The Taliban Blitzkrieg In Afghanistan

For nearly twenty years, the War in Afghanistan has gone on. During this time the United States military went into a foreign country ousted the Taliban from political power and propped up a friendly government. In the month of August 2021, nearly 20 years of effort fell apart in a fortnight. In a matter of days, the Taliban executed a perfect blitzkrieg without the tanks and an air force conventionally necessary to perform a lightning campaign. The comparison has been made to the fall of Saigon. This is a valid comparison. The key differences should be noted in that in Vietnam, the United States betrayed the South Vietnamese. In Afghanistan, the US military betrayed the American citizens.

There are several lingering ethical questions that need to be discussed. The first one I want to tackle is, if the fall of Afghanistan was inevitable, why not have taken the L years ago? The atrocities that the Taliban is currently committing may have been inevitable. This means no amount of trillions of dollars was going to change the outcome of America’s absence. Therefore, why continue on with the sunk cost fallacy? Would it not have been more ethical to have withdrawn years ago?

Along these lines, to what degree do domestic politics play in these events. Since Afghanistan was doomed to fall, is this why every President has avoided withdrawing on it as campaigned. President Trump promised this action and consistently delayed. Were these delays to avoid the political costs of the horrendous optics? In other words, each passing President was willing to pass off the foreseeable disaster to the next guy to avoid taking such a massive L as President.

What were we doing in those 20 years? The number one military in the world spent ample time and money investing in the security of the Afghani people. The US military had to have known that they were training paper soldiers to defend their paper nation. They had to have known that these men are squealers and won’t last in a real fight. I have seen disturbing World War Z like footage in which Afghani men are trying to flee the country at the Kabul airport. Were all the real men fighting with the Taliban? No nation’s defense has been so heavily been invested in by a foreign power to such abysmal results in the history of mankind. Comparably, the French lifted a feather to help the Americans win their War of Independence. In comparison the Finns in the Winter War and the Greeks in World War 2 faced far more insurmountable odds and fought bravely.

America had nothing to gain from being in Afghanistan. China is the economic benefactor. So it would have been immoral to have continued propping up a doomed cause with lives on the line. Yet still, despite seeing this coming, the American military left untold millions in equipment behind for use or sale to other hostile entities. How could this disaster not be seen as intentional? The United States government was never serious about fighting a war on terror. If they were, they would not be funding Pakistan.

It’s clear that at the present moment, the United States military has a greater interest in controlling its own citizenry than it does winning wars. Cultural Marxist have taken over this institution, and while this does not make service members hostile to American citizens yet, we need to be prepared for when and if this day comes. To this end, while there is despair in Afghanistan, the incompetence and corruption at the highest levels of the American military, demonstrated in this twenty yearlong boondoggle, provides hope for our inalienable rights here in the United States.

But our ultimate hope and ultimate freedom comes from Jesus Christ who set us free by suffering the wrath of God for our sins. And because of this act, no matter the circumstance, we can live with hope and freedom in a world of chaos and despair.