On Sunday, December 28, 2014, the U.S. war in Afghanistan formally came to an end with the ceremonial lowering of the green-and-white flag of the the International Security Assistance Force and the raising of the flag of a new international mission called "Resolute Support."
Only a small, invited audience was present . . . for the formal end to the longest war in our nation's history. The occasion recalled nothing quite so much as the ending of T. S. Eliot's poem, The Hollow Men: "This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper."
No parades down 5th avenue, no home town salutes to the conquering heroes. No big-font newspaper headlines. What is there to celebrate? That it didn't end worse than it did?
Thirteen years of sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, thirteen years of a huge drain on our treasury -- and still Afghanistan's own military cannot hold off the Taliban and Al Qaeda in its own country without major assistance from others, mainly us, the U.S.
Our new mission will provide training and support for Afghanistan's military through a residual force of some 13,500 NATO troops, about 80% of which will be Americans. In addition to the training, NATO forces will engage in counter-terrorism operations as well as air support for the Afghan military.
Flash back to 2001, before we began our military attack on Afghanistan. I floated the question: What if, instead of bombs, we dropped food, medical supplies, and other things the Afghan people need? What if we captured the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, instead of inciting their enmity?
Now, 13 years later, I can't help but wonder: What if that is what we had done. Would things have been worse? Maybe better?
Ralph
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