點新聞
Through dots, we connect.
讓世界看到彩色的香港 讓香港看到彩色的世界
標籤

Opinion | Why did Washington lose the war in Afghanistan?

By Augustus K. Yeung

Why Washington lost the war in Afghanistan?

Three factors: Washington's withdrawal without a sound settlement plan; the Afghan Army failed America; the resilience of a resolute Afghan Taliban. The rapid American withdrawal has created a power vacuum, exposing a war-torn Afghanistan to a ferocious pack of wolf-like terrorists, representing various ethnic/religious factions--ready to exploit the void.

Who is coming to the rescue? China.

This dangerous situation coincided with the meteoric rise of China whose economic achievements, notably its stunning success in "war against poverty" have attracted a new breed/brand of Taliban which are now wiser to bank on a replenished China, an ancient culture the CCP has engineered into a modern enterprise. The post American world will soon be witnessing "socialism with Chinese characteristics" for a change.

Washington withdrawing without a sound settlement plan

That President Joe Biden goes down American history as an "ordinary Joe" is not yet a foregone conclusion. A statesman would have seized the Afghan withdrawal agreement--signed by former President Donald Trump in February in 2020 with the Afghan Taliban--and then turn it around into a winning jackpot by panning a humanitarian settlement. What a missed golden opportunity?!

The cruel Afghan war, which covered twenty years, financially exhausted America, not to mention the loss of thousands of lives as American servicemen and soldiers were killed in action. Withdrawal is the right response to a wakeup call. But it had to be democratically discussed with America's allies, who had also been contributing to the war efforts.

President Biden could have then designed a limited honey-glazed, money-ladened pull-out plan--with the blessings of UN, which would greatly enhance the righteousness of a humanitarian settlement. With this peace package, an American pull out would not trigger the panic as witnessed by war correspondents who said Afghan army units were falling from grace: deserting, surrendering, collapsing--like a hillslope hit hard by a torrential rainstorm.

Reacting to fear, the Biden administration decided unilaterally to pull a blitz withdrawal. Donald Trump angrily panned Biden for "surrendering, not withdrawing". And Biden struggles to explain the situation.

Reality catches up with U.S. leadership!

The Surprise Resilience of a Stubborn Afghan Taliban

Having lost the war in 2020 to the high-power Americans, the Afghanistan Taliban did not disintegrate or disband. Instead, they hid out or stayed put, coughed up different factional reserves, and strategically launched a protracted war aimed at exhausting the American invader's financial and human resources amid its trade war with China.

This time they were smarter than the last; they did not choose to meet the invaders full steam ahead; they coaxed, cajoled, if not bribed and bullied the Afghan Army chipping away their will of resistance. This point is well documented if you read recent reports by war correspondents.

The Taliban were also smart enough to solicit the help of China (and they might have sought Chinese strategic advice, too) who have been "pissed off" by their American counterparts, whose threats of a trade war or bad mouthing, be it "human rights abuse" in Xinjiang or "loss of press freedom" in Hong Kong (that kind of crabs) have turned the Chinese from diplomats into disturbed "wolf warriors" online, skyrocketing Chinese consumptions of home-made products, popped up by enraged patriots at home.

"Here's why the Afghan Army Failed America," said Sadat

This situation is best explained by Sami Sadat, a three-star Afghan general who commanded and "fought day and night, nonstop, in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Providence against an escalating and bloody Taliban offensive," until he was called to Kabul to command Afghanistan's special forces. Alas, the Taliban already were entering the city; it was too late.

"I am exhausted. I am frustrated. And I am angry," wrote the general to the New York Times in fluent English, "President Biden said last week that 'American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.

It's true that the Afghan Army lost its will to fight but that's because of the growing sense of abandonment by our American partners and the disrespect and disloyalty reflected in Mr. Biden's tone and words over the past few months. The Afghan Army is not without blame. It had its problems—cronyism, bureaucracy—but we ultimately stopped fighting because our partners already had."

"It pains me to see Mr. Biden and Western officials are blaming the Afghan Army for collapsing without mentioning the underlying reasons that happened," complained the general.

So why did the Afghan military collapse?

"The answer is threefold: First, former President Donald Trump's February 2020 peace deal with the Taliban in Doha doomed us. It put an expiration date on American interest in the region. Second, we lost contractor logistics and maintenance support critical to our combat operations. Third, the corruption endemic inn Mr. Ghani's government that flowed to senior military leaderships had long crippled our forces on the ground irreparably hobbled us…."

"We were betrayed by politics and presidents," General Sami Sadat concluded, "This was not an Afghan war only; it was an international war, with many militaries involved. It would have been impossible for one army alone, ours, to take up the job and fight. This was a military defeat, but it emanated from political failure."

China stands ready to fill the void in the post-American world

China's meteoric success in superhighway and rapid railway infrastructures, miraculous achievements in "war against poverty"—fulfilling a hundred-year pledge of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the people; together with its proclamation of a "rejuvenation of the Chinese dream" have all contributed to America's migraine.

With the situation deteriorating in Afghanistan, China is ready to fill the void in the post-American world. But China has no territorial ambitions; it has registered with the UN Security Council to shuttle in 8000 peace keeping force to fill the power vacuum. China would also involve Russia in a joint effort to stamp out the known terrorist groups there.

And, living under the specter of Donald Trump, a vicious political enemy--who has once threatened to hurt Biden's son Hunter—who has decided to make a comeback in the next U.S. presidential election, for poor old Joe the fear is here. The president had better act fast, triggering a panic withdrawal.

Economically, the rise of China's Shenzhen (a Special Economic Zone), as designed by the paramount former Chinese leader Dung Xia-ping (who didn't even have an official title), significantly overtaking Hong Kong in G.D.P within a relatively short period of time was a shocking surprise to the world.

Then there is the Belt and Road initiative, which is making Washington restless, if not exasperated, forcing then Donald Trump to hastily wage a trade war, and now Joe Biden to exit from Afghanistan, which had been draining America's blood for the past twenty years until the pull out. A declining American superpower now must run away fast if Washington did wish not to be buried in Afghanistan, a well-known "graveyard of great empires".

In stark contrast, China (the Han ethnic group) stands ready to fill the void.

Conclusion

To address a sad American story of military misadventure in Afghanistan in one thousand words or a little more may not do justice either to a waning superpower or a stunned reader; however, let us part compassionately with a wise Chinese quote: "Empires wax and wane; states cleave asunder and coalesce. When the rule of Chou weakened seven contending principalities sprang up, warring one with another till they settled down as Ts'in and when its destiny had been fulfilled arose Ch'u and Han to contend for the mastery. And Han was the victor." (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 1)

The author is a freelance writer; formerly Adjunct Lecturer, taught MBA Philosophy of Management, and International Strategy, and online columnist of 3-D Corner (HKU SPACE), University of Hong Kong.

 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

Comment

Related Topics

New to old 
New to old
Old to new
relativity
Search Content 
Content
Title
Keyword