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October 16,2021
Austin Kuan
The great powers that entered Afghanistan, the "imperial cemetery," in the twentieth century were the British Empire at the beginning of the century and the Soviet Union at the end of the century. From 1839 to 1919, the British Empire was entangled with Afghanistan. It didn't come across anything cheap. However, the waste of time, manpower, and resources over the course of 80 years caused a massive empire to suffer greatly. Following the end of the First World War in 1918, Britain ended the war in Afghanistan the following year. Why? The British Empire's national power was far less prosperous than it had been in the nineteenth century. By the middle of World War II, in 1940, if the United States had not joined the war as a result of the Pearl Harbor incident, the entire continent of Europe and the United Kingdom would have most likely fallen into Nazi Germany's hands.
On the surface, the empire's withdrawal from Afghanistan ended the war and returned the country to peace. In essence, it was a significant indicator of the empire's decline. This is true of both the British Empire and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union even disintegrated four years after it left Afghanistan. No scholars or government think tanks in the United States have summarized the empire's far-reaching damage in Afghanistan. Of course, the US has never considered occupying Afghanistan, and it has no desire to investigate Afghanistan's eerie power in depth. However, in 2001, at the start of the twenty-first century, the United States invaded Afghanistan to hunt down Bin Laden. It began as a short-term use of troops, but quickly turned into a 20-year physical occupation, giving the ghost hidden in the depths of Afghanistan a long history. It took 20 years to eat away the United States' national power, and it naturally dragged the US into the cemetery.
Since its founding in 1776, the United States has frequently used troops abroad or established military bases in the country, but it has never used troops to station in and openly control another country. During the 1950s Korean War, the United States used troops on the Korean Peninsula. Following the war's conclusion, all major US forces were withdrawn, leaving only a small number of troops stationed on military bases. However, in October 2001, the US military invaded Afghanistan in search of Bin Laden. How could it gradually grow into a 20-year job? This is not at all in the style of the United States. There are two reasons for this: First, the enemy is too familiar with the United States and resorts to "non-traditional warfare" to deal with it; second, the United States has undesirable "ambitions," which deviate from the original intention of using troops in the past. Afghanistan is not the victim of this incident. Iraq is another Islamic country. As a result, Iraq triggered a chain reaction that forced the US to extend its presence in Afghanistan.
The most difficult part of analyzing the Afghan issue is that you can't just look at it from Afghanistan's perspective. When a number of other events in the Middle East occur, a chain reaction will occur that will affect Afghanistan. However, in this case, we attempt to simplify the process by first clarifying the main context of what occurred.
When the Taliban, which controlled the Afghan regime, refused to hand over Bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda members at the end of September 2001, US President George Bush decided to send troops to Afghanistan on October 7. However, because the US military had never fought in Afghanistan's mountains, it required an ally on the ground. Where could it find allies? It was not that difficult. We mentioned in the first article that except the capital of Kabul, Afghanistan's largest city, the rest of the vast land was divided into hundreds of tribes, each with its own territory. As a result, it was not difficult for the US to find tribes that were opposed to the Taliban, not to mention that the US would provide sophisticated weapons. Because the anti-Taliban tribes were mostly concentrated in northern Afghanistan, they formed a “Northern Alliance” to work with the US military. Which country in the world could defeat the US military in a head-to-head confrontation in 2001? Of course not, especially since the United States had also purchased "Northern Alliance" insurance. As a result, it was not difficult for the US to find tribes that were opposed to the Taliban, not to mention that the US would provide sophisticated weapons. Because the anti-Taliban tribes were mostly concentrated in northern Afghanistan, they formed a "Northern Alliance" to work with the US military. Which country in the world could defeat the US military in a head-to-head confrontation in 2001? Of course not, especially since the United States had also purchased “Northern Alliance” insurance.
Before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and defeated Kabul, they had long planned a retreat base in Kandahar, the country's second largest city, and surrounding areas. Although Kandahar had a population of less than 500,000 people at the time, Afghanistan's land area was roughly 94 percent that of Texas, totaling 650,000 square kilometers. The so-called second largest city and surrounding areas were most likely 200,000 square kilometers in size. Many areas were valleys, making it difficult for the American army to attack directly. As a result, three political forces emerged in Afghanistan: the US dominated the capital, the central government, and neighboring areas, while the Taliban dominated the south. The areas that the US and the Taliban were unable to control belonged to the Northern Alliance or other remote tribes. The US established an air base 50 kilometers to the north of Kabul and then pursued Bin Laden step by step, raiding the Al-Qaeda organization and the Taliban's local forces at the same time. Of course, the US began to promote democracy in Kabul, so that Afghans in the US-administered region could choose their own president. However, the United States had already decided on this presidential candidate, and on the surface, there were still people who would come out to compete.
Afghanistan was the most complicated battlefield into which the US had sent troops in a century, and Bin Laden was nowhere to be found. Bin Laden hid without a trace because he had long understood the potential methods of warfare in the United States. Although the US could occasionally eliminate some al-Qaeda and Taliban guerrillas using satellites and intelligence, the results were disappointing. However, in order to dispel the stigma of 9/11's atrocities, a steady stream of supplies and weapons was airlifted to Afghanistan. The United States gradually realized that Afghanistan's construction was too backward, and there was no decent road. The US could not always use bombers to target the mountainous areas where the Taliban were hiding. During the Vietnam War, the United States did not use this method to eliminate the Viet Cong. As a result, ground forces and heavy armored vehicles had to be used to launch an all-out assault on the enemy. Highways had to be built to extend military power from Kabul's capital to the Quartet; otherwise, the military of the United States would be unable to move a single inch.
A highway in Afghanistan had to pass through the mountains, through the territory of many tribes, and avoid enemy attacks and destruction. The difficulty and massive budget far exceeded the United States' expectations. It was a financial black hole. According to unofficial estimates, road construction in Afghanistan costs 30 times more than in Europe and the United States. Keep in mind that Afghanistan does not generate oil and does not have adequate electricity infrastructure. The 100-kilometer road from Kabul alone consumed enormous funds. However, in order to apprehend Bin Laden and his entourage, the US was forced to spend money.
The US also ran into a major issue in Kabul: Shouldn't the new Afghan government form its own army to fight the Taliban and Al-Qaeda? Was it necessary for the United States to bear all of the problems? What was the maximum number of troops that the US could send to Afghanistan? The enemy was too dispersed, and the US demanded that Afghanistan develop a military force of at least 100,000 soldiers. But where did the Afghan army's funding come from? In the end, it was paid for by the United States. The US gradually realized that Afghanistan was a monster that specialized in eating banknotes and never felt satisfied.
After only a year in Afghanistan, the United States realized the cost was enormous. Although it wanted to fight quickly, road and electricity construction measures had to be coordinated. So, even if the reward was as high as $1 billion, the reward for Bin Laden's head was a good deal. Despite employing a variety of intelligence warfare techniques, the US was unable to locate Bin Laden. If an average country had spent $50 billion per year on Afghanistan, it would have withdrawn its troops in a month. However, the United States was the world's largest power, and the military budget was not an issue; the issue was the inability to apprehend the criminal.
The United States, in fact, was not a country that did not understand the concept of "stop loss." It was understandable for the United States to invade the Middle East and send troops to Afghanistan. After all, the United States must seek justice for the over 3,000 Americans killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11th. However, in March 2003, the 15th month of the US military's presence in Afghanistan, US President George Bush dispatched a large force to the Middle East to attack Iraq, where he quickly deposed then-dictator Saddam Hussein (Saddam Hussein). Following the overthrow, the US military stayed in Iraq and established a significant occupation.
The United States' invasion of Iraq in 2003 was inexplicable, and international opinion was extremely negative. Our next article will look at what caused this war. However, the United States used military force to occupy two Middle Eastern countries in just 15 months, from October 2001 to March 2003. At this point, Russia, the successor to the Soviet Union, declined in national power, China had not yet risen, and the United States was the world's undisputed number one power. No country had the ability to overturn the United States' decision. As a result, the Islamic world perceived itself to be more threatened. Who was the next Middle Eastern country that the US would encroach on after Afghanistan and Iraq? There were even conspiracy theories circulating that claimed the 9/11 terrorist attacks were self-directed and carried out by the United States in order to provide a rationale for its invasion of the Middle East world. The Islamic world was initially stalled, and the terrorists who were circling everywhere gained a strong motivation to fight, and began to absorb a large number of enthusiastic youths, resulting in new blood joining not only the Taliban and Al-Qaeda organizations, but also more emerging Islamic armed organizations. They were increasingly convinced that the Christian civilization, as represented by Europe and the United States, was poised to destabilize the Islamic world.
After March 2003, the U.S. military in Afghanistan discovered that President Bush had made their situation dangerous, and despite the fact that Bin Laden could not be caught, the U.S. military might remain in Afghanistan. (The end.)