Charlie Wilson’s war
Six years after American decided to put boots on the ground in Afghanistan and begin the neverending war, a movie came out called ‘Charlie Wilson’s War.’ It told the story of the little-known congressman who singlehandedly motivated the right people to shift funds around and finance a war in Afghanistan against the Russians. Some of you no doubt saw it. By the end of the film, you are left with two distinct impressionsPhillip Seymour Hoffman was a truly gifted actor and any country that goes to war in the mountains of Afghanistan is insane. The intrenched militias and terrorists, the rugged territory, the corruption from top officials in the government there, make it impossible to win. Like the Eagles Hotel California, you can check out, but you can never leave.
Well, we did leave Afghanistan this week, short a couple hundred Americans and thousands of Afghans who now face execution at the hands of their sworn enemy.
I don’t want to beat up on Joe Biden today. Everyone knows he screwed this up the departure, but as I mentioned in a previous column, he had plenty of help. What’s that old saying, “Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan.” Yeah, I’d say this mess in Kabul had the fingerprints of many military men on it.
Like most of you I’m angry and just downright sad about it. Those thirteen service members didn’t need to die. Even sitting in my living room in Rensselaer County, New York, I could see the Afghan military was not a safe bet once we pulled our support. I suppose it’s water under the bridge now. More like blood of the innocent, if we’re being honest.
While everyone is hitting President Biden like a pinata, my anger is more reserved for the generals who kept going on TV and acting like this wasn’t that big a deal. Even after Americans were killed in a suicide attack, I saw very little remorse in their faces. I have always thought the heroes at wartime are not the generals who have movies made about them, but the grunts who have to carry out the orders, no matter how asinine they might be.
The simple fact that the country fell in just ten days, tells me our military leaders either had no clue what they were doing or refused to listen to people in uniform much further down the chain of command. What they should have done is gone to the lowliest private who has been standing side-by-side with Afghan fighters and say, “Hey, nobody knows this soldier better than you. Will he stick when the bullets start flying or run? Just be honest with us.”
I’d bet you all the tea in China that private would have told you, “He means well and he’s trying but honestly, once we leave and they lose our backing, this guy is going to sprint for the exit.”
So, the Russians spent forever trying to win a war in Afghanistan, only to leave in embarrassment. And now it was our turn. Worse, we left people behind. Nobody is saying this on TV yet, so let me be the first. A couple of years from now when you hear that “recruitment” in the armed services is suddenly down, remember this moment. It’s hard to want to suit up and risk it all for people who disregard common sense and blame everyone else but themselves.
I worked with a guy about ten years ago who did two tours in Afghanistan. The first one he came back like nothing had happen. But, that second tour, changed him. He was paranoid, with a short fuse and found it difficult to get through a day without snapping at someone. I thought of him this past week a lot. He’s a smart guy and I know that he knows that war changed him. It took a piece of him away that he’ll never get back. I wondered what he thought of how this all ended, the chaos and deaths. It wouldn’t surprise me if he thought, “Why the hell did I ever go there in the first place.”
I don’t know what happens next in that country. More bloodshed seems likely. I pray they don’t seize Americans who stayed or couldn’t get out and hurt them. I hope they don’t herd them like cattle and auction them off to us for diplomatic status or money.
Our twentieth anniversary of 9/11 is just a few days away. I really can’t believe after twenty years we are back to square one with Afghanistan. The great playwright Eugene O’Neill once said there is no present or future, just the past happening over and over again. That would seem to be the case with Afghanistan.
I’m quite certain there are some veterans reading this column right now. To you I can only say thank you for protecting us and doing your best. You were never the problem when these wars went wrong. Men with lofty titles and no shortage of hubris can lay claim to that. Just ask Charlie Wilson.