Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has called the 20-year war in Afghanistan a ‘Strategic failure’ and that he believes the U.S. should have kept several thousand troops in that country to prevent the unexpectedly rapid takeover by the Taliban.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie also testified during a Tuesday hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The entire war that followed the 9/11 attacks on the US by the al-Qaeda of Osama Bin Laden in 2001 came up for critical review during hearing.
It featured rigorous questioning from lawmakers on both sides of the political divide. Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike criticised the chaotic withdrawal that saw U.S. troops try to coordinate a mammoth evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies.
The defence services men upheld their actions during the chaotic withdrawal from Kabul in August but could not conceal the fact that their mission in Afghanistan failed as it did in Vietnam 48 years before in the early seventies of the last century.
Observers don’t miss the point that the Taliban which the American forces went to destroy only emerged stronger after the 20-year war. In both Vietnam and Afghanistan the US forces not only conceded defeat but also virtually ran out from unsecured positions. It’s a great shame for a world power like America to have embraced this following a war that cost 2,461 American lives and two trillion dollars.
Questions put to the generals in the hearing differed on emphasis on partisan lines, but senators on both sides unveiled the failure not only in the direct war but also in building an Afghan national army that could have taken charge in their absence.
It seemed the soldiers stationed in Afghanistan were either misguided or were not adequately trained to understand and face the enemy they were ordered to defeat. The Senate hearing is expected to lead to a soul searching to figure out what went wrong to bring the most tragic defeat to the world’s most powerful and resourceful military.
Some Generals deserve punishment for callously conducting the war. The US army went to Afghanistan to defeat Taliban but ensured furious victory for Taliban to run away in disarray leaving behind deaths and disaster.
The congress along with the government must take measures to overhaul the army. They enjoy too much indulgence but not the right training. Mere fire power and killing people randomly cannot be a befitting super power army.
