A C-17 aircraft prepares to depart from Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 21, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan.
(Credit: Taylor Crul / US Air Force via Getty Images)
Editor's Note:
Roberto Izurieta is Director of Latin American Projects at George Washington University. He has worked in political campaigns in several Latin American countries and Spain, and was an advisor to Presidents Alejandro Toledo, of Peru; Vicente Fox, from Mexico, and Álvaro Colom, from Guatemala. The author is also a contributor to CNN en Español. The opinions expressed here are solely his.
(CNN Spanish) -
It is rare to find a single cause for an error of such magnitude. The images that the world saw of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan are more than explicit, painful, sad and very personal for all those who sacrificed themselves in that war for almost 20 years. More than a retreat, it seemed like a flight. It's easy and tempting to say that it was a mistake by the Biden administration. And in part it was, but what he himself said is also true: "There was no easy way out." There was no easy withdrawal because the problem was fundamental. When something that serious happens, usually the problem we see is simply a reflection of a much more complex problem.
The more than 300,000 military personnel trained, equipped and financed by the US, according to government data - although that number could be significantly less, according to CNN calculations - surrendered their weapons without much resistance.
Many of the weapons remained in the territory in the hands of the Taliban.
Perhaps for most of them it was perhaps a job like any other in the midst of poverty and despair where they simply change bosses.
It seems that only the US and its allies believed they were fighting for something different and deeper.
PHOTOS |
This is what Kabul airport looks like after the final US withdrawal from Afghanistan
It is true that there were allegations of corruption against the government of that country, corruption that was fought without much success - and that the president fled, thus hindering an orderly withdrawal of foreign troops.
After all, around US $ 2 trillion was at stake in that war.
But it is also true that hundreds of US companies had million dollar logistics contracts in Afghanistan;
which leads us to the fact that there were many vested interests in that war.
But there is no emergency that lasts 20 years.
When there is a lot of money involved, people do not want change and Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, was suddenly inundated with a large flow of money, at least for those who worked with the government.
As in many African countries that have faced and still face serious problems of wars and guerrillas, Afghanistan, in South Asia, is one divided and dominated by tribal leaders, sometimes united or divided under religious umbrella, but all of them with their own financing logic. The Colombian guerrilla, for example, has and had a financing relationship with drug trafficking and much of the financing of the Taliban comes from poppy plantations (it seems that even more than the financing of other foreign powers).
The problem of strategy is not knowing how to prioritize the objectives.
A classic strategic mistake is to assume that all objectives have the same value and priority.
The strategy must order them.
The first strategic objective was clear: eliminate al Qaeda and get Osama bin Laden dead or alive.
To do so they had to invade and also remove from power the Taliban who had protected and covered Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.
These objectives were achieved.
Later, in my opinion, the objectives were confused with trying to build a new modern, democratic and fairer nation in the image and likeness of the American one.
I do not claim the ideal because, after all, Afghanistan has mineral reserves that could and should be the sustenance of a sustainable and fair economic development for its inhabitants.
Then, everything seems to indicate that many were aware that there was no easy way out because everything was unsustainable and therefore, they chose to maintain the status quo.
Only a deeper investigation with more and better information will determine it.
If so, perhaps what Biden mentions was real and the only possible way out was what happened.
The US troops made use of a power in which they were unsurpassed: air power.
They went to the airport to protect him and organize his departure from there.
The Taliban have realized that, and did not try to question that power, indeed, they expanded the area of influence and began talks.
The US has evacuated more than 122,000 people.
Something messy, chaotic, embarrassing, but perhaps as bad as possible.
This was the last US military to leave Kabul 0:46
It's hard to say, but perhaps Trump was right when he reached an agreement with the Taliban a year ago to establish a withdrawal in May this year.
It was a recognition that it was impossible to build a modern, liberal and democratic nation without a political relationship based on local realities.
But Trump, like Bush and Obama, passed the problem on to the next.
I appreciate that Biden has not done the same as the previous ones and has made the decision to end that vicious cycle.
Without a doubt, we would have wanted it to be more orderly and dignified.
I don't know if at that point, it was already possible.
Attasi: Leaving Afghanistan is the beginning of the disaster 2:29
Afghanistan