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…
