Afghanistan: A decision to lose? : comparemela.com

Afghanistan: A decision to lose?
© Provided by The Financial Express
Today, President Ashraf Ghani is meeting President Joe Biden in the White House. The message being carried is ‘Afghanistan is disintegrating and fast’. (File image: Reuters)
By Col Ronnie Rajkumar
The US decision to pull up it's stakes in Afghanistan by 11 September 2021 is being viewed by many as a 'decision to lose'. Historically, the US carries a baggage of unfinished wars and abandoning military commitments when the going gets tough-Vietnam (1973), Lebanon (1983), Somalia (1995), Iraq (2011) and now Afghanistan. Long regarded, respected and feared as the defender of democracy and the world leader in the GWOT, the US withdrawal has given operational space and created a vortex in the region that will draw jihadist extremists from conflict zones in the Middle East, Caucasus, Central Asia and China who seek fresh agendas, new battlefields, fertile recruiting grounds and secure training areas. Since 2017, this regional high – octane environment has already been home to 20 US-designated FTOs (Foreign Terrorist Organizations) to include AQ and IS (KP). This potentially can give rise to the proliferation of extremist groups and an expansion of their arc of terror activities with no fear of US / NATO intervention. And it may well be a point in fact that Jihadi groups now feel that the US doesn't need to be defeated-they just have to outlast them. The US is presently in the search of 'off-shore, over-the-horizon options' for basing drones and SOF teams to prevent a 9/11 2.0, but options are being wiped-off the table-Pakistan has refused (to date – but no telling) and Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are being pressurized by Russia not to permit US bases on their soil.

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