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America didn't give the Afghans what it promised and left behind a shattered country. [Photo/CGTN]
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When the United States went into Afghanistan in 2001, Americans pointed their guns at terrorists, trying to bring the perpetrators of 9/11 to justice. When the United States pulled troops out of Afghanistan in 2021, Americans were turning their guns, firing at the Afghan civilians amid the withdraw chaos at Kabul's international airport and taking fatalities by suicide bombings.
America succeeded at killing Osama bin Laden, but failed at almost everything else during its War on Terror.
President George W. Bush said at the early stage of the war that America aims to achieve long-term victory by "promoting democracy in the Middle East so that the nations of that region no longer breed hatred and terror." However, looking back at the 20 years of American's involvement in Afghanistan, people scoff at the U.S.'s "achievements."
According to a global study conducted by CGTN Think Tank and the Chinese Institute of Public Opinion at Renmin University, over half of the Afghan respondents said their country was "worse than before." Close to 80 percent of Afghan respondents believe that regime change under America's stated goal of counterterrorism was "completely wrong." More than 60 percent of global respondents concur with that assessment.
The United States left Afghanistan shattered. The country's GDP in 2022 was expected to drop by 20 percent from 2021, according to UN Development Programme's projection. Nearly a million jobs have been lost since the Americans left the country. The World Food Programme warned of starvation in the country recently, stating that about six million Afghans are on the verge of starvation and can't find a single meal a day. The country has lost 66,000 Afghan national military and police personnel and more than 47,000 civilians over the twenty years of America's war. For decades, the U.S. and other donors funded much of the country's public expenditure. Now, with the Americans pulling back their troops and holding Afghan central bank's assets hostage, the country is barely holding on with aid from countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China.
This is what America's promise of democracy brought. What's worse is that as the cost of the war got too overwhelming, the United States walked back its commitment. U.S. President Joe Biden justified the hastily withdraw by saying that the U.S. mission in Afghanistan was "never supposed to be nation building." Just like the U.S. has done in many other places, America holds its self-interest above all else, reneging on its own words shamelessly when the situation gets too unsustainable for them. Is it a lack of political willingness, or a shortage of political competence?
The United States should be condemned for its broken promises in Afghanistan. Afghan people once looked to the U.S. for democracy and stability after the War on Terror ends. While the United States that has made it clear that it doesn't want to have anything to do with the long-term welfare of the Afghan people. Americans have blamed the Taliban for much of the current ordeal. But ultimately, it's the United States' failure to leave behind a stable system that has the people's support, one that doesn't crumble the moment the Americans pulled back.
This is what happens when a country gets overconfident and believes they can simply mold another country without regard to its culture and history. Foreign intervention to the point of nation building doesn't serve the targeted people's interests in the long run. The U.S. justified its intention in the name of ending hatred and terror, but its actions and betrayal will only amplify them.
