We went to war twenty years ago in Afghanistan because the Taliban were a terrorist organization that did not have legitimacy to rule and harbored Al Qaeda. Now, twenty years later, we are negotiating with them to allow them to rule again. Because, as we all know, once we’re out of there, they will do whatever the hell they want.
So given that the Taliban is still pretty terroristic, and given that we are about to hand them a destroyed country while wishing them the best of luck, what exactly have we accomplished there?
Well, we have created a generation of wounded soldiers – soldiers with TBI, missing limbs, PTSD – soldiers who come home and kill them selves in heartbreaking numbers – soldiers who return from combat wounded beyond belief – mothers, fathers, spouses who weep for those who will not return.
And what have we accomplished? We hand back the country our guns and bombs destroyed to the same group we went in to abolish. We achieve no greater success than we did in VietNam. We support with our military and billions of dollars the one country – Saudi Arabia – that gave us the majority of terrorists that destroyed the World Trade Center. And we destroy the country that had the misfortune to have Al Qaeda in their midst.
So once again we have proven that despite our vaunted military power, we are basically helpless to effect real change in other countries. Hell, we barely can effect change in our own country. Our military can bomb the shit out of countries and destroy them. What our military can’t do, what we can’t do, is then build that country back up according to our way of thinking.
We spend the majority of our budget each year either on the military or on programs that support our military. Our budget for things that blow up and go boom in the night is astronomical. And not one cent has been spent to really protect us in over fifty years.
VietNam – didn’t protect us. Gave my generation a group of wounded warriors, defoliated a country, achieved nothing.
First Gulf War – only because we wanted their oil. It didn’t really threaten us as much as it threatened every nation dependent on oil. We were just the mercenaries who went in to make sure the oil was safe.
War on Terror – let’s see, we are handing Afghanistan back to the Taliban. ISIS is still a force in the middle East. Iraq is now asking us to get the hell out. No country in the middle East that we have sent troops to has had a successful outcome. And terrorists are still a problem except that now the worse terrorists are white racists in hoods.
So congratulations, America. Another useless war leading to heartbreaking injuries with no discernible win in sight. Imagine if we’d spent that money on infrastructure or schools… a girl can dream, can’t she?