On Afghanistan

Just thought I'd write up a response to something I saw on Facebook today.

In an opinion piece that has been re-posted by a friend of mine, author Cree Hardegree talks about the current situation in Afghanistan. She writes:

"Why is everyone acting like we handed control of the country over to the Afghans just yesterday? They've had SEVEN (expletive) YEARS. This is cultural. They don't WANT to leave. They want us to stay there forever to fight their battles for them while they use the 45-year-old specter of a rooftop in Saigon to force us to strain and drain our resources until we’re (expletive) bankrupt" (1)

I will agree with Ms. Hardegree on one thing; many Afghanis don't want to leave that country. After all, Afghanistan is their home. Would the author want to leave somewhere she loved, and was likely born and raised in? In a similar situation, I think she might oppose such an idea.

However, I think Hardegree's argument that Afghanis "want us to stay there forever" is illogical at best.  Certainly, there are some people who "just want to watch the world burn", but I would guess that most civilized humans prefer peace and order to death and destruction.  Being that Afghanistan has been in the latter condition for many years, why would most Afghanis ever want the status quo to continue indefinitely? That doesn't exactly sound like (for lack of a better term) a "good deal".  

The piece continues,

"Leaving a country always poses a huge risk.  That's why we leave behind equipment and supplies — 'moving day' is too dangerous.  There was very little we could have done differently in Saigon.  There is nothing we can do now except postpone this exact same scene to a future date.  The lessons we thought we learned last time and the lessons we need to learn this time are not lessons about withdrawal.  The lessons we need to learn are about how to avoid going in the first place.  Sometimes we just need to keep our (bleeps) on the ground"

I don't know if Ms. Hardegree realizes this or not, but our military's policy is not to leave anything on the battlefield that an enemy could possibly use.  For example, during the evacuation of Saigon, American helicopters were ditched in the waters off of Vietnam.  This is because it was feared that our Viet Cong enemies might capture the equipment, and use it for their own purposes (see Note 1) (2).  

In any event, I have digressed; let me return to the issue at hand.  

Perhaps the author is correct that, in the case of Saigon, "there was very little we could have done differently".  By that point, American and South Vietnamese forces had been largely overrun; Communist tanks were rolling into the city, and approaching the seat of power.  The only thing that was left to do was play "White Christmas" (the signal for the evacuation to begin), and get Americans out of harm's way (3).  

This fact notwithstanding, I don't agree that in the current situation, there is nothing else we can do but "postpone (the) exact same scene".  History often repeats, but we are not doomed to reprise the same events and the same outcomes.  If indeed we have made mistakes and gaffes during wartime, let us learn from such errors, rather than duplicate our past blunders.  In this way, we may better ourselves, and ensure that the tragedies of Saigon and Kabul never happen again.  

Note 1: This was also due to support ships not having enough deck space to permit the landing of some incoming helicopters.  

Sources:

1. Hardegree, Cree, via Maresca, Rob. "The Vietnam War Lasted..." Occupy Democrats, 17 Aug. 2021, https://www.facebook.com/rob.maresca/posts/10220818705482771?notif_id=1629200685588482&notif_t=nf_share_story&ref=notif.  

2. "Operation Frequent Wind - Wikipedia". En.Wikipedia.Org, 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Frequent_Wind. Accessed 17 Aug 2021.

3. "Fall Of Saigon - Wikipedia". En.Wikipedia.Org, 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Saigon. Accessed 17 Aug 2021.