Why US is losing war in Afghanistan?

Over a decade of systematic and pandemic lack of accountability has meant that Afghanistan has no faith in the West and its values. More importantly, America’s war against Afghanistan violates international laws including the Charter of the United Nations, Geneva Conventions and all the eleven international agreements that deal with the suppression and control of terrorism.”

When the United States of America told the world it was going to war against Afghanistan in 2011 in the name of national security, little did the White House and the people of Afghanistan realize that one country’s vendetta against one individual – Osama bin Laden – would span over a decade, leaving in its wake devastation and a deep-seated sense of injustice.

While America went essentially to war against one country over the alleged crimes of one terror organization, al-Qaeda, claiming it would helped free the people of Afghanistan from the Taliban’s criminal and ruthless regime, and thus bring about democracy, the people of Afghanistan have ironically came to associate the arrival of American troops in their country with death, terror and torture.

Ten years have now passed since US President George W Bush stood before the American Congress to declare war against the enemies of the free world; ten long years have passed, and yet America is no closer to controlling the region, quite the contrary.

  While the US was keen in 2001 to clarify its stand in Afghanistan, stressing its fight was with extremism, ten years of killings, abuse, unlawful arrests and war crimes.

In 2011, researchers at Brown’s Watson Institute for International Studies found that since 2001 an estimated 132,000 civilians have died in America’s wars against terror — Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan — Since Washington resumed its drone program in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen, researchers have warned that civilian casualties would continue to increase exponentially, fueling public anger and resentment against the West and the values it had come to represent.

Because American soldiers in Afghanistan are now perceived as the occupiers, the malevolent force which in the dead of the night prey on innocent, villagers, pillaging and killing randomly in all impunity, young Afghanis are joining the ranks of the “Taliban and al-Qaeda “in the region, willingly choosing what they believe to be the lesser evil.

The time when America star-studded flag was linked to freedom and democracy has long gone, instead its emblem now strikes fear at the heart of civilians, it inspires hatred, resentment and anger for those whose families were torn apart, destroyed in the name of America’s revenge.

America’s war crimes

In 2012, Moign Khawaja, a journalist, wrote on the matter, “Trigger-happy behavior is widespread among the US occupation forces. American soldiers are known for their “shoot first, ask questions later” approach. Many Afghans, especially the rural folk, are shot on mere suspicion. In many cases, the suspect would be either going to or coming from work or tending his fields.

    The most serious of all the violations of the US military is their complete disregard for the dignity and privacy of the Afghan people. The behavior of the US occupation forces is reminiscent of the European colonialists of the “New World” era who invaded and occupied the lands of Native Americans, destroyed their settlements, killed their men and captured their women, children and cattle.”

Prominent rights organizations among which Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have frequently denounced and exposed America’s war crimes violations, cataloging every infractions, every irregularities. Both organizations recorded numerous incidents of theft and sexual misconduct committed by US troops in Afghan villages.

Afghanis have been forced to watch American soldiers desecrate their homes, dishonor and insult their wives and children.

According to a Human Rights Watch report published in March 2004, “US forces regularly use military means and methods during arrest operations in residential areas where law enforcement techniques would be more appropriate. This has resulted in unnecessary civilian casualties and may in some cases have involved indiscriminate or disproportionate force in violation of international humanitarian law.”

Human Rights Watch routinely accuses the US occupation forces in Afghanistan of violating international humanitarian law and human rights laws by mistreating and torturing suspects. It has cited several cases recorded in detention centers where suspects were held incommunicado and without any charge for several years.

Myopic understanding of the region

Retired General Stanley Mc Chrystal frighteningly admits to Washington lack of insight and foresight in the Afghanistan conflict. “We didn’t know enough and we still don’t know enough. Most of us, me included, had a very superficial understanding of the situation and history, and we had a frighteningly simplistic view of recent history, the last 50 years,” he told the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent think-tank based in New York.

America’s war against terror has meant that terror has now metastasized across the region, turning a once dying breed of Illuminates into a fire breathing monster of the likes the region has never seen before.

After over a decade of war and political manipulation, Afghanistan central government is but a shadow, a network of corrupt politicians whose alliances have become but mere tradable commodities, allowing extremism to thrive unburden and unchecked.

Source:Press TV

M.D