Afghanistan - why did we bother?

[The Bedlington Terrier]

We seem to have left Afghanistan in a worse state than before we got there.

It's estimated around 500 of our British troops were killed and countless more injured.

This is not meant to be a "knocking" exercise, but why in the 21st century do we still feel the need to impose ourselves with military interventions in the sovereignty of other states?

500 men and women lost and countless billions spunked and the Taliban are back in control in a matter of weeks.

What was the point?

[sinkov]

Normally BT, as a matter of course, I would disagree with you, but all those young lads, with their lives in front of them, killed and injured for nothing, absolutely nothing. And all those poor buggers who live there, who worked or co-operated with us and the Yanks, I don't give much for their chances of seeing the New Year in.

It was all so predictable, it was pointed out at the time that the Red Army had failed to subdue the Taliban, there was little prospect that we would succeed where they'd failed, the Taliban would play the long game and wait until we left, and it was inevitable that eventually we would leave.

It's yet another shameful episode, but it's not the scumbag politicians who pay the price.

[Balanbam00]

The UN :

The United Nations chief is urging the Taliban to immediately halt their offensive in Afghanistan and negotiate "in good faith" to avert a prolonged civil war.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his first appeal directly to the Islamic militant group, which now controls two-thirds of the country, that he is "deeply disturbed by early indications that the Taliban are imposing severe restrictions in the areas under their control, particularly targeting women and journalists."
"Afghanistan is spinning out of control," he said. "It is particularly horrifying and heartbreaking to see reports of the hard-won rights of Afghan girls and women being ripped away from them."

Can you believe it what he has said ? They do not understand the Taliban. (maybe they do understand but shhhhh ,politics rule!)

[sinkov]

"Afghanistan is spinning out of control," he said. "It is particularly horrifying and heartbreaking to see reports of the hard-won rights of Afghan girls and women being ripped away from them."

Can you believe it what he has said ? They do not understand the Taliban. (maybe they do understand but shhhhh ,politics rule!)

It's not spinning out of control at all, it's becoming more under the control of the Taliban by the day, and hard won women's rights is the least of their worries. I would think there are a lot of Afghan men more worried about the right of their heads to stay on top of their shoulders, than what their daughters are taught at school right now.

In reality the UN is a joke organisation, powerless to do anything about Afghanistan except issue fatuous statements.

[Balanbam00]

West, not Israel, to blame for spread of radical Islam
Opinion: A common thread of Sunni and Shi'ite terrorism runs through Lebanon, Afghanistan, Yemen and Gaza, but Western progressives are only interested in blaming Israel rather than calling out the true culprits, and now their misguided mindset is spreading all across the U.S.

The residents of the Druze village of Hasbeya in southern Lebanon on Friday blocked the passage of a vehicle loaded with rockets belonging to local fighters from the Hezbollah terrorist organization. They were trying to prevent additional fire at northern Israel after 19 rockets had already been launched, because they realized that they would pay the price for another conflict between the Iranian-backed terrorists and their neighbour to the south.

For Lebanon no longer exists as a state. It is a proxy of Iran and ruled by Hezbollah.

The fact that food is in short supply and that the country is facing starvation matters not because what is important is that the terror group has an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles.
Radical Sunni and Shi'ite Islam is the common thread that runs through all those battlefields.
Israel has for decades attempted to impress upon the world the extent of damage and destruction that organizations such as Hezbollah, the Taliban and Hamas have caused.

They also fail to understand that should Israel leave the West Bank, the territory would experience what Afghanistan is going through now. There will be no thriving democracy, no freedom, no independence. Hamas - the local version of the Taliban - will make sure of that. But as the infamous saying goes, "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun". Just as criminal gangs take over slums, Hamas, Hezbollah, Taliban and Iran's Shi'ite clerics are taking over parts of the world.
And instead of an international effort to fight those forces of evil, Western progressives are targeting the only nation in the region that has not yet given up the fight.

[ClaretinBudapest]

Tony Blair and his vanity were the reasons BT and the cost is much more expansive than your post suggests.
47,245 Afghan civilians (estimated)
72 journalists and 444 aid workers
66,000 to 69,000 Afghan troops
2,442 U.S. troops have been killed and 20,666 wounded
3,800 U.S. private security contractors have been killed
1,144 personnel from the 40-nation NATO coalition killed
UK losses :
456 fatalities[23] and 2,188 wounded in action, another 5,251 have suffered from disease or non-battle injuries.

Cost of war to US $2.26 trillion
Cost of war to UK £37 billion
To put things into perspective-the cost of maintaining Britain's military presence in Helmand province was £15m/day. The equivalent of £25,000 will have been spent for every one of Helmand's 1.5 million inhabitants.

There is to be added to this the military equipment simply abandoned in Afghanistan.
Then there is the ongoing costs of Afghan refugees in the UK and the medical costs for the military personnel suffering from PTSD.


Add this to the pack of lies which led to the War in Iraq and it does not make very good reading, yet the very same man is not only free but getting paid immense amounts as a speaker and advisor to foreign governments.

[Supersub6]

Well said CiB. A totally needless adventure which, if they had heeded history, we should never have embarked upon.
Wasted lives, wasted money and still ongoing expenses to be met and all to return to status quo before very long.
They say that we should learn from history, however, the modern trend is to try to bring people to boot for things which happened in the past ---I wonder whether Tony Blair will ever be brought to book!

Edited to add that the Chinese will step in with a rebuilding programme and throw money at it in order that they can continue on their search for world domination.

[wanderlust]

Our entry was down to appeasing the Americans who like to blow stuff up so that Halliburton et al can win billions of dollars of infrastructure contracts. Every road, bridge, school, hospital bombed is payday for the corporations that control the White House and by sucking up to them us Brits get the crumbs from their table.
The real fight for Afghanistan began in the 40s when the Americans and Russians were competing for control - as beautifully documented in "Bitter Lake" which also explains how the West created Islamic fundamentalism sponsoring 1000's of Wahabist schools throughout Asia and was responsible for Afghanistan's prominent role in opium poppy production and the worldwide heroin crisis.
Recommend Bitter Lake on Netflix as essential viewing for anyone who's interested in this stuff - it incorporates loads of original footage.

[ClaretinBudapest]

Our entry was down to appeasing the Americans who like to blow stuff up so that Halliburton et al can win billions of dollars of infrastructure contracts. Every road, bridge, school, hospital bombed is payday for the corporations that control the White House and by sucking up to them us Brits get the crumbs from their table.
The real fight for Afghanistan began in the 40s when the Americans and Russians were competing for control - as beautifully documented in "Bitter Lake" which also explains how the West created Islamic fundamentalism sponsoring 1000's of Wahabist schools throughout Asia and was responsible for Afghanistan's prominent role in opium poppy production and the worldwide heroin crisis.
Recommend Bitter Lake on Netflix as essential viewing for anyone who's interested in this stuff - it incorporates loads of original footage.

Thanks Wander I will see if it on Netflix here in Hungary.

[Swissclaret]

West, not Israel, to blame for spread of radical Islam
Opinion: A common thread of Sunni and Shi'ite terrorism runs through Lebanon, Afghanistan, Yemen and Gaza, but Western progressives are only interested in blaming Israel rather than calling out the true culprits, and now their misguided mindset is spreading all across the U.S.

The residents of the Druze village of Hasbeya in southern Lebanon on Friday blocked the passage of a vehicle loaded with rockets belonging to local fighters from the Hezbollah terrorist organization. They were trying to prevent additional fire at northern Israel after 19 rockets had already been launched, because they realized that they would pay the price for another conflict between the Iranian-backed terrorists and their neighbour to the south.

For Lebanon no longer exists as a state. It is a proxy of Iran and ruled by Hezbollah.

The fact that food is in short supply and that the country is facing starvation matters not because what is important is that the terror group has an arsenal of 150,000 rockets and missiles.
Radical Sunni and Shi'ite Islam is the common thread that runs through all those battlefields.
Israel has for decades attempted to impress upon the world the extent of damage and destruction that organizations such as Hezbollah, the Taliban and Hamas have caused.

They also fail to understand that should Israel leave the West Bank, the territory would experience what Afghanistan is going through now. There will be no thriving democracy, no freedom, no independence. Hamas - the local version of the Taliban - will make sure of that. But as the infamous saying goes, "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun". Just as criminal gangs take over slums, Hamas, Hezbollah, Taliban and Iran's Shi'ite clerics are taking over parts of the world.
And instead of an international effort to fight those forces of evil, Western progressives are targeting the only nation in the region that has not yet given up the fight.

Well said Balanbam. Fanatics are dangerous people. Iran is only too happy to equip and support these groups. You are either for Islam or you are the infidel. They rule by fear and terror. There is such thing as tolerance for those who are the infidel. Military efforts are expensive and cost lives. Sadly, too often, they are futile as the Taliban will not go away.