U.S. Troop Withdrawal Points to Iran and China

On June 23 (Afghanistan time), U.S. President Barack Obama announced the troop withdrawal plan. This is a wise choice on Obama’s part and his contribution to world peace, since it was International Olympics Day.

The spirit of the Olympics emphasize the tolerance and comprehension of cultural differences. The International Olympics Day, which began in 1948, encourages people to replace prejudice and conflict with fair competition. On Sept. 11 , 2001, under the protection of Afghan Taliban government, al-Qaida, with an initial prejudice, attacked U.S. citizens and world citizens, causing calamity.

Intending to defend national interests and display the U.S.’s determination to the terrorists, the U.S. government started the Afghanistan war on Oct. 7, 2001, 10 years ago. There are currently 100,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. The army costs a monthly expenditure of $10 billion. In the past 10 years, the U.S. army, besides having lost many soldiers, has also suffered the corruption of the Afghan government.

The U.S. is a nation that emphasizes pursuit of national interests. When the U.S. army headed to Afghanistan, one of the purposes was to overthrow the Taliban government. This purpose has been achieved, but the price is too high, because many people in Afghanistan regard suicide and murder as hobbies. The poverty of Afghanistan cannot be reversed in one day; the corruption among Afghan officials cannot be eliminated in one day. In the past 10 years, the U.S. has spent a large amount of taxpayers’ money to let the soldiers sweat, bleed and cry.

Obama’s decision to withdraw the troops is correct, because the U.S. has tried its best in Afghanistan; the U.S. can never do everything perfectly since Afghanistan’s poverty is “a suicide bomb.” Vietnam, as a similar example, with help from other countries, frustrated Lyndon Johnson, leaving Nixon to clean up the mess.

The Soviet Union’s experience in Afghanistan teaches the U.S. a lesson: when a large amount of people don’t care to die, any preaching of principles is useless. The Soviet Union, in order to obtain illegal fortunes, was determined to send troops. The failure is predictable. The U.S.’s counterterrorism, even though justified, still failed when encountering those covetous Afghanistan officers and the Taliban, who don’t care about deaths. However, the U.S. has a long tradition of having two-pronged strategies. In this case, the strategy is to build a closer relationship with the Taliban and the Afghan government.

The Soviet Union was taught the U.S. lessons not only in Afghanistan, but also in Eastern Europe. When George Marshall, in order to save post-WWII Europe, put forward the renowned Marshall Plan, the Soviet Union also set up the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. However, since the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia have been reformed one by one. Now, who has ever calculated how much the Soviet Union spent on its overseas troops over 50 years?

The current international situation has changed. According to the Americans’ deep-seated opinions, “anti-communism” and “counterterrorism” are still the main targets of “the new crusade.” Nevertheless, since “counterterrorism” doesn’t have a uniform definition in this world, Obama doesn’t always use this term but instead expresses it as the diplomacy of “universal rights.” This expression is similar to Carter’s “human rights diplomacy,” but has wider influence and entertains stronger power so that the effect will be more powerful.

America’s “anti-communist” ways are malicious. For example, the U.S. triggered an entanglement between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea and caused the leader of North Korea to pay “unofficial visits” frequently. As the saying goes, “Generous rewards rouse heroes, while juicy meat brings ferocious dogs.” The U.S. is happy to obtain the free “juicy meat” while Vietnam and North Korea exhaust China. After the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Iran should be the most concerned since all the events in the Middle East are under America’s control, and the U.S.’s ultimate target is Iran. Obama scored one point in his decision to withdraw troops from corrupt Afghanistan. After Syria and Yemen overthrew their autocratic governments as they had wished, Iran, a “Persian empire” which is neither very autocratic nor democratic, should surrender without fighting.