OPINION: The failure of the ’Afghan model’ has broken the illusion of superficial prosperity that the United States maintained through its grand narrative and revealed the nature of US policies, which is “America First”and “White Supremacy”, writes Helmo Preuss.
The actions of the United States in Afghanistan have been comprehensively reviewed.
The motives and consequences of the US war-making have been analysed.
These motives and consequences have meant that the United States has been labelled as “untrustworthy”.
The image set by the United States as “the champion for democracy and human rights” has further collapsed.
(I) Misconduct leads to the bankruptcy of peace. Afghanistan has replaced Syria as the least safe country in the world.
A data set reveals the truth of the war in Afghanistan. Over the past two decades, the number of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan has grown to more than 20 from a single digit.
More than 100,000 civilian casualties have been caused by the US military and their allied forces, and over 10 million people have been displaced, most of whom are women and children.
The war in Afghanistan has taken its toll of US$ 60 million on average per day, grievously slowing its socio-economic development. In addition, this war has cost the U.S. armed forces $2.2 trillion and 2,400 American soldiers have been killed.
The war in Afghanistan was given the code name Operation Enduring Freedom, but it resulted in a what U.S. servicemen called the “Forever War”.
From Iraq through Syria to Afghanistan, wherever the American troops stepped into a country, that country has been left in turbulence.
These areas have been long ridden by wars. In defiance of its responsibilities and obligations, the hasty withdrawal of the United States has resulted in a vacuum effect among major countries, which will definitely escalate the conflicts among factions inside Afghanistan.
This will trigger the resurgence of violence and terrorism, leaving peace dead in the water and the civilian population cowering in the shadows.
(II) Mistreatment leads to the bankruptcy of patterns.
According to the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction in the United States, the U.S. has been lacking the most fundamental understanding of Afghanistan, and sometimes it even has no idea what it is doing.
The American policymakers are very ignorant of Afghanistan at their highest strategic level, as they are often attempting to transform Afghanistan in line with their own wishful thinking.
The United States, in the disguise of democracy and human rights, always interferes in other countries internal affairs, as well as undermines peace and stability in other countries and regions.
Failing to establish a sustainable model of operation in Afghanistan till now, the US is always flaunting “the tremendous progress” in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Nowadays, Afghanistan remains one of the least developed countries in the world, as it is burdened with weak industrial and agricultural foundations, and a non-self-sufficient food supply.
Its economy is heavily dependent on foreign aid and so its finance. Its people live in poverty and its unemployment rate rises year after year. The solutions offered by the United States are not the right ones.
The US-backed Afghan government was plagued by serious corruption and waste, therefore, many reconstruction projects in Afghanistan have failed although they have cost billions of dollars.
The Afghan government forces are equipped with the most advanced arms, but have no supporting infrastructures or experienced staff to maintain the arms and equipment. American democracy is an outsider in Afghanistan, and the regime without people’s support is vulnerable.
Failing to unite all the ethnic groups in Afghanistan, it only intensifies the internal contradictions of the elite, causing military conflict in the end.
(III) Misjudgment leads to the bankruptcy of diplomacy.
The United States insists on imperial diplomacy and pursues a war-like foreign policy of military intervention.
The U.S. vainly attempts to export its ideology through military means to create more pro-American forces that will further consolidate America’s strategic advantage in the world.
Tackling political problems by military solutions is like asking the police to solve social problems.
Hegemony will not only lead itself into a predicament one day but also create a source of regional turmoil and bring untold sufferings to other peoples.
The international community has concluded that the United States is the main culprit for the deterioration of human rights in some countries. It is the United States that must be responsible for the humanitarian disasters in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries.
The turmoil, war, and terrorism caused by U.S. power and military means are still hard to eliminate. Meanwhile, the fait accompli of U.S. withdrawal without consultation has forced its allies to follow suit.
The way the United States abandoned the Afghan government may make its allies reconsider the American leadership and the credibility of its commitment.
(IV) Miscarriage leads to the bankruptcy of its morality.
The defeat in Afghanistan and passing the buck to the Afghan government dealt the reputation of the US government a double blow. All US media are criticising this troop withdrawal drama. It is believed that not only does it show the poor management of the Biden Administration, but it also shows that America will never build a functioning nation. In the international community, the failure of the “Afghan model” has broken the illusion of superficial prosperity that the United States maintained through its grand narrative and revealed the nature of US policies, which is “America First”and “White Supremacy”. It has exposed how self-serving the US is as it kicked those small countries away after making use of them and the dirty work of the unscrupulous U.S. government.
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US military killed many innocent Afghanistan civilians and disregarded local religions and cultural customs. Its fig leaf of the “human rights defender” is all gone, and its true features of human rights abuser are thoroughly exposed.
Senior Humanitarian Adviser Stokes with the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) accused the U.S. military of obstructing the organisation’s normal humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan and blew up a hospital operated by that organisation in Kunduz by mistake merely because that hospital was in the region controlled by the Taliban.
Ironically, after the US troops withdrawal and the Taliban taking charge, hospitals of the MSF across Afghanistan can operate smoothly and have received many patients.
The US government’s military intervention, hegemony and wanton interference in other countries’ internal affairs will certainly be spurned by people and are doomed to failure.
* Helmo Preuss is an economist at Forecaster Ecosa
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL.