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The Goal Was Never to “Win” in Afghanistan.
It was always endless war.
The last plane carrying American troops has left Afghanistan, bringing an end to the longest war the country has ever been in. Of course, there has been no shortage of commentary, particularly coming from the right wing and the mainstream media circles, eager to focus on the “chaos” and former generals turned defense contractors arguing that America is now “less safe”. Except, there’s a follow up question that never tends to be asked.
Aside from remaining in Afghanistan forever, what is the alternative?
What would people lamenting our departure from Afghanistan rather we do instead? Would they rather we stay there forever? Would they rather we maintain our presence even though the theoretical objective of catching and killing Osama Bin Laden was achieved over a decade ago? Wasn’t that supposedly the whole point of being there in the first place? Have they forgotten that before we even entered the country, the Taliban essentially surrendered and offered Bin Laden, but we rejected it and invaded anyways?
Ah, but they don’t care, because for the powers that be, it was never about “winning” the war, was it? It wasn’t about simply getting Osama Bin Laden. It was never about making America “safe”. It was about endless war and conflict in the pursuit of profits for defense contractors, and the beating of the war drums that continues to dominate the discourse as we leave only makes that more apparent. Twenty years. Twenty long years of wasting time, resources, and lives. Twenty years of sowing instability, destruction, and endless conflict so that a few executives can make a buck. How could anyone in good conscience argue that we should still be there?
My facebook feed has been flooded with images of the 13 marines who lost their lives. Flooded with their stories, and coupled with text that details the last text messages they supposedly sent their mothers. But rarely, if ever, are the lives of Afghans also brought up. I have yet to see anyone sharing these images argue that we should not have even be there in the first place, especially after all this time.
If conservatives and neoliberals had it their way, my generation’s grandchildren would have boots on the ground in the middle east. They wouldn’t care if this never ended or about the lives lost in the process, and the sooner we acknowledge that the better. As I’ve said before, there was never going to be a smooth exit. Frankly I’m not sure those who started it ever intended for there to be one in the first place. There was no “winning” a war on terror, especially when our presence only fueled the forces we were supposedly fighting against. But, isn’t that how it was always supposed to work?
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