The Looming American Military Defeat in Afghanistan

With expected reluctance, Muslims followed the play acting of the Afghan election. The foreign occupation forces of that Muslim country widely publicized and directed the election in such a way that the results came out distorted and fraudulent in order to achieve the goals of the occupation rather than act in the interests of the Afghan people. The circumstances under which this election took place were similar to the fraudulent Vietnamese elections the American occupation forces directed in 1970 in Vietnam.

The Afghan election, which in reality has no purpose but to legitimize the occupation, coincided with the emergence of the report by the commander of American forces, Stanley McChrystal, on the possibility of clear military defeat of America at the hands of the lightly armed Taliban. This is in spite of the large presence of American forces in Afghanistan, which number 107,000 soldiers reinforced with very advanced technologies such as satellite monitoring; an arsenal of mighty weapons like the B1 strategic bomber; C130 troop carriers; F15, F16 and F18 fighter planes; helicopters like the Apache, among others; the pilot-less drone planes; and heavy mortars, in addition to tanks, not to mention illegal weapons like white phosphorus and cluster bombs.

Perhaps the greatest failure of the Afghan election which took place under American theatrical direction and the specter of defeat warned of by General McChrystal after his country spent more than $250 billion on the war in Afghanistan, is the complete absence of the Afghan state despite the existence of an American appointed government, whose authority reaches only as far as parts of the capital city of Kabul. This is combined with the impossibility of establishing an Afghan state in light of the fact that the rest of the country is in the hands of militia groups, mainly the Taliban. This situation is exacerbated by the deterioration of military conditions of American troops in Afghanistan, who are continuously gripped by fear and apprehension of an overwhelming Taliban attack in a number of Afghan cities. This resembles the infamous and unexpected “TET” Vietnamese offensive in 1968, which history marked as the beginning of the great American defeat in Vietnam.

If we compare the Soviet and American occupations of Afghanistan, the American occupation is more fragile because the Russians established a loyal army of 240,000 soldiers prior to their invasion of Afghanistan, most of whom were communists loyal to Russia. This long-gone army later fought on several occasions very fiercely on the side of the Russians against their compatriots, but they were defeated in the end, thanks to God. Najib Abdul Rahman, Moscow’s local strong man was later hanged in Kabul.

On the other hand, the Americans failed badly at building an Afghan army with a target of 250,000 soldiers, as they amassed only 80,000, the majority of whom (more than 95%) were illiterate. They had no loyalty to the Americans nor to the appointed Afghan government. Rather, their only concern was to obtain food for themselves and their families. American forces found themselves unable to rely on this fragile army of ethnic Afghani minorities like the Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara, but not the Pashtun heroes. Those loyal to the occupiers should know what their tasks will be as soon as the occupiers leave Afghanistan. McChrystal wants to change this situation with a confrontational strategy, demanding an additional 40,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, even after their numbers already tripled 3 times since the new American President Barack Obama took office. This is in addition to the 74,000 American mercenaries already working in Afghanistan through the company Blackwater and its likes.

Among the signs of the coming American military failure is the confusion in strategy of war management. This is evident from the conflicting statements of American military officials opposing the McChrystal report, which can be summed up as the American military need to exert extra tactical efforts to oppose the Afghan resistance. This can be translated into extra financial resources and hundreds of thousands of soldiers. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, in front of Congress stated, “We have to build an Afghani military and police quickly.” How could there be a military and police force in a country that is divided and with no state??! Going back to the confusion in strategy in the report, “additional resources are no guarantee of success, but are necessary to implement the new strategy, but on the contrary, the lack of resources… will most likely result in failure. Despite this, without a new strategy, the mission should not be supported with resources.” It is a text full of confusion, as there is no new strategy except confrontation, which is continuing without having achieved the results desired by America thus far.

Would it not be better for the new American president, who is keen on improving America’s image in the world, to consider the Afghanistan war one of the mistakes made by the previous American administration and begin a real withdrawal from both Iraq and Afghanistan? This would allow America to save face and initiate a real positive beginning with the Islamic world, where relationships are built on mutual respect and interest. This would make the world a better place, where all people live in cooperation, not war.

But it seems that the big nations do not cease injustice until God rubs their noses in the dust, as the ramifications of injustice are serious and God supports countries or humiliates them accordingly if they implement justice and reform on earth or not, regardless of their religious background. Moreover, God has full power and control over His affairs, but most men know not.