In the heavy, mid-morning heat, government staff, diplomats, and American citizens gathered in droves. They waited anxiously for their chance to board one of the helicopters approaching the embassy rooftop. The capital was falling to an enemy that the American government claimed was losing the war.
On paper, the adversary was no match for the United States. On the ground, however, reality told another story. A country in ruin, billions of dollars wasted — unfathomable human casualties.
It’s been 46 years since Saigon fell; since the mighty Americans lost a devastating war to the North Vietnamese. For the last four and a half decades people have questioned whether the cost holds worth. And what lessons would be learned from this tragic failure.
The scenes from the embassy in Kabul are hauntingly familiar. The end of another conflict that will no doubt be dissected and analyzed with the same criticism.
The government is grappling to tell a story of success. ‘Saving Afghanistan wasn’t the mission,’ they’ll say. ‘We simply went in to stop those responsible for 9/11.’
Mission accomplished, it seems. After two long decades.
This war carried on for just shy of twenty years. And the costs are staggering. Over two trillion dollars were spent by the United States alone.
But money isn’t really the issue, is it.
3,562 coalition soldiers were killed in action. Over 4,000 more journalists, aid workers and other contractors died in the conflict. Close to 50,000 civilians perished and millions more have been displaced. And then there are the wounded, at upwards of 24,000. And ‘wounded’ doesn’t mean cuts and bruises. Someone listed as wounded in modern combat has suffered permanent, life-altering, physical damage.
Of those who return home, countless suffer from horrific PTSD. The suicide rate for veterans of Afghanistan is four times higher than those killed in combat.
What was this sacrifice for?
As the evacuation winds down, the Taliban is already in control. While evacuees board the remaining American planes out of Kabul, the enemy occupies the presidential Palace.
Maybe I’m too detached; missing some personal connection. But I’m struggling to find a reason, some justification for it all.
Millions of Afghans are grateful, perhaps, for the years they lived with the Taliban at bay. The women who went to school and pursued careers are probably the most prolific example of this. Cultural minorities, including gay and transgendered people, could live without fear of execution for simply being who they are. It’s possible that, at least for a while, relative calm soothed a country that had spent decades in turmoil.
I also think of those who fought. The camaraderie between the men and women who lived an existence most of us will never know. Their shared experience forged a tribal bond that is impossible to convey to those on the outside.
However impactful and cherished these may be, they are effects of the war — not cause for it.
So why?
Freedom? Money? Resources? Or was it merely a miscalculation; a simple, punitive act that tumbled wildly out of control.
I don’t know. And the more questions I ask, the more I seem to find.
For millions in Afghanistan, life takes a devastating return to Taliban rule. Many of those lucky enough to get out, now find themselves with nothing. Lost and in search of a new beginning.
And the ones who made it home, scarred by the horrors of war, reliving untold atrocities in their dreams. Lives are forever changed for those who sacrificed body and mind because they believed the war was for something — believed it was worth something.
Twenty years…
And for what?