The US is withdrawing most of its troops (finally!!) from Afghanistan. Meanwhile the Taliban are steadily re-taking territory as the Western troops leave, and have already recaptured 50 of Afghanistan’s approximately 400 districts. US intelligence experts expect Kabul, the capital, to fall within six months or so of the US exit.
Some columnists are sharply criticizing President Biden for the withdrawal. It seems to me the real lesson is that if 20 years of American presence, blood and treasure was not enough to give Afghanistan a government that could stand, another 20 years of American presence is not likely to be any more effective. If Washington policy makers had studied history, we might have learned this lesson from Alexander the Great, or from the Mongol empire of Genghis Khan, or from several of the Persian empires, or the British, or even more recently from the Russians, none of whom were any more successful at taming Afghanistan than we have been.
Posts
