The war in Afghanistan is the longest in the history of U.S wars. If the Americans withdraw in 2014 according to their latest declared plan, the war will have been twice as long as the longest previous war. This is not to mention the record spending on the defense budget (700 billion dollars), and the spending on Bush's wars, which Barack Obama inherited (12 billion dollars per month on top of the annual defense budget). Such a situation cannot continue. I did not need to read the 90 thousand classified reports leaked by a website about the war to know that the United States had lost the latter during Bush's presidency, and lost it again under the Obama administration. There are reasons that could explain how the most powerful country in the world was defeated by a limited number of combatants living in the dark ages. Perhaps the first reason is, as we all know, the fact that Afghanistan defeated all invaders over two thousand years, from Alexander the Great who withdrew after being nearly killed by an arrow there, to the Soviets who withdrew in our days, following which the entire eastern bloc collapsed. The above is indisputable history. However, I argue that there is another reason that might be controversial: Following the terrorist attacks on 11/9/2001, the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan to eliminate al-Qaeda. However, the U.S did not succeed in this because al-Qaeda is a Pakistani, and not an Afghani, invention, and because this relationship is ongoing as demonstrated by the leaked classified reports that were published. Moreover, al-Qaeda's leadership within Pakistan's borders is more important than its counterpart in Afghanistan. In 15 years of covering this particular issue, Al-Hayat recorded that the Pakistani military intelligence (ISI) has embraced the Taliban and offered its cooperation in their fight with the Americans, which they approved. Now, there are official correspondences addressing Pakistan's relationship with the Taliban, causing uproar about this as though the information is new and being published for the first time. The advocates of an American empire and the Israel gang, including the lobby and the Likudniks in and around the administration, found in the terrorist attacks of 11/9/2001 an excuse to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, while the real reasons were based on Israeli and oil-related calculations. Following the destruction of Iraq on top of its people and the death of nearly one million Iraqis in wars waged on falsified premises, in collaboration with some Iraqi traitors, the advocates of war were joking that perhaps the invasion of Iraq, where there were no WMDs or links to al-Qaeda, was a typo, and that the intention had been to invade Iran (since the difference in the spelling of the names of both countries lies only in the last letter). Today, the criminal ‘joke' backfired. Following statements by Michael Steele, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, at a party convention in Connecticut – where he said that the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable and that it should not have been waged by the U.S in the first place -, the war advocates have been publically disputing among themselves. But Steele overlooked the fact that it was his party that started the war and was mired in it, until it bequeathed it to Barack Obama who increased the number of U.S troops on the basis that the Afghan war is a war of necessity, prompting Steele to call it the ‘Obama War'. Extreme right-wing figures in the Republican Party and supporters of Israel, represented by Liz Cheney and William Kristol, attacked Steele and called for his resignation. However, other right-wing figures rushed to his defense, and called for the resignation of those attacking him. If there were a one percent chance to win the war, its proponents would not have been disputing and dividing among themselves. This confirms the conclusions reached by all impartial observers that the United States has already lost the war, and what is left is to declare defeat and pull out. Personally, I do not believe that the U.S forces will withdraw in 2014. This is because the plan to gradually empower the Afghan to completely take over security operations was drafted by President Hamid Karzai who is also under scrutiny, not to mention that he prefers a political solution with the Taliban, and did indeed attempt to negotiate with one of the group's wings. Also, there is no reason to believe that a country that is at the bottom of the Corruption Perception Index can build an army capable of confronting the Taliban fighters, who seek death as much as their enemies seek life. It is likely that the plan to hand over security to the Afghan troops and the withdrawal of the Western coalition forces has a different goal than the one stated. This plan was in fact announced against the backdrop of intensifying opposition to the war in NATO countries, including the United States. Also, the governments of both the Netherlands and Canada announced that they will withdraw their troops in Afghanistan under public pressure, while other governments are currently facing similar pressures. This is how the withdrawal plan was announced, in order to vent popular anger against the war and its progress. If we recall that President Obama himself said in West Point in December that the U.S forces will begin pulling out from Afghanistan in 2011, and is now talking about 2014 as a date for this, then the new deadline does not look any more fixed than the previous one. I thus fear that the U.S voters will punish Barack Obama come November, for a crime committed by George W. Bush. [email protected]
