18 years of war in Afghanistan: the retreating Trump incompetent America

On September 1, the United States held a ninth round of negotiations with the Taliban and was close to reaching a peace agreement. On September 7, Donald Trump suddenly stopped the peace talks with the Taliban and cancelled the secret meeting with the Taliban representatives and the Afghan president at Camp David on the 8th. As for the reason, he explained that the Taliban made an explosion in Kabul on the 5th that caused the death of American soldiers.

The bombings made by the Taliban are being staged every year, and casualties are not uncommon. The death of an American soldier will stop the negotiations, and I am afraid that it will only lead to greater and greater retaliation. The Taliban has already threatened: Americans will suffer more losses than anyone else.

In July 2018, the Trump administration sought direct negotiations with the Taliban. By September 1, 2019, the two sides had conducted nine rounds of negotiations. According to Zalmay Khalilzad, the US government’s Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation, the United States and the Taliban have reached an agreement in principle. The details of the agreement revealed by the media are that the United States will withdraw about 5,000 people within 135 days, and the Taliban promised that Afghanistan will not become a habitat for extremist organizations after the withdrawal of US troops.

At the same time, he stopped talking with the Taliban and was not willing to completely end the negotiations. The entanglement of the United States on the Afghan issue shows that it still does not have a solution.

Only the three commanders of the army and the withdrawal of the army

Trump originally planned to meet with the Afghan president and Taliban representatives at Camp David, inviting fierce opposition from former US national security adviser John Bolton and members of Congress. He can only give up. On the spur of making decisions, once the setbacks are brought back to the original point, there is no substantive solution, Trump is like this, as did the former US President George Walker Bush and Barack Obama.

In 2001, the “9.11” terrorist attack broke out. At that time, US President George W. Bush made “anti-terrorism” a diplomatic focus. In October of that year, he launched a military offensive against Afghanistan. In a short period of time, he overthrew the Taliban regime and hit Al Qaeda. At that time, with the strong offensive capabilities of the United States and the results achieved at the beginning of the war, the United States thought that it could be quick and quick.

But backfired, the devastating Taliban guerrilla warfare, and then seized the opportunity of the United States to provoke the Iraq war, quickly reorganized and counterattacked in eastern and southern Afghanistan. In 2008, George W. Bush stepped down and the United States sent 50,000 soldiers to Afghanistan. The anti-terrorism front has continued to stretch, the security situation in Afghanistan has not improved, and the Afghan government supported by the United States has difficulty in effectively governing the entire territory.

Bush left a mess to his successor, Obama. In order to fulfill the political commitment of “ending the two wars”, Obama made the “new US strategy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan” two months after he took office, and increased his troops to Afghanistan. In 2010, the US military in Afghanistan has reached 10 Million.

In May 2011, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was shot dead. Obama saw it as a landmark victory in Afghanistan and the war entered the final stage. At the end of 2014, Obama announced the official end of the war in Afghanistan and plans to withdraw all US troops stationed in Afghanistan at the end of 2016. However, the withdrawal of the United States from Iraq has led to the rapid growth of the extremist organization “Islamic State” (ISIS). The anti-terrorism situation in Afghanistan has become more and more serious. The plan for Obama’s withdrawal from Afghanistan has to slow down again and again until the resignation, and the US military in Afghanistan maintains about 8,400.

Trump came to power. He himself has always had a negative attitude toward the war in Afghanistan. He has repeatedly said that he wants to withdraw his troops in Afghanistan. In August 2017, he announced the “Afghan New Strategy”. Without withdrawing troops, he increased his troops by 3,500. Today, Trump is entangled in whether to withdraw troops or whether to reach an agreement with the Taliban.

Eighteen years ago, George W. Bush opened the war in Afghanistan. Eighteen years later, the United States still did not stop for the war. Although Obama and Trump have put forward various strategies on the Afghan issue, their focus is either to increase their troops or to withdraw their troops. They think that this can be done once and for all, and they have not really formulated a long-term and effective strategy for the post-Afghanistan era. As a result, the problem has not been solved, and the situation has become more chaotic. The strategies of several presidents have failed, and the United States has to continue to pay for it.

The United States underestimates the complexity of war

The United States has been in the quagmire of the Afghan war for 18 years, and the United States is by no means the first country to be in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is known as the “empire cemetery.” In modern times, the British expedition to Afghanistan three times finally recognized Afghanistan’s independence in 1919. The Soviet Union is a forerunner of the past, and after 10 years of fighting, it will not leave, and eventually will leave. The United States and Afghanistan have struggled for 18 years and still have no results, indicating that it has not learned the lesson.

From the geographical point of view, the conditions in Afghanistan are very bad, the mountains are high-risk and difficult to pass, and the arid climate and barren land are not conducive to human survival. During the war, these unfavorable conditions will also become favorable conditions. For example, the guerrilla mode adopted by the Taliban through the caves. Although the United States has high-definition fighter planes flying over Afghanistan, it is still difficult to grasp the Taliban’s whereabouts.

The United States underestimated the complexity of the war. Like the British and Soviet Unions in the past, they thought they could have a strong military strength. This self-confidence and obsession with military hegemony has made the United States a dilemma on the Afghan issue.

Furthermore, Afghanistan is a country in which ethnic and religious relations are intertwined. The United States has always added its own “democracy” and “freedom” to Afghanistan, thinking that this is the antidote to Afghanistan. As everyone knows, Afghanistan will be unacceptable, and the model pursued by the United States will not work.

The war in Afghanistan lasted for 18 years and has become the longest war in the history of the United States. The United States was succumbing to the Korean War and the Vietnam War, as was the Afghan war. After eating a long, wise, the United States did not win these wars. These wars did not wake the United States. The United States was still struggling in the quagmire of war. This superpower in Afghanistan is embarrassing. It is time for the United States to reflect on itself.