The United States of America and the Soviet Union were undoubtedly the great victors of World War II. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was a winner by default. The two main European powers, namely Great Britain and France, lost their pole position in world affairs due to the loss of their colonial possessions.
Between 1945 and now, the United States has grown increasingly powerful. The Soviet Union disappeared on December 26, 1991. The United States became the world‘s hyperpower in the early 1990s. China at the time was still far behind even trying to catch up.
However, the United States’ post-World War II record in military interventions around the world has been shattered to say the least. His first major military involvement after World War II took place in Korea from 1950 to 1953. It ended in deadlock.
Read more: The real winners of WWII
The only climax for the United States being ignominy was the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur on April 11, 1951, by President Harry Truman. A decorated war hero and Supreme Allied Commander in Japan, MacArthur wanted to expand the Korean conflict and attack China.
The second major US military involvement took place in Vietnam. It began on February 28, 1961 and ended on May 7, 1975, in unequivocal military humiliation. The iconic photograph of this mortification was that of the last helicopter from Saigon landing on the deck of the USS Okinawa on April 30, 1975.
The last helicopter out of Saigon landed on the deck of the USS Okinawa on April 30, 1975 at 8:30 a.m.
History repeats itself in Afghanistan 46 years later as @POTUS Presides over the cut and run in Afghanistan.
ISI – Taliban Combine must laugh until the bank pic.twitter.com/fNSi5xIq1b
– Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) July 9, 2021
From 1975 to 1990, the United States was engaged in a number of proxy wars around the world as part of the larger Cold War paradigm, but avoided direct military involvement. The culmination of his military prowess came in the First Gulf War of 1990, when a US-led coalition liberated Kuwait in an operation of shock and fear that dispersed Saddam’s forces. Hussein like bowling pins.
Ironically, it was the United States that supported and funded Iraq between 1980 and 1989, both materially and militarily, in its war with Iran. The second US military involvement in Iraq in 2003 still ended badly. This ended up expanding Iran’s de facto influence in the region forming a Shiite crescent that includes Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan, Yemen and even the West. from Afghanistan.
Read more: Is the United States seeking to ease tensions with Iran by reducing its forces in the Middle East?
American involvement in Afghanistan: giving the USSR its Vietnam War
US involvement in Afghanistan began in the dying days of the Jimmy Carter administration in December 1979. It was awarded the green flag by its national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski.
He revealed in an interview that “The day the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, we now have the opportunity to give the USSR its Vietnam War. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to wage an unbearable war by the government, a conflict that resulted in the demoralization and ultimately the break-up of the Soviet Empire. His words were indeed prophetic. The Afghan mishap resulted in the end of the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Eastern Europe.
However, the American engagement in Afghanistan had started even before the Soviet invasion. As Zbigniew Brzezinski added, “It was on July 3, 1979, that President Carter signed the first secret aid directive to opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. This covert operation was a great idea. This had the effect of luring the Russians into the Afghan trap.
Read more: US to confront Russia over role in Afghanistan
Brzezinski then goes on to outline the rationale for US military aid and Saudi funding via Pakistan for the Mujahedin in Afghanistan. He waxed eloquently as he said “What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Restless Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?
Mark the words “restless Muslimsâ€.
The Americans therefore had only one objective in Afghanistan from 1980 to 1989: to give the Soviets their Vietnam. They were successful when the Soviets withdrew from Amu Dariya in 1989. The subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union was a collateral bonus. They really didn’t care what they left in their wake because their purpose had been served.
Read more: America is too big to fall. It is … but the USSR was too
Can the United States be blamed for its early ’90s approach as Afghanistan? No, it cannot, for each nation operates in its own enlightened interest. The American national interest ended the day the Soviets withdrew. The Afghans had nothing to complain about then because the United States was not directly involved in Afghanistan at the time.
America leaves its allies: a hard lesson for India
The period from 1989 to 2001 unleashed such tectonic forces in Afghanistan that they returned to bite the United States like never before. September 11 necessitated the return of the United States to Afghanistan. From then until now, the goal of the United States has been to strip the ability of any non-state or semi-state activity to strike the United States again.
After assessing that they had succeeded in doing so and after teaching the Taliban a hard lesson, including incarcerating their leaders in de facto concentration camps like Guantanamo Bay, the United States again entered into negotiations with the Taliban.
Hard politics simply dictated this as all nation-building efforts of the past two decades had failed to bear fruit in terms of a stable alternative that could stay afloat without the continued support of the United States and a commitment to long term that no nation, including the United States, is capable of achieving. do indefinitely.
Read more: Who are the Afghan Taliban and why won’t the United States be able to defeat them?
In return for assurances from the Taliban that US interests would not be targeted from Afghan soil, they were more than willing to return Afghanistan to the mullahs. For the United States, what does it matter, because the Taliban are just an extreme version of the many mullahs they deal with in the wider Middle East?
If the Taliban reneged on their commitment, the United States could always return. Despite all their protests, Pakistanis are said to be ready to be the cat’s paw again. The gravy train that accompanies these interventions is simply too harsh for Pakistani elites to resist. In the meantime, Afghans should smile and endure if they fail to find their own balance. This currently seems highly unlikely.
This is the lesson for India, which wants to hang its coat on the American Quad ankle to counter China. There is no such thing as a free meal in life. Americans have their own interests as China. These interests do not necessarily converge with those of India. The American trajectory of leaving allies in a bind unless they are Anglo-Saxon over the past seven decades is fairly well documented. It can be instructive for India’s strategic elites to drink from these wells of knowledge.
Read more: What is preventing the Indian army from seizing Afghanistan?
Manish Tewari is a lawyer practicing at the Supreme Court of India. He was Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the Indian government. He is the national spokesperson for the Indian National Congress. He is Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Think Tank Atlantic Council, based in Washington. He tweets: @manishtewari. The article has been republished with permission of the author. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.
