The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Afghanistan and Chicago

Posted on | August 15, 2021 | Comments Off on Afghanistan and Chicago

“I don’t know what everybody thought would happen. It’s literally history repeating itself. . . . No foresight in what enemy was being fought. Conventional war doesn’t beat an insurgency, period.”

Such is the sober assessment of what’s happening in Afghanistan from one military source who has seen that particular s***hole country. There seems to be a general feeling in the military that after achieving the original objective of the mission in Afghanistan — chasing al-Qaeda out of the country — the objective was then changed to something that was never going to happen, i.e., creating a modern “democracy” there.

Longtime national security adviser K.T. McFarland says:

The truth is the Afghan war was lost 19 years ago when we switched from our original mission of destroying Al Qaeda to a new mission – nation building a modern Afghanistan.
Our leaders wanted to turn one of the most backward, corrupt, illiterate, desolate, tribal countries in the world into a democracy that would rebuff Al Qaeda.
Our military efforts were doomed from the start when we tried to create a sophisticated Afghan military that relied on American forces, air support and intelligence.
Our original goal in Afghanistan was straightforward – kill those who killed our people. We sent a small contingent of American special forces in right after the Sept. 11 attacks and they succeeded brilliantly.
Within three months our troops, working alongside Afghan tribal leaders, destroyed most of Al Qaeda. They had the few hundred remaining fighters surrounded, including Usama Bin Laden, huddled in the caves of the Hindu Kush mountains separating Afghanistan from Pakistan.
Instead of finishing them off then and there or pursuing them through the mountains and into the tribal regions of Pakistan to destroy them, we inexplicably let them slip away.
We paid Pakistan handsomely, year after year, to finish off Al Qaeda for us. While they happily pocketed our aid, they never went after Bin Laden, and let his organization survive and even grow.
Instead, we stuck around Afghanistan consumed by Mission Impossible. We lost over 2,000 Americans, tens of thousands of Americans were injured, and over a trillion dollars wasted.

Remember the elections in Afghanistan? All those women voters with purple ink on their fingers? That was a very bad omen. Given all the misery caused by “women’s rights” in America, why did anyone think it was a good idea to impose “women’s rights” on Afghanistan?

K.T. McFarland mentions the casualties. In the worst year in Afghanistan, 2010, the U.S. suffered 440 troops killed in action.

So far this year in Chicago, 480 people have been shot to death.

When will the U.S. begin its withdrawal from Chicago?

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

And perhaps I should point out that Chicago is known to harbor anti-American terrorists. But why bring up Bill Ayers at this late date?




 

Category: Foreigners, Joe Biden, Military

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