Afghanistan, the graveyard of empires

Afghanistan has long been called the “graveyard of empires." It is unclear who coined that disputable term.

In truth, no great empires perished solely because of Afghanistan. Perhaps a better way to put it is that Afghanistan is the battleground of empires. Even without easily accessible resources, the country has still been blessed — or cursed, more likely — with a geopolitical position that has repeatedly put it in someone's bullseye.

Afghanistan is a mountainous landlocked country at the crossroads of Central and South Asia. The invaders would include the Maurya Empire, the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great of Macedon, Rashidun Caliphate, the Mongol Empire led by Genghis Khan, the Timurid Empire of Timur, the Mughal Empire, various Persian Empires, the Sikh Empire, the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and the forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, led by the U.S. following 9/11.

Invasions during the 19th, 20th, and 21st Centuries have been disastrous.

The British Empire -- Over an 80-year period, the British fought three wars in Afghanistan, occupying or controlling the country in between, and lost tens of thousands of dead along the way. Finally, exhausted by the First World War, Britain gave up in 1919 and granted Afghanistan independence.

The Soviet Union -- The Soviet Union spent the postwar period pacifying and modernizing its Central Asian republics with great success. But it was mistaken in assuming that the same program could stick in Afghanistan. The Soviets invaded in 1979 to try to quell a brewing civil war and prop up its allies in the Afghan government, and they limped out in 1989. The failure in Afghanistan contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union two years later.

The United States -- The first American military battle of the 21st century was fought in Afghanistan shortly after the events of Sept. 11, 2001. After nearly 20 years of fighting a shifting host of militant groups and the new Taliban insurgency, and now even a local affiliate of the Islamic State, there is no clear end on the horizon.

Since then more than a million American servicemen and women have served in Afghanistan; 2,400 of them lost their lives, along with another 1,100 NATO and other coalition allies killed.

Afghanistan became America's longest war, and, in 20 years of war, very little has been accomplished. The many failures -- not the least of which are 2,400 dead and another 20,000 wounded -- far surpasses the few successes, which would include schooling for girls and new schools.

Moreover, Afghanistan poses no threat to the United States. China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran do.

President Biden has decided that 20 years of sheer frustration, dead, and wounded is enough. We can make better use of our human, financial, and military resources by engaging the real threats to our existence.

"President Biden formally announced his decision to end the 20-year, largely unsuccessful American effort to remake Afghanistan, declaring on Wednesday that he would withdraw the remaining few thousand United States troops in the country by Sept. 11," the New York Times.

Invasions of Afghanistan - Wikipedia and The Empire Stopper (Published 2017) assisted me in this report.

 

The U.S. losing 2,400 soldiers in Afghanistan over 20 years is not disaster.

It's barely a nuisance

No nation or external force is a threat to the existence of the United States so that is an utterly irrelevant point.

 

Get out and don't look back. Now will the USA learn? Korea. Viet Nam. Afghanistan. I don't think we will learn as long as we have lobbyist in Washington.

 

Of course it is a disaster - if those lives were wasted.

your claim that no Nation or External force exists that Threatens US existence is unsubstantiated bunk and demonstrably false.

 

Just because wars can't be won doesn't mean they shouldn't be fought.

 

The soldiers volunteered to fight those conflicts.

 

Disastrous enough to their families and loved ones.

 

we should remember elphinstone's retreat as we prepare to leave this forsaken country .........

On 13 January, a British officer from the 16,000 strong column rode into Jalalabad on a wounded horse (a few sepoys, who had hidden in the mountains, followed in the coming weeks). Assistant Surgeon William Brydon, who was riding a pony taken from a mortally wounded officer after being begged by the man not to let it fall into anyone else's hands, continued on despite him and his pony being severely wounded in several skirmishes with roaming bands of Afghans. On 13 January and now just miles from Jalalabad, Brydon had to fight for his life against a party of Afghan horsemen and was saved only when he was spotted by a staff officer on the walls of Jalalabad who immediately dispatched rescue riders to ride out and meet the exhausted surgeon. Brydon was asked upon arrival what happened to the army, to which he answered "I am the army". Although part of his skull had been sheared off by a sword, he ultimately survived because he had insulated his hat with a magazine which deflected the blow.

1842 retreat from Kabul - Wikipedia

 

Sure Dayton - since they volunteered - it is ok that their lives were wasted in a worthless endeavor - of no benefit to US citizens - and in fact a mission of immense harm to US citizens.. but no worries mate .. gotcha covered .. this calls for understanding !?

 

So? They volunteered to serve knowing full well what was involved.

 

All foreign policy involves wasting lives at some point. It is the nature of it.

 

Brydon was NOT the only British or European survivor.

Brydon became widely, if inaccurately, known as being the only survivor of the entire army.[3] In fact, he was not the only European to survive the retreat; about 115 British officers, soldiers, wives and children were captured or taken as hostages and survived to be subsequently released.[4] Included, was the wife of Sir Robert Henry Sale, Lady Sale, though not Elphinstone, who died in captivity. Nor was Brydon the only European to survive the trek from Kabul to Jalalabad without spending time in captivity; by Brydon's own account a "Greek merchant", a Mr Baness, also made it to Jalalabad, arriving two days after Brydon but surviving for only one day. In addition a small number of Indian sepoys reached Jalalabad on foot over the subsequent weeks. One sepoy, havildar Sita Ram, escaped from Afghanistan after 21 months of slavery and rejoined his former regiment at Delhi.[5] About 2,000 sepoys and an unrecorded number of camp followers were eventually found in Kabul and brought back to India by Pollock's "Army of Retribution" following their occupation of the city

 

And that is not some endorsement for war. It is a tacit admission that the OP has major flaws.
First by putting the emphasis on the USA military.

General Tommy Franks came up with a brilliant plan. Lacking time to mass a major army of our own, then sending them there, he put to work the Afghans themselves. Handed them millions of dollars plus supported them with logistics and professionals at guiding our missiles and airplanes. He had at the time of the defeat of the Taliban, less than 1000 of our men who supplied the Afghanis.

Since then we have not had a clear mission. No wonder Biden tossed his arms up in the air and surrendered. Biden is not mentally gifted enough to wage any war.

 

This nation lost over 700,000 in combat due to Abe Lincoln yet try to get Americans to give him hell over his massive death toll.

 

After 20 consecutive years at war, thousands of US soldiers dead, hundreds of thousands of civilians dead, trillions of dollars spent, and the Taliban still controlling most of the country, I don't really see much of a rational argument left for how the war in Afghanistan has been to our benefit, or anyone's benefit, other than maybe a few military contractors

 

"a brilliant plan? "vietnamization? " this war has been lost for a long time.

the "brilliant plan" was for trump to negotiate a surrender then leave it up to his successor to take the blame for the loss.

 

I would agree if you are attacked. "Better dead than red". "Give me liberty or give me death". Mohammed Ali was right when he refused to go fight and he said, "I got nothing against them Cong".

 

It provides a harbor for terrorists. That makes it a threat to the US. The problem is that we could stay there for a thousand years and it will still be a theat. The terrain and location of Afghanistan makes it a better battleground for terrorists than for a modern army. There is an argument that the US being there keeps the terrorists tied up in Afghanistan. However, they can just move to adjacent countries.

There is no right decision. Leaving is less bad than staying.

 

Tell that to the wife, son, and daughter of a man killed in Afghanistan.

You missed the entire point. The deaths of 2,400 Americans while accomplishing little and changing nothing in 20 years is a disaster.

 

For a change, we are in total agreement. Excellent analysis.

 

Viet Nam,Iraq and Afghanistan lives lost by both sides, billions of tax dollars wasted, little to nothing achieved or accomplished.

 

If the U.S. had lost ONE American in Afghanistan would you still call it a disaster?

Because it would be to the wife, son or daughter of that one person killed there.

 

Biden will likely revoke his order to remove all the troops from Afghanistan by 911. . Trump said it was a wonderful and positive thing to do and hoped they would be removed even sooner.

 

This was just another golden cash cow for military "contractors" doing what the military once did for itself. Take food, 20 bucks per meal served up on a disposable plate, if a soldier wanted another disposable plate as a cover to keep the blowing dirt off if he took it back to the barracks, 20 more bucks. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE BEEN BLATANTLY ROBBED BLIND BY THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX IN COLLUSION WITH POLITICIANS SINCE EISENHOWER FIRST WARNED US OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

President Trump also decided that it was time to get out, and paid lip service and tried to accomplish that as C-in-C.

Alas, the puppet masters, The Powers That Be, the Deep State, would not allow it.

I suspect the same thing will happen in September. Our illustrious leaders will "change their mind" and fail yet again to do the right thing.