Longest war: Were America's decades in Afghanistan worth it?

3 years ago 277

Here's what 19-year-old Lance Cpl. William Bee felt flying into confederate Afghanistan connected Christmas Day 2001: purely lucky. The U.S. was hitting backmost astatine the al-Qaida plotters who had brought down the World Trade Center, and Bee recovered himself among the archetypal Marines connected the ground.

“Excitement,” Bee says these days, of the teenage Bee’s thoughts then. “To beryllium the dudes that got to unfastened it up first.”

In the decennary that followed, 3 much deployments successful America's longest warfare scoured distant that fortunate feeling.

For Bee, it came down to a nighttime successful 2008 successful Afghanistan's Helmand province. By past a sergeant, Bee held the manus of an American sniper who had conscionable been changeable successful the head, arsenic a medic sliced unfastened the man’s pharynx for an airway.

“After that it was like, you cognize what — ‘F—k these people,’” Bee recounted, of what drove him by his 4th and last Afghan deployment. "I conscionable privation to bring my guys back. That’s each I attraction about. I privation to bring them home.’’

As President Joe Biden ends the U.S. combat relation successful Afghanistan this month, Americans and Afghans are questioning whether the was worthy the cost: much than 3,000 American and different NATO lives lost, tens of thousands of Afghans dead, trillions of dollars of U.S. indebtedness that generations of Americans volition wage for, and an Afghanistan that successful a stunning week of warring appears astatine imminent menace of falling backmost nether Taliban rule, conscionable arsenic Americans recovered it astir 20 years ago.

For Biden, for Bee and for immoderate of the American principals successful the U.S. and NATO warfare successful Afghanistan, the reply to whether it was worthy the outgo often comes down to parsing.

There were the archetypal years of the war, erstwhile Americans broke up Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida successful Afghanistan and routed the Taliban authorities that had hosted the violent network.

That succeeded.

The impervious is clear, says Douglas Lute, White House czar for the warfare during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, and a retired lieutenant general: Al-Qaida hasn’t been capable to equine a large onslaught connected the West since 2005.

“We person decimated al-Qaida successful that region, successful Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Lute says.

But aft that came the grinding 2nd signifier of the war. U.S. fears of a Taliban rebound whenever Americans yet pulled retired meant that work members specified arsenic Bee kept getting sent backmost in, racking up much adjacent calls, injuries and dormant comrades.

Lute and immoderate others reason that what the 2nd fractional of the warfare bought was clip — a grace play for Afghanistan's government, information forces and civilian nine to effort to physique capable spot to past connected their own.

Quality of beingness successful immoderate ways did improve, modernizing nether the Western occupation, adjacent arsenic the millions of dollars the U.S. poured into Afghanistan fed corruption. Infant mortality rates fell by half. In 2005, less than 1 successful 4 Afghans had entree to electricity. By 2019, astir each did.

The 2nd fractional of the warfare allowed Afghan women, successful particular, opportunities wholly denied them nether the fundamentalist Taliban, truthful that much than 1 successful 3 teenage girls — their full lives spent nether the extortion of Western forces — contiguous tin work and write.

But it's that longest, 2nd signifier of the warfare that looks connected the verge of implicit nonaccomplishment now.

The U.S. warfare near the Taliban undefeated and failed to unafraid a governmental settlement. Taliban forces this past week person swept crossed two-thirds of the state and captured provincial capitals, connected the way of triumph earlier U.S. combat forces adjacent implicit their pullout. On galore fronts, the Taliban are rolling implicit Afghan information forces that U.S. and NATO forces spent 2 decades moving to build.

This swift beforehand sets up a past basal successful Kabul, wherever astir Afghans live. It threatens to clamp the state nether the Taliban's strict mentation of spiritual law, erasing overmuch of the gains.

“There’s nary ‘mission accomplished,'" Biden snapped past month, batting down a question from a reporter.

Biden rapidly corrected himself, evoking the victories of the archetypal fewer years of the war. “The ngo was accomplished successful that we ... got Osama bin Laden, and coercion is not emanating from that portion of the world,” helium added.

Richard Boucher, adjunct caput of authorities for Central Asia during overmuch of the war’s archetypal decade, says the disapproval was mostly not of the struggle itself but due to the fact that it went connected truthful long.

“It was the enlargement of warfare aims, to effort to make a authorities that was susceptible of stopping immoderate aboriginal attacks," Boucher said.

America expended the astir lives, and dollars, connected the astir inconclusive years of the war.

The strain of warring 2 post-9/11 wars astatine erstwhile with an all-volunteer subject meant that much than fractional of the 2.8 cardinal American servicemen and women who deployed to Afghanistan oregon Iraq served 2 oregon much times, according to the Costs of War task astatine Brown University.

The repeated deployments contributed to disablement rates successful those veterans that are much than treble that of Vietnam veterans, says Linda Bilmes, a elder lecturer successful nationalist argumentation astatine Harvard University.

Bilmes calculates the U.S. volition walk much than $2 trillion conscionable caring for and supporting Afghanistan and Iraq veterans arsenic they age, with costs peaking 30 years to 40 years from now.

That’s connected apical of $1 trillion successful Pentagon and State Department costs successful Afghanistan since 2001. Because the U.S. borrowed alternatively than raised taxes to wage for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, involvement payments are estimated to outgo succeeding generations of Americans trillions of dollars much still.

Annual combat deaths peaked astir the clip of the war's midpoint, arsenic Obama tried a last surge of forces to decision the Taliban. In all, 2,448 American troops, 1,144 work members from NATO and different allied countries, much than 47,000 Afghan civilians and astatine slightest 66,000 Afghan subject and constabulary died, according to the Pentagon and to the Costs of War project.

All the while, a succession of U.S. commanders tried caller strategies, acronyms and slogans successful warring a Taliban insurgency.

Kandahar's airstrip, wherever Bee was rapidly enactment to enactment digging a foxhole for himself implicit Christmas 2001, grew into a station for tens of thousands of NATO troops, implicit with Popeyes and Burger Kings and a hockey rink.

Over the years, warring forces specified arsenic Bee's 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit moved into blistery spots to combat the Taliban and physique ties with section leaders, often lone to spot gains mislaid erstwhile their portion rotated retired again. In Helmand province, which proved the turning constituent for Bee successful 2008, hundreds of U.S. and different NATO forces died warring that way. Taliban fighters recaptured the state connected Friday.

Bee's Afghanistan tours yet ended successful 2010, erstwhile an improvised explosive instrumentality exploded 4 feet from him, sidesplitting 2 chap work members who had been lasting with him. It was Bee's 3rd caput injury, and for a clip near him incapable to locomotion a artifact without falling down.

Was it worthy it?

“The radical whose lives we affected, I personally deliberation we did them better, that they’re amended disconnected for it,” answered Bee, who present works for a institution that provides autonomous robots for Marine grooming astatine North Carolina's Camp Lejeune and is co-writing a publication astir his clip successful Afghanistan.

“But I besides wouldn’t commercialized a fistful of Afghan villages for 1 Marine," helium added.

Ask the aforesaid question successful Afghanistan, though, and you get antithetic answers.

Some Afghans — asked that question earlier the Taliban's stunning expanse past week — respond that it's much than clip for Americans to fto Afghans grip their ain affairs.

But 1 21-year-old woman, Shogufa, says American troops' 2 decades connected the crushed meant each the quality for her.

The Associated Press is utilizing her archetypal sanction only, fixed fears of Taliban retribution against women who interruption their strict codes.

When inactive successful her infancy, she was pledged to wed a overmuch older relative successful the countryside to wage disconnected a loan. She grew up successful a family, and society, wherever fewer women could work oregon write.

But arsenic she grew up, Shogufa came crossed a Western nonprofit that had travel to Kabul to beforehand wellness and enactment for Afghan girls. It was 1 of a big of specified improvement groups that came to Afghanistan during the U.S.-led war.

Shogufa thrived. She deflected her family’s moves to wed her disconnected to her cousin. She got a occupation and is pursuing a bachelor's grade successful concern administration.

For Shogufa today, the gratitude for what she's gained is shadowed by her fears of each that she stands to lose.

Her connection to Americans, arsenic they near and the Taliban closed successful connected Kabul? "Thank you for everything you person done successful Afghanistan,” she said, successful bully but imperfect English. “The different happening was to petition that they enactment with us.”

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Knickmeyer covered the 2001 Afghan Northern Alliance and U.S. aerial run that routed the Taliban, and the archetypal weeks of the U.S. subject beingness astatine Kandahar successful 2002.

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