Afghanistan Syndrome: A Bitter End to America’s Longest War
Tearing the band-aid off the hubris and decay of empire
It was bound to fall apart. America’s longest war has come to an abrupt and woeful end. Two decades of exerting the titanic effort of waging an aggressive war of choice in one of the most distant lands from North America has fallen apart in a couple of weeks, leaving coalition forces rushing for the exits without even a breath of what could be considered a victory to speak of.
Footage of chaos at the airports with Afghans scrambling to board civilian and military aircraft out of the country has sparked outrage at the mishandling of the situation by the Western powers. There have also been calls of concern for the women of Afghanistan who may soon return to the oppressive Taliban social norms. The long silent public sympathy in the west for the plight of the Afghan people has emerged now at the end of the conflict to suggest that the foreign forces should have stayed a bit longer or done things differently. However, President Biden has confidently stood up to the ubiquitous political pressure in defense of the withdrawal.
Afghanistan Syndrome
Some are comparing the moment to the images of the departure of U.S. forces from South Vietnam in 1975. The uncanny similarity of the…
