afghanistan War about democracy and progress? Absolutely not. It was about utilizing the atrocities of war to transfer wealth into the pockets of a few powerful people and companies. And the culmination of such an disgusting two-decade mess was of course going to be equally atrocious.
Even as this chapter in Afghanistan seems to be coming to a close, there are many more to be written because egregious levels of power are never quite sufficient for those on top, and there is plenty of room for further narrative manipulation and lies.
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