The sequel to Saigon: Afghanistan and Vietnam’s failed lessons

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The biggest American defeat of modern times has been Vietnam until very recently. The basic reason for the debacle was clear. As Washington was loath to turn the Cold War into a searing war, it was unable to stem Soviet support for the Vietcong. This left America with a choice: to organize a complete invasion of North Vietnam or suffer the indignity of a humiliating retreat. He chose the latter.

This same strategic error was observed this summer in the streets of Kabul. But this time, the opposing power was Pakistan. Two decades ago, in the aftermath of September 11, Islamabad trumpeted the severing of its ties with the terrorist militia on its northern border. The truth, however, was quite different.

The Machiavels of the Pakistani military establishment allowed the Taliban to take refuge in the north of the country, escaping the American war machine. There, under the auspices of Pakistan’s dreaded Inter-Service Intelligence Agency, the fanatics staged huge training camps, waiting for the day Washington loses its stomach to fight.

Tens of thousands of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters have received money, military training and accommodation in the camps. Recently, Pakistan’s interior minister confirmed to reporters that Taliban militants even received medical treatment near Islamabad, hundreds of kilometers from the Afghan border.

Members of the Haqqani network – the most notorious and deadly Taliban sect – have been treated as guests from Pakistan. As money flowed into network coffers due to extortion, ransoms and smuggling, Khalil Haqqani himself was frequently seen at the headquarters of the Inter-Service Intelligence Agency.

The irony of the story is almost painful. For starters, the Taliban itself was started with US funding. In the early 1980s, when Afghanistan was under Soviet occupation, the United States and Saudi Arabia funneled money and materials through Pakistan to support the nascent Taliban in their fight against the Reds.

After Russia’s expulsion and the country’s dissolution into a factional war, the Taliban – driven largely by US dollars – began to flirt with al Qaeda. As Washington was caught napping, Pakistan maintained support and the Taliban grew. Then came September 11. Soon after, American boots hit the streets of Kabul.

According to the U.S. intelligence community, the Haqqani Network was responsible for some of the most high-profile attacks during the ensuing Afghan war. In 2008 and 2009, its fighters launched two devastating suicide bombings against the Indian embassy in Afghanistan, killing 75 people. In 2011, they mounted an assault on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul; in September, they participated in a sophisticated one-day assault on major targets in the city, including the United States Embassy. In 2013, Afghan security forces intercepted the largest truck bomb ever built. He was heading for a US military base in eastern Afghanistan loaded with 61,500 pounds of explosives, 10 times the size of the truck bomb that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City in 1995. The Haqqani Network was behind it .

Fast forward to 2021, and the same Khalil Haqqani has taken over security in Kabul. (“If we can defeat the superpowers, we can certainly ensure the safety of the Afghan people,” he boasted to Al Jazeera.) Last week, the Taliban appointed Haqqani minister of refugees in his new Islamic emirate. . A US bounty of $ 5 million remains helplessly on its head.

Washington’s failure to prevent Pakistan from funding, sustaining, and assisting the Taliban was a truly blatant strategic error. Unlike the Vietcong, this baby could easily have been deprived of its mother’s milk. Pakistan is a nuclear power, but it would never have dared to threaten the United States, even if it had had the capacity (it did not). And there was no American-Pakistani power struggle comparable to the Cold War. It was a problem that could have been solved.

In 2008, two months after Barack Obama came to power, Vice President-elect Joe Biden sat down with then-Afghan President Hamid Karzai at Arg Palace, the 83-acre complex of leader in Kabul. Karzai begged Biden to put pressure on Pakistan to help root out the Taliban. The response of the future president left Karzai stunned: “Mr. President,” he said, Pakistan is 50 times more important than Afghanistan to the United States.

Biden’s attitude – that the stakes were too high in Pakistan and too low in Afghanistan – was typical of American diplomatic classes. And as in Washington, so in London. His Majesty’s Government, one of Pakistan’s largest aid donors, has spent years pouring taxpayers’ money into Islamabad, looking the other way as it rigged elections, murdered journalists and campaigners. human rights and supported the Taliban. This money could have come with conditions. But the political will was not there.

Surprisingly, between 2002 and 2011, Congress approved $ 18 billion in military and economic aid to the Taliban sponsor. This is another lever that should have been operated. Sanctions against Pakistan would have had a profound effect, as would the threat of support for India in Kashmir. But tragically, no diplomatic action was taken – even to keep America’s friends safe.

The Vietnam War left deep and permanent scars on the United States. A war that cost more than $ 120 million sparked widespread inflation, which was added to the 1973 oil crisis to drive up fuel prices.

But the psychological damage was even deeper. The myth of American invincibility had been exposed forever and domestic unity was shattered. The swaggering post-WWII superpower has developed a new hesitation in its stride, which has been watched closely by its emboldened enemies.

It was a dark mirror of what was to come.

This article was originally published on The spectatorthe UK website of.


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