Revisiting Afghanistan on 9/11
(September 11, 2009) |
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| WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2009 – On this
eighth anniversary of the worst attacks on U.S. soil in
nearly 200 years, and with some Americans skeptical of the
ongoing war in Afghanistan, it is helpful to remember how
the U.S. military commitment there evolved.
Asked by reporters at a Sept. 3 press briefing about the
U.S. military commitment in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary
Robert M. Gates was unequivocal: “I absolutely do not think
it is time to get out of Afghanistan.”
“The fact is that 9/11 represented the first foreign-based
attack on the continental United States, with significant
casualties, since the War of 1812,” Gates said. “That attack
emanated from Afghanistan under Taliban rule. The Taliban
did not just provide a safe haven for al-Qaida. They
actively cooperated and collaborated with al-Qaida. They
provided a worldwide base of operations for al-Qaida.”
If some Americans have forgotten the connection between
Afghanistan's dusty terrorist training camps and the tragedy
that was 9/11, the connection is not lost on the countless
servicemembers who say they enlisted because of the
terrorist attacks. It also isn't lost on those
servicemembers, mostly Special Operations forces, who
arrived first in Afghanistan.
Among those early U.S. servicemembers in the Afghan theater,
one group stands out. On Dec. 2, 2001, soldiers with the 5th
Special Forces Group (Airborne) raised the American flag at
the U.S. embassy in Kabul. It was the culminating moment in
a whirlwind campaign that toppled the Taliban and sent
al-Qaida terrorists scurrying for their lives.
The Green Berets placed rubble from the Twin Towers at the
flagpole. Later, they placed a plaque at the site, which
says: “In honor of the victims of 11 September 2001, the men
and women who have given their lives in the war against
terrorism, and the enduring freedom that will survive.”
The soldiers understood that the reason they were in
Afghanistan was because of terrorists in that country who
killed 3,000 American men, women and children back home. The
terrorists used the ungoverned areas of Afghanistan to plan,
stage, train for and finance the 9/11 attacks.
Rise of the Taliban
Intricately tied to the terrorism in Afghanistan is the
country's abject poverty and lack of resources. It became
apparent early on that it was going to take more than
military power to defeat al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Afghanistan needed government institutions and economic help
to wrestle control – and hold it – from extremists.
A crossroads between Central and South Asia, Afghanistan has
few resources. Thirty years of war devastated the economy
and government. The Soviet Union invaded and occupied
Afghanistan in 1979, and set up a puppet communist
government. The United States helped the Afghan mujaheddin
in their fight against the Soviets. The Soviets admitted
defeat and the last Soviet soldier left in 1989.
After the Soviet retreat, the United States lost interest in
the region and turned elsewhere. The struggle among rival
warlords devastated the nation even more than the Soviet
occupation. All government institutions died, and
generations of Afghans came of age with no idea how a
government should work. With an average per capita income of
$300 per year, Afghans had become desperate.
While the warlords fought each other, the Taliban took
control, initially gained favor among Afghans by efforts to
suppress local warring factions and to stamp out corruption.
At the same time, the Taliban imposed an extreme
interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law, imposing public
executions and amputations. It became illegal for girls to
be educated, for women to work outside the home, or to even
leave their homes without being fully covered in a burka and
with a male family member. It was illegal to watch TV
programs not cleared by the Taliban, listen to music, dance
or sing. Ancient art and artifacts were destroyed.
Driving Out Terrorists
The Taliban-ruled Afghanistan sheltered Osama bin Laden, the
man at the center of the attacks. Following 9/11, the United
States made no distinction between the terrorists and the
nations that harbored them. The United States gave the
Taliban leaders of Afghanistan time to turn over the
terrorists, close the terrorist training camps and open the
camps to United Nations inspection. They did not.
On Oct. 7, 2001, the United States struck back at the
terrorists. Air Force and Navy aircraft struck at al-Qaida
and Taliban targets throughout Afghanistan. Later in the
month, U.S. special operations forces joined with the
anti-Taliban Northern Alliance and used U.S. airpower to
rout the Taliban. A small number of Americans using 21st
century technology, but riding on horses, made the
difference.
While driven from power, al-Qaida was not eliminated. They
looked for other havens and the Taliban exploited the border
with Pakistan as a bolt-hole. The United States began
building an international coalition to confront the
terrorists in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Information gleaned
in the country led to terrorist arrests in Europe, Southeast
Asia and the Middle East.
Building Toward Peace
In 2001, there was no functioning government at any level in
the nation. Agriculture is the major industry, but much of
it has been in the form of illegal poppy crops, which
produce much of the world's heroin and funds terrorist
networks.
The road network has been improved by international forces,
but remains largely broken and is still non-existent in many
areas. One U.S. patrol in the early days, followed what they
thought was a road, only to discover it was a dry river bed.
The soldiers considered the river bed, by far, the best
“road” they had seen in the country.
The United States and its allies introduced the idea of
provincial reconstruction teams to Afghanistan to try to
stimulate governance and economic progress. A combination of
military and civilians now make up 26 teams that work with
local governments and village elders to build roads,
bridges, schools, government buildings and anything to
stimulate the economy, often using local contractors.
NATO, too, has emerged as a force in Afghanistan. In 2003,
NATO took command of the International Security Assistance
Force established by the United Nations the year before.
Originally limited to Kabul and its environs, ISAF now
commands security forces throughout the country. The force
started with 5,000 and now number 64,500. There are 42
nations contributing forces to the effort, with the United
States being the largest contributor with 30,000. There are
9,000 British soldiers in Afghanistan. Other leading
contributors are Germany, Canada, France, Australia and
Poland.
Switching Gears to Iraq and
Back Again
Defense officials admitted that once Operation Iraqi Freedom
began in March 2003, Afghanistan became a secondary theater.
“In Afghanistan, we do what we can. In Iraq we do what we
must,” Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, said in December 2007.
The focus on Iraq allowed the Taliban to regroup and mis-steps
by Pakistan allowed the extremist group to find sanctuary
there. Conditions in Afghanistan have deteriorated, and a
new strategy put in place in March aims to reverse the
decline.
The new strategy calls for a regional approach to include
Pakistan, and increased training for Afghan security forces.
There are more American and NATO troops in country heading
into areas that were Taliban strongholds. The forces hold
areas and stop Taliban re-infiltration, allowing localities
to flourish in peace.
Military leaders have said that Afghanistan will be a long,
tough fight. There are numerous obstacles to peace in the
nation, including widespread illiteracy, tribal and ethnic
divisions, a lack of infrastructure and corruption. Lack of
money is a problem. In comparison to Iraq, which has a
similar population and a national budget of about $66
billion per year, Afghanistan's budget is about $600
million.
But despite the difficult road ahead, it is not hard to
understand the secretary's conviction as Americans recall
the devastation of eight years ago today.
“The reality is, terrorists lurk in a number of countries,”
Gates said. “But the problem is manageable, because the
governments of most countries are opposed to their
activities and have the intelligence, law enforcement and
internal security capabilities to sustain that opposition
and to be effective.
“It seems to me that in the context of the president's goal
of disrupting, dismantling and destroying al Qaeda, we seek
an Afghanistan that is our partner in that endeavor and that
can sustain that endeavor after we're gone.”
(American Forces Press Service writer Lisa Daniel
contributed to this story).
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By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2009
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