US Humiliation in the Graveyard of Empires

Afghanistan has been central in recent international news, ever since US and NATO soldiers withdrew from a war they have been engaged in for 20 years. With the last US military plane leaving Bagram strategic airport, this important base was captured and many of its contents looted. Apparently, no one from the United States even bothered to tell the local commander of their departure. Meanwhile, the Taliban won their military campaign to take over the country at the expense of the government led by President Ashraf Ghani, a political economist formerly with the World Bank and John Hopkins University who was in his second term.

The war in Afghanistan lasted 20 years and cost at least 2,500 US soldiers casualties. The US contingent now constitutes just under half of the entire multinational coalition. The US mercenaries killed would be about 4,000, the losses among Afghan soldiers about 60,000, the civilians incalculable: the UN speaks of 100,000 kills in just 10 years but it is impossible to determine the indirect deaths due to the economic and social consequences of the war. According to the “New York Times”, according to data compiled by Brown University, the US has spent more than 2.5 trillion dollars, over 2,000 dollars alone on war operations and military training.

For economic aid and the reconstruction of the country, 54 billion dollars have been spent, largely wasted “due to corruption and inefficiency”, about 10 billion dollars for the fight against drugs with the result that the cultivated opium area has quadrupled and today 80% of the opium produced illegally in the world comes from Afghanistan. The military-political balance of the war was therefore disastrous, with the exception of the US war-industrial complex which made enormous profits.

Now it’s up to Russia (for the second time) and China to fill the security and government vacuum. What happens next is crucial for the security not only of Afghanistan but also of the Asian macro-region and, to some extent, of the United States and NATO. While the US has accused China of creating debt traps with the Belt and Road Initiative for participating countries, did Washington leave Beijing with a death trap in the form of Afghanistan?

Both Russia and China are stepping forward regarding a new attempt at restructuring Afghanistan. Instead of invading and then using bullets and airstrikes to shock and intimidate the locals, the Chinese are more respectful of the views of Afghan elders – whose wisdom gained from great life experience is greater than that of an 18-year-old who, under “Western democratic values”, it would have the same right to vote.

The Chinese also respect their elders and run a partially democratic system within their party structure made up of ideals of discussion, research, trial and error. That ideology fits best with the Afghan way of thinking. The Chinese are also careful not to be seen as “invaders” – a line dating back to the time of Alexander the Great. The United States has not even worked hard to exploit the undoubted wealth of the Afghan territory, because theirs is the strategy of chaos, this is the reason why the countries of the region now look at them with extreme distrust.

The official purpose of Washington’s new strategic plan is “to prevent Afghanistan from re-emerging as a terrorist base to threaten the United States”. The real objective remains that of 20 years ago: to have a strong military and logistical presence in this area at the crossroads between the Middle East, Central, South and Eastern Asia, of primary strategic importance in the geopolitical containment of Russia and China.

Discover

The impact of Iran, Saudi and China agreement on...

On March 10, 2023, a surprising agreement was reached between Iran and Saudi Arabia...

US Never Ending Plans for Chaos and Division in...

US President Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia was to put pressure on Riyadh to...

New Game and New Players in the Middle East

During his campaign in 2020 Biden said MBS was a pariah. But Biden sure...

The Scourge of Zionist Tyranny is on Display

How many nonthreatening Palestinian men, women, children and infants will die from Israel’s latest...

Biden out of His Depth in Complex Middle East

Prior to Biden's trip to Saudi Arabia, the media was full of rumors that...

The Effects of the Ukraine War on China-Russia Relations

Introduction With the world’s attention focused on Ukraine in the weeks since Russia began its...

Popular Categories

Comments

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here