9/11 offers insights for what could happen with Hamas
After the invasion of southern Israel by Hamas militants, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday vowed to destroy Hamas.
“We are fighting a cruel enemy, worse than ISIS,” Netanyahu said, comparing Hamas with the Islamic State group, which was largely defeated by U.S., Iraqi and Kurdish forces in 2017.
On the same day, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant went further, stating, “We will wipe this thing called Hamas, ISIS-Gaza, off the face of the earth. It will cease to exist.” They were strong words, issued in the wake of the horrific terrorist attack that killed more than 1,300 Israelis and culminated in the kidnapping of more than 150 people, including several Americans.
And the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan has compared the attack with the al-Qaida attack on the United States in 2001, declaring, “This is Israel’s 9/11.”
That comparison is revealing. In the wake of the 9/11 attack, President George W. Bush made an expansive pledge, declaring, “Our war on terror begins with alQaida, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.”
The U.S. response to 9/11 included the American invasion of Afghanistan. The immediate goals were to force the Taliban from power and destroy al-Qaida. Very little thought or resources were put into what would happen after those goals were attained. In his 2010 memoir, “Decision Points,” Bush recalled a meeting of the war cabinet in late September 2001, when he asked the group about Afghanistan, “So who’s going to run the country?’ There was silence.”
Wars that are based on revenge can be effective in punishing an enemy, but they can also create a power vacuum that sparks a long, deadly conflict that fails to deliver sustainable stability. That’s what happened in Afghanistan, and that is what could happen in Gaza.
The U.S. invasion toppled the Taliban from power by the end of 2001, but the war did not end. An interim administration headed by Hamid Karzai took power as an Afghan council of leaders fashioned a new constitution for the country.
Nongovernmental and international relief organizations began to deliver humanitarian aid and reconstruction support, but their efforts were uncoordinated. U.S. trainers began creating a new Afghan National Army, but insufficient volunteers and inadequate facilities hampered the effort. A lack of focus, inadequate resources and poor strategy made it impossible to create a resilient Afghan state.
As a result, the Taliban was able to reconstitute its forces and return to the fight. As the insurgency gained momentum, the United States and its NATO allies increased their troop levels, but they could not overcome the weakness of the Kabul government.
As Israel pursues its response to the Hamas attack, the Israeli government would be well advised to remember the past two decades of often indecisive warfare conducted by both the United States and Israel against insurgent and terrorist groups.
Israel has the capacity to level Gaza and round up segments of the population, but that may not be wise. Doing so might exact retribution for the terrorist attack and destroy portions of Hamas, but the lessons of the aftermath of 9/11 suggest that removing terrorist leaders without a plan for subsequently governing the civilians in the war zone will lead to neither peace nor stability.