AMERICAN INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN
Yes, you read it right
America’s invasion of Afghanistan was the biggest waste of money ever in history.
But what was the reason for America to invade Afghanistan
The US invaded Afghanistan because it was confirmed that people who were responsible for the 9/11 attack were hiding in Afghanistan and the Taliban refused to hand over Al Qaeda terrorists even after repeated demands.
Therefore, America invaded Afghanistan and eventually overthrew the Taliban and later established a new government in Afghanistan.
Initially, it did look as if America has succeeded in bringing democracy to Afghanistan But the reality was different.
- The democratically elected government was riddled with corruption from top to bottom and the local afghans started losing trust in the elected government as the years passed due to the exact same reason.
- Opium which was banned and eradicated during Taliban rule was again bought back by the newly elected Afghan government in 2001. This angered the local warlords and local people who then started taking arms against America.
- Most of the money which was meant for training Afghan army was used in filling the pockets of the higher officials. This resulted in the Afghan army under trained to defeat the Taliban even though by numbers they had the advantage — 300,000 Afghan Soldiers vs 80,000 Taliban fighters.
America and NATO committed war crimes against Afghan people such as:
- Kandahar Massacre — It was also called as panjwal massacre where a soldier killed 16 civilians and injured 6 civilians. The reason the soldier gave for killing is his marital problems which provoked him.[1]
- Mayawand District Massacre — where 3 civilians were killed.[2]
- Kunduz hospital airstrike — It was believed that the Taliban militants were hiding in the hospital, therefore an airstrike was conducted by USAF but it resulted in killing 42 civilians. It was later confirmed that no Taliban fighters were there in the compound.[3]
After witnessing the continuous war crimes by the US and NATO, the inability of the government in making the life of the common Afghan better and many other factors changed the opinion of the public — From Anti-Taliban to Pro-Taliban
US which was initially seen as a peacekeeper for Afghan people later ended up becoming a war-mongering country for the very same Afghan people.
But the US was contended to stay in Afghanistan so as to stop the influence of Russia or China and they ended up staying for 20 years which was also known as the longest war ever in American history.
Even though America spent $88 billion in the Afghan Army[4]
But most of the money was gobbled up in corruption which left them undertrained and underpaid.
Frustrated army men later defected to the Taliban to fight alongside the Taliban. They also provided them with American made weapons and logistics which later helped the Taliban in fighting the Afghan government effectively and swiftly occupying the entire country in a matter of 3 months.
BUT WHAT WAS THE OVERALL COST OF THE WAR?
$2 Trillion.
An estimation of $2 Trillion was spent in America’s war on Afghanistan.[5]
So in other words, it took 20 Years, 1 lakh civilians death, Trillions of dollars, 4 presidents only to replace Taliban with the Taliban.
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AND THIS TURNED OUT TO BE THE BIGGEST WASTE OF MONEY IN THE HISTORY.
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Footnotes:
[1] Kandahar massacre — Wikipedia
[2] Maywand District murders — Wikipedia
[3] Kunduz hospital airstrike — Wikipedia
[4] $88 Billion Spent On Afghan Forces Which Surrendered Without A Fight To Taliban
[5] Afghan war cost US $2 trillion, interest will pinch every American
