From Kabul to Tehran; Why Doesn't America Accept Its Defeats in Wars?

Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) - International Service: The New York Times, in its analytical report written by "Greg Jaffe", a reporter for this publication who covered the events of the Afghan war, referring to the fifth anniversary of the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan, wrote that during the 2 decades of the Afghan war, nothing has been more difficult for Washington than implementing the process of withdrawing from this war; an outcome that was implemented with the death of 13 American soldiers in a suicide attack at Kabul airport and the flight of hundreds of thousands of Afghans worried about the return of the Islamic Emirate.

 

According to ISNA, the American media outlet emphasized that the United States is now once again facing the same dilemma of leaving or staying in the war in response to the new war it has launched against Iran.

 

The newspaper wrote: “Today, the United States military is engaged in a new war in Iran. Once again, the prospects for military victory seem bleak. Even US President Donald Trump has shown signs of wanting to leave the war, but has quickly changed course and made up reasons to stay.”

 

According to the New York Times, Donald Trump, continuing his contradictory statements at the White House this spring, stated that the United States “is not obligated” to stay in the war with Iran and does not need its oil or resources, but immediately cited an alleged reason for continuing this aggression under the name of “aiding allies.” According to the report’s author, Trump’s reversal of his position is a repetition of the behavior of previous US presidents towards the war in Afghanistan.

 

From a Golden Opportunity to a Decade of Inconclusive War

Greg Jaffe goes on to say, “The long war in Afghanistan raises difficult questions for generals and policymakers contemplating the path forward in the Iran war: Why was it so difficult to exit Afghanistan? And what does the long struggle to accept defeat there reveal about the Trump administration’s predicament in Iran?

 

The United States has faced the problem of exit in almost every war it has fought since its emergence as a global power after World War II. Andrew R. Hoen, a senior analyst at the RAND Corporation, acknowledges that the United States has waged wars with imperialist and hegemonic intentions, saying, “A large part of what we have been fighting for the last few decades has been to preserve the American empire.”

 

The New York Times, citing the killing of Osama bin Laden, the former leader of al-Qaeda, in 2011 as the best opportunity to withdraw from Afghanistan, quoted Carter Malkasian, a former adviser to American commanders in Afghanistan, as saying that if Washington officials at the time had had the information they have today, many—including himself—would have argued more forcefully for an early withdrawal.

 

The report stated: “Presidents and the Pentagon continued the war out of concern for America’s international credibility, a sense of obligation to Afghan allies, and a fear of dishonoring the blood of the dead. Malkasian wrote in Foreign Affairs that one of the main reasons America did not withdraw early was that the U.S. military wanted to keep fighting for the concept of victory.”

 

According to a New York Times analyst, the course of the Afghan war in the 2010s ultimately developed in a way that made Washington’s leaders and politicians worried about the risk to America’s credibility on the world stage and the electoral costs of losing the war.

 

By 2011, the number of American troops in Afghanistan had dwindled, and the Islamic Emirate had realized that it needed only to outlast American forces, their eroding will, and a public opinion weary of the cost of war in the United States.

 

In August 2021, thousands lined up outside Kabul airport in Afghanistan as a C-130 military transport plane took off.

 

As the prospect of defeat for the Islamic Emirate grew more distant, American political leaders shifted their goals to focus on reducing casualties, reducing the cost of the war, and keeping alive the corrupt and unpopular government they supported in Afghanistan.

 

Rosemary Kalanick, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Defense Priorities, likened the plight of American commanders in the final years of the Afghan war to “a doctor in intensive care” who knows his patient is dying but only hopes death will come after his shift is over.

 

From the Promise of Decisive War to the Siege

According to the New York Times, US Secretary of War Pete Hegsett, who himself served as a National Guard officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, claimed earlier this year that Washington's aggressive war against Iran would be "focused, deadly, swift and decisive" and "not a repeat of the Iraq War and an endless war." He also accused former US presidents, including George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, of having ruined his country's reputation.

 

But after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for US attacks, General Dan Kaine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, admitted in the US Senate that airstrikes have limitations and that American bombs and missiles are not enough to defeat Iran or even open this vital waterway to commercial traffic. The New York Times wrote that the Trump administration is now betting on imposing a naval blockade and tightening sanctions on Iran "to make up for what airstrikes "We can maintain it for as long as necessary — indefinitely," Hegsett recently said in response to a question about how long the US Navy, now under pressure from long deployments, could maintain the blockade against Iran.

 

The American media outlet noted the similarities between the US wars of aggression against Iran and Afghanistan, and noted that polls show that American public opinion opposes a continuation of the war with Iran.

 

The New York Times finally referred to the anniversary ceremony of the withdrawal from Afghanistan at the Pentagon, where Hegsett awarded the Medal of Valor to three wounded Marines from the Kabul airport attack, calling them "the vanguard of an invincible force." The ceremony, according to the newspaper, redefined the defeat in Afghanistan as a narrative of victory for American forces, while no one spoke about the reality of the country's defeat in the war.