To count the cost of the West's intervention in Afghanistan in US and UK military lives alone is the ultimate proof that we are a civilization in decay
by David Hearst
Part 1
When the US invaded Afghanistan on 7 October 2001, the cover of Time magazine proclaimed: "The Last Days of the Taliban."
Thus began what became known as "the war on terror", the neoconservative quest to replace the defunct Soviet Union with Islam as a global threat. By December of that year, the UN Security Council established the International Security Assistance Force to oversee military operations and train the Afghan National Security Forces.
Since then over $2 trillion have been spent. In the Afghanistan and Pakistan war zone about 241,000 people have lost their lives, 2448 American soldiers and 454 British soldiers have been killed. And 20 years on the Taliban are back in control.
In 2001, opium had almost completely been eradicated with 84,000 hectares under cultivation. By 2017 that figure had grown to 328,000 hectares. Next to war, opium is the country’s biggest economic activity. One of the biggest goals of the US war effort was to train an Afghan army to fight the Taliban. Such was the casualty and desertion rate that the Americans found themselves having to train recruits totalling one third of the entire force.
In 2001, opium had almost completely been eradicated with 84,000 hectares under cultivation. By 2017 that figure had grown to 328,000 hectares. Next to war, opium is the country’s biggest economic activity. One of the biggest goals of the US war effort was to train an Afghan army to fight the Taliban. Such was the casualty and desertion rate that the Americans found themselves having to train recruits totalling one third of the entire force.
Corruption, ranked by Transparency International at 165/180 of the countries they monitor, swallowed up the billions in economic assistance, building hospitals with no patients and schools with no pupils. Poverty is rife, and mortality rates remain among the highest in the world.
To say then, as the BBC said last week in an explainer on its website, that during the 20 years of occupation: "The US and allies oversaw elections and built up Afghan security forces, but the Taliban continued to launch attacks", defies belief as well as rudimentary fact-checking.
To say then, as the BBC said last week in an explainer on its website, that during the 20 years of occupation: "The US and allies oversaw elections and built up Afghan security forces, but the Taliban continued to launch attacks", defies belief as well as rudimentary fact-checking.
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