Tucson Opinion: Afghanistan was a failure. Let's get out now

The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

The withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan is long overdue. The military, though grudgingly, also agrees, as confirmed by Gen. Frank McKenzie. The American public also agrees, with hardly anyone understanding why we are wasting our money, resources and our most precious blood there.

Only columnist Michael Gerson argues to the opposite, raising the same points as have been formulated over the last 20 years: Afghanistan will be overrun by the Taliban again; women will be forced out of the public; massive numbers of Afghan citizens will try to escape to the West to avoid being killed for their collaboration with the US. And maybe, new terrorist plans will be concocted then.

Oddly, the arguments in favor of our continued presence in that far-removed dry and mountainous country sound very similar to those in defense of the endless Vietnam War. Moreover, not one U.S. military intervention globally since WWII has been successful; each time we have done nothing but to act as bullies and post-colonial imperialists, so we got bloody noses.

All our military efforts have only strengthened the guerillas or terrorists, just as Napoleon had to learn in the early 19th century, because a standing army is almost helpless against a guerilla force based in the local population (see the failure of the UK in the Revolutionary War!).

The British failed in Afghanistan, the Russians failed there and we have already failed there as well, if we only face reality. Afghanistan has not transformed into a western-style democracy under our guidance, or rather control; and it is only a matter of time until the Taliban reconquer Kabul.

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But are they really terrorists intent on threatening the U.S., or do they fight to regain their own country? Our very presence provides them with the ideology behind their military power and carefully considered, irrespective of the role played by Osama Bin Laden, the U.S. never had any legitimate reason to invade that country.

That decision, under President George W. Bush, was a colossal mistake and altogether it was plainly illegal. Only the military-industrial complex has really profited from this horrible war.

Of course, the Afghan government would like us to stay because we pay them with our tax money, but that is nothing but a puppet regime. None of the points raised by Gerson makes sense because the U.S. does not have any intrinsic interests in that country. There is no way to use military might to transform a people’s mentality and culture, especially in a world determined by tribal structures.

Gerson still believes that the US enjoy the role of a global power player when much of what we pay out today is borrowed money. We still have mighty military muscles, and we can flex them well, but it is absurd to think that we must control the world.

I would like to remind Gerson that the era of colonialism is over for good, and no military operation will bring it back, not even for the U.S. Let’s finally learn the painful lessons the Romans had to swallow 1,500 years ago.

Whether Albert Einstein said it or not, this statement holds so true: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” The Russians are very happy about our inane efforts in Afghanistan, but the American people want this to come to a stop.