After the bus carrying Pakistani girls, including a 15-year-old named Malala Yousafzai, was stopped in the street by armed members of the Taliban, one of the extremists demanded, “Who is Malala?” When her terrified classmates innocently looked in her direction, Malala—a bright and outspoken advocate for women’s and girls’ rights—was shot point-blank in the head and left to die.
By that horrific day in October, 2012, the United States had been at war with the Taliban and al-Qaeda terror groups in Afghanistan and the Swat region of Pakistan for exactly 11 years. Although a democratic form of government had been installed to replace the Taliban’s oppressive regime and Osama Bin Laden, the architect of the September 11 terrorist attacks, had been killed by U.S. Navy Seals, there was no end in sight to what would become America’s longest war.
Why did the United States continue to fight and risk American troops’ lives for another 9 years after the two main objectives of the War on Terror were accomplished?
Democracy had taken a tenuous hold in Afghanistan during President George W. Bush’s time in office, and Bin Laden was killed during President Obama’s first term. America should have withdrawn then, leaving the world better off than it had been in September, 2001. Nevertheless, the U.S. remained in the region.
President Trump had many faults, but he was right about one thing; the United States has no business fighting endless wars in foreign lands. In February, 2020, he negotiated a deal with the Taliban where the U.S. would leave Afghanistan by May of 2021, contingent upon the “Taliban’s action against al-Qaeda and other terrorists that could threaten us.” Under this agreement, the Afghan government would be forced to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners, which was of course a recipe for disaster. And so much for America’s policy of never negotiating with terrorists.
In the months leading up to the announced American withdrawal, multiple attacks on civilian and government targets were perpetrated by the Taliban, breaking the terms of the agreement. Yet President Biden decided to go ahead with plans to vacate the country, albeit at a postponed date of August, 2021.
President Biden has denied that he was informed by intelligence services that the weak Afghan government was likely to fall quickly to Taliban insurgents after America’s departure from the country. He said, “There’s going to be no circumstances where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy of the United States from Afghanistan.” He was, like so many world leaders who came before him, dead wrong about Afghanistan.
The Soviet Union fought an open-ended war against Muslim guerrillas in Afghanistan for 10 years, only to withdraw from a quagmire that cost around 15,000 Soviet troops’ lives. In the last 20 years, over 2,300 American troops and 1,700 U.S. civilian contractors have been killed in Afghanistan, and after all the bloodshed, (including the tragic deaths of 13 servicemembers last week), the United States is leaving the country as it found it in 2001—in the hands of the Taliban.
The last four American presidents each share some of the blame for the mess that is Afghanistan. Bush diverted our focus away from Afghanistan when he invaded Iraq. Obama decided to keep boots on the ground even after Bin Laden’s death. Trump released thousands of imprisoned terrorists and circled a date on the calendar for America’s withdrawal, which gave our enemies months to prepare to retake the country. And Biden lacked the political courage to ignore the deadline until every last American and Afghan vulnerable to Taliban reprisals was safely evacuated from the country.
The 300,000 rifle-dropping Afghan government soldiers who surrendered to the Taliban insurgents without a fight and the Afghan president who fled the country rather than stand with his people bear some responsibility, too.
The bulk of the blame for the state of affairs in Afghanistan is the Taliban themselves. These violent religious fanatics, who would have me killed for being an atheist and for being a freethinking member of the press, routinely murder anyone who disagrees with their ideologies. Just ask Malala. Miraculously, Malala survived the attempt on her life, and she has bravely continued to speak out on behalf of access to education for girls.
Though she is from Pakistan, Malala’s struggles for equality are also the struggles of girls and women in Afghanistan. The last time the Taliban was in power, females were not allowed out of their homes without a male relative to escort them. When outside, every inch of their bodies and faces had to be covered in fabric. They were not allowed to have jobs. They were not allowed to attend school. They were forced to marry and bear children against their will. They were, in every sense of the word, slaves to their male oppressors.
I agree that America needs to end its forever war in Afghanistan. I just wish that we would have done so when the Taliban was at its weakest 17 or 18 years ago, instead of now when it is stronger than ever. My heart breaks for the innocent people of Afghanistan—especially women and girls.
I am also heartbroken for the nearly half-million American servicemen and women who fought valiantly to give the citizens of Afghanistan an opportunity for a better life over the last 20 years. To those fine people I say, your efforts were not in vain. You made a positive difference in the lives of nearly everyone in that war-torn nation. The world is a better place because of your sacrifices. Thank you for all that you have done for your fellow man.
Now we watch with hope and in horror as the fate of Afghanistan is in its own hands once again. Perhaps America’s influence in the region will prevent a backslide into the dark ages that once defined the Taliban’s rule. What choice do we have but to remain cautiously optimistic for the future of Afghanistan and the world in general?
Optimism: To live any other way is to not live at all.
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