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Like the U.S. Army today, the British found themselves geographically marooned, and secured favorable terms for withdrawal from their adversaries, but when their column around 16,500 soldiers and camp followers left the gates of Kabul on their way to Jalalabad, the Afghans descended, slaughtering all except one: an army surgeon, William Brydon. When Dr. Brydon the original Lone Survivor arrived on horseback at the gates of Jalalabad, near death himself, with part of his skull sheared off, a sentry asked him where the army was, to which he responded, I am the army.

Although the Soviet army avoided this fate a century later, the regime it left behind fared little better. Mohammad Najibullah, an infamous torturer and former head of Afghanistans intelligence service, the KHAD, as well as a K.G.B. agent, had been installed by the Soviets as president and was able to hold onto power for more than two years after they left. As the Soviet Union collapsed, its financial support of his regime evaporated. Mr. Najibullah was soon deposed and eventually found himself at the end of a Taliban executioners rope when they took control of Kabul. Which raises the question of how long the United States will continue to support the government of President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan after our withdrawal. One year? Two? Three? What is the decent interval, to borrow Nixons phrase from our calamitous withdrawal from Vietnam?

As Jack and I ran, we discussed this history and other complex aspects of Americas withdrawal: how many senior members of the Afghan government possessed dual citizenship and would likely depart the country, leaving behind less capable subordinates to fill critical positions; the challenges of collapsing more remote outposts; and whether the State Department would grant visas to those Afghans whod thrown their lot in with their government and us.

Jack concluded, America might be done with Afghanistan, but Afghanistan isnt done with America. In his view, my lunch at the ambassadors residence wouldnt mark the end of the war at all. Not for me. Not for anyone.

After finishing her call, the ambassador apologized for being so inattentive. She confessed that she had an agenda item we hadnt gotten to discuss. She wanted some advice as she was considering writing a book. Like those of the millions of Afghan girls we are now in the process of abandoning, her story is marked by war and overcoming an oppressive version of Islam championed by the Taliban, a personal journey that leads to a final chapter in which she is appointed as the first female Afghan ambassador to the United States. My advice to her was to keep notes, and I told her that she might not be ready to write that final chapter yet. Because she may not be remembered most for having been her governments first female ambassador, but rather for having been, as it related to America, its last.

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Opinion | The Afghanistan War Will End as It Began: In Blood - The New York Times

The Afghan government said it plans to begin talks with 14 countries to discuss what to do with hundreds of their citizens who have been captured while fighting alongside the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP).

Ahmad Zia Seraj, the head of Afghanistan's intelligence agency, National Directorate of Security (NDS), said last week that his government wanted to "find an acceptable solution to the problem."

The foreign nationals in Afghan custody are 408 ISKP members, including 173 women and children. According to the Afghan government, 299 of them are from Pakistan, 37 from Uzbekistan, 16 from China, 13 from Tajikistan, 12 from Kyrgyzstan, five from Russia, five from Jordan, five from Indonesia, four from India, four from Iran, three from Turkey, two from Bangladesh and two from Maldives.

Abdul Wahid Taqat, a former senior intelligence official in the Afghan government, predicted a difficult legal and political process for the repatriation of the ISKP prisoners, saying Kabul will likely need to use international bodies to convince those countries take back their citizens.

Returning these fighters would not be easy because Afghanistan has no treaties to extradite or exchange terrorists with most of these countries, Taqat told VOA, adding that a reasonable option for Afghanistan is to involve the United Nations Human Commission on Human Rights to find a solution.

Most of the countries are hesitant to take back their citizens who have joined terror groups because of legal and security risks these dangerous individuals pose, said Colin Clarke, a senior fellow at the Soufan Center.

Clarke, however, said that some countries will likely be more responsive to the Afghan government request.

More authoritarian countries do not need the proof; countries that are more transparent will need it to prosecute [these individuals], he said. He added that China has interest in taking back its citizens back because it has inflated the threat of terrorism to justify their treatment of Uyghurs.

Reuters reported in 2015 that the Afghan government arrested and handed over a number of Uyghur militants to China as a way to persuade China to help with convincing Pakistan to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.

Formidable threat

Taqat said the Afghan governments announcement shows that foreign fighters still have bases in the country and that their presence would remain a "formidable threat"after foreign troops leave.

The fighters will pose a greater threat to the security and stability of Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal, said Taqat.

The U.S. and its NATO allies have announced that they will pull out all their forces from Afghanistan by September 11.

The Islamic State branch, ISKP, was formed in January 2015 in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan and in northern Pakistan. The group has suffered major setbacks in recent years, including the loss of its key pockets of territory and the removal of its top leadership.

Despite the losses, a U.N. report in May 2020 said that ISKP still has about 2,200 armed fighters in the South Asian country and remains capable of launching different attacks.

Pakistani citizens

During the announcement Tuesday, NDSs chief Saraj said that 299 out of 208 ISKP prisoners were Pakistani citizens because 60%of Daesh fighters are Pakistanis.

Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

Saraj said Aslam Farooqi, an ISKP leader and Pakistani citizen, will be turned over to Pakistani authorities only in exchange for Taliban leadership.

We would only hand him over to Pakistan if we agree on a mutual exchange. When Pakistan hands over some Taliban leaders to us, we will think about it.

Farooqi was arrested with a dozen other ISKP fighters in April 2020 in the southern Kandahar province.

Earlier this month, Pakistan demanded that Afghanistan hand over Farooqi to Pakistan.

Aslam Farooqi was involved in anti-Pakistan activities in Afghanistan, he should be handed over to Pakistan for further investigation, Pakistans foreign office said in a statement.

Regional observers say that most of ISKP fighters were the alienated members of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who joined the terror group after it was formed in 2015.

The Afghan government said that in addition to the ISKP fighters, it is holding an additional 309 foreign fighters who are affiliated with al-Qaeda and other militant groups.

More:
Afghanistan to Discuss Fate of Foreign IS Prisoners with Their Countries - Voice of America

After an initial honeymoon, security deteriorated. The conflict became politically toxic in Britain, and when the U.S. surged in 2007 London had no appetite to do the same. Instead British commanders arranged a secret deal with Shiite militias, trading prisoner releases for a cessation of attacks on British bases.

This accommodation fell apart in March 2008 when Iraqs prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, abruptly sent troops south. The British commanding general was on vacation in a ski resort and Maliki publicly snubbed his deputy. U.S. and Iraqi troops went into action while the British, until late in the day, stayed at the airport.

The events in Basra cast a long shadow. Later in Kabul a British officer asked Gen. David Petraeus how long it would take the U.S. to forget what happened there. A generation? he asked. Petraeuss reply was telling. Slightly longer, he said.

The U.S. military, for all its scale and resources, did not win in Iraq or Afghanistan either. But the conflicts damaged British military standing with its most important ally.

What are the central problems of the British Armys experience and performance since 2001?

I see four interlinked areas. First, accountability. Almost every senior British military commander who passed through Iraq and Afghanistan was promoted, no matter how badly things went wrong in the field. Meanwhile, in parallel, Britain implemented a novel system of probes for junior malfeasance on the battlefield, from court cases permitted by the creeping reach of European Human Rights law to massive public inquiries. (Some of these investigations were baseless, but in other cases the army did commit atrocities.)

The key point is that Britain allowed a glut and void situation to develop, with excess accountability low down and none higher up. That created moral hazard and meant top commanders were incentivized to take bad action over no action.

Second, the army needs to overhaul its attitude to learning lessons. While the institution became adept at taking on board low-level tactical experience, over and over again initiatives that aimed to identify what had gone wrong on a broader remit were either suppressed or kept on a problematically close hold. Throughout the Iraq and Afghan conflicts avoiding senior embarrassment ranked higher than a comprehensive post-operational washup.

Read more from the original source:
The British Armys Legacy in Iraq and Afghanistan - The New York Times

When news broke that President Biden plans to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, ending a 20-year campaign that has tragically cost 2,300 American lives, many across the country breathed a sigh of relief. Redeploying our troops home from Afghanistan brings an end to our longest war, but it does not bring an end to each individuals personal struggles. We can physically bring our troops home and out of harms way, but the full journey back will involve more than a change in geography.

For many of those who return home, a part of them never will. We must remember that their sacrifice went beyond the physical. Even after everything they have fought for and survived, the mental health crisis plaguing our returning veterans is one we must not leave them to battle alone. We supported them on the battlefield and in honor of all that these American heroes have done for our country, it is our collective responsibility to help them face the challenges theyll find at home.

According to research released by the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, 40 percent of the veterans who have returned from Afghanistan suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While PTSD is complicated enough on its own, many veterans also battle depression, anxiety, relationship issues, financial pressures and substance abuse, making their diagnosis and treatment that much more challenging. Studies also show that PTSD can lead to suicide ideation and behavior, and when combined with a secondary mental health condition, the risk increases significantly that the veteran may die by suicide.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, recognizing the ongoing challenges, proposed a 10 percent increase to the 2021 fiscal year budget to better address mental health and suicide prevention. But the assumption continues to be that veterans will raise their hand, pick up a phone or send a text seeking help for their struggles, when in reality, only 55 percent of veterans seek the mental health care they need. On the battlefield, they had the resources allocated to them to accomplish the mission. This same proactive approach is needed now to support them as they transition back.

Our response to veterans in need must be designed in a way that removes the barriers keeping millions from seeking treatment. Between the lack of accessibility in rural areas of the U.S. and the perceived social stigma surrounding mental illness, many returning service members opt to stay silent, try to solve the riddle themselves thus end up suffering alone. But if all veterans returning from a warzone or transitioning out of service, were provided with not only an initial screening and time-based check-ins, but were supported by a proactive outreach as well to catch those negative coping mechanisms and evidence-based risk drivers sooner, we could change our response from reactive to proactive and save the lives of hundreds who may be hesitant or afraid to come forward.

When our sons, daughters, spouses, partners, and friends return, we also need to be ready to guide them toward the resources and professionals qualified to treat them. Education plays a key role in preparedness, so we must make sure we can recognize the signs and symptoms of PTSD, and we must be sure to keep lines of communication open. It might seem like an insignificant gesture, but asking our Veterans to grab a Coke, sit down and have that initial conversation is an important first step. Connectedness enhances individual protective measures.

And its not enough to wait until theyre home to develop a system to help them. We must start preparing to meet their needs immediately and be ready to stand with them as soon as they return. We must ensure that the same sense of tribe and team that enabled them to fight and win over there can be replicated back home, especially for those who leave the military.

For the past two decades, millions of brave men and women have fought for their country and sacrificed to keep us safe. Now that they will finally be coming home from Afghanistan, we must band together to support them with the same commitment they have shown to us. Their mental scars may be invisible, but their need is not, and it is vital that we be ready and waiting to support them. We need a system built to identify their struggles sooner that does not require them to take the first step. We need to be forward leaning, as a community and a nation, to get them the support they need and have earned. We must not seek to fix them we must seek to empower them.

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We owe our veterans a debt that can never be repaid. But as they return home and transition back to life as civilians and face the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, we must support them and become their advocates, supporters and resources. We must help them accomplish new tasks and harness the power of their service to this nation standing beside them as they have stood up for us.

Retired Col. Michael Hudson served in the Marine Corps for 30 years commanding a helicopter squadron, a Marine Expeditionary Unit, and in his last active duty billet, as the USMCs Sexual Assault Prevention and Response lead. He is now the vice president of government solutions at ClearForce, an early risk detection company.

Editors note: This is an op-ed and as such, the opinions expressed are those of the author. If you would like to respond, or have an editorial of your own you would like to submit, please contact Military Times managing editor Howard Altman,haltman@militarytimes.com.

Excerpt from:
As our nation seeks to leave the war in Afghanistan behind, let's not forget our troops' sacrifice - Military Times

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Americas longest war, the two-decade-long conflict in Afghanistan that started in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, killed tens of thousands of people, dogged four U.S. presidents and ultimately proved unwinnable despite its staggering cost in blood and treasure.

This final chapter, with President Joe Bidens decision to pull all American troops from Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, has prompted a reckoning over the wars lost lives and colossal expenditure.

Heres a look at the spiraling cost of Americas campaign the bloodshed, wasted funds and future consequences for the war-battered nation teetering on the brink of chaos.

THE COST IN LIVES

Afghans have paid the highest price. Since 2001, at least 47,245 civilians have been killed in the war as of mid-April, according to the Costs of War project at Brown University, which documents the hidden costs of the post-9/11 wars.

Gun and bomb attacks targeting civilians surged to previously unseen heights since the intra-Afghan peace negotiations opened in Qatar last fall, according to the U.N. Watchdogs say the conflict has killed a total of 72 journalists and 444 aid workers.

The Afghan government keeps the toll among its soldiers secret to avoid undermining morale, but Costs of War estimates the war has killed 66,000 to 69,000 Afghan troops.

The war has forced 2.7 million Afghans to flee abroad, mostly to Iran, Pakistan and Europe, the U.N. said. Another 4 million are displaced within the country, which has a total population of 36 million.

Meanwhile, 2,442 U.S. troops have been killed and 20,666 wounded in the war since 2001, according to the Defense Department. Its estimated that over 3,800 U.S. private security contractors have been killed. The Pentagon does not track their deaths.

The conflict also has killed 1,144 personnel from the 40-nation NATO coalition that trained Afghan forces over the years, according to a tally kept by the website iCasualties. The remaining 7,000 allied troops also will withdraw by Bidens 9/11 deadline.

THE COST IN DOLLARS

The U.S. has spent a stunning total of $2.26 trillion on a dizzying array of expenses, according to the Costs of War project.

The Defense Departments latest 2020 report said war-fighting costs totaled $815.7 billion over the years. That covers the operating costs of the U.S. military in Afghanistan, everything from fuel and food to Humvees, weapons and ammunition, from tanks and armored vehicles to aircraft carriers and airstrikes.

Although America first invaded to retaliate against al-Qaida and rout its hosts, the Taliban, the U.S. and NATO soon pivoted to a more open-ended mission: nation-building on a massive scale.

Washington has poured over $143 billion into that goal since 2002, according to the latest figures from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

Of that, $88 billion went to training, equipping and funding Afghan military and police forces. Another $36 billion was spent on reconstruction projects, education and infrastructure like dams and highways, the SIGAR report said. Another $4.1 billion has gone to humanitarian aid for refugees and disasters. The campaign to deter Afghans from selling heroin around the world cost over $9 billion.

Unlike with other conflicts in American history, the U.S. borrowed heavily to fund the war in Afghanistan and has paid some $530 billion in interest. It has also paid $296 billion in medical and other care for veterans, according to Costs of War. It will continue to pay both those expenses for years to come.

FOLLOWING THE MONEY

Much of the billions lavished on huge infrastructure projects went to waste, the U.S. inspector general discovered. Canals, dams and highways fell into disrepair, as Afghanistan failed to absorb the flood of aid. Newly built hospitals and schools stood empty. Without proper oversight, the U.S. money bred corruption that undermined government legitimacy.

Despite the costly counternarcotics campaign, opium exports reached record heights. Despite the billions in weapons and training to Afghan security forces, the Taliban increased the amount of territory they control. Despite vast spending on job creation and welfare, unemployment hovers around 25%. The poverty rate has fluctuated over the years, reaching 47% through 2020, according to the World Bank, compared to 36% when the fund first began calculating in 2007.

We invested too much with too little to show for it, said Michael Wahid Hanna, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Century Foundation.

THE COST OF LEAVING

Although few want to prolong the war interminably, many fear its final end may jeopardize Afghanistans modest gains in health, education and womens rights, made in the early years as the U.S. expanded the economy and toppled the Taliban, which had imposed tough strictures on women.

Since 2001, life expectancy has increased to 64 years from 56, the World Bank says. Maternal mortality has more than halved. Opportunities for education have grown, with the literacy rate rising 8% to roughly 43%. Life in cities has improved, with 89% of residents having access to clean water, compared to 16% before the war.

Child marriage has declined by 17%, according to U.N. data. Girls enrollment in primary school has nearly doubled, and more women have entered college and served in Parliament. These figures still pale compared with global standards.

But more broadly, the failure of Americas ambitions to build a stable, democratic Afghanistan has left the country mired in uncertainty as U.S. forces leave. The nations history tells of civil war that follows foreign invasions and withdrawals.

For better or worse, the U.S. has a serious stabilizing presence right now, and once thats gone theres going to be a power vacuum, said Michael Callen, an Afghanistan economy expert at the London School of Economics. In the 20 years war, theres going to be a whole lot of scores that need to be settled.

Continued here:
Counting the costs of America's 20-year war in Afghanistan - Associated Press