My previous blog post on the IPPC report on climate change generated a number of comments. Here’s a good one in the past from Sir David Attenborough that is very relevant: “All our environmental problems become easier to solve with fewer people, and harder – and ultimately impossible – to solve with ever more people”. That’s certainly an area where Governments could take a stronger lead.
While the stock market is relatively quiet, it’s a good time to ponder the subject of evacuations as is currently happening in Afghanistan. Was it necessary and what might happen in due course are the key questions?
Evacuations after military withdrawals are quite common in history. Britain suffered such an event in the years 405-410 when the Roman Empire withdrew the legions to fight off attacks on the continent. The Emperor Honorius finally told the Britons to “look to their own defences” in 410 which marked the effective end of Roman rule. After 400 years of Roman administration and cultural dominance in Britain it rapidly disappeared. All we have left now are a few straight roads.
The USA gave the same exhortation in Viet Nam after a failed attempt at establishing a western style democracy in the South to thwart Communist expansion. Militarily the war in Viet Nam was a disaster with much gold and lives lost to ultimately no purpose. The regime they established was a puppet one ridden by corruption and without widespread popular support. Despite heroic efforts by the US military, support from the US public eventually withered away. Joe Biden is old enough to remember that failure of US policy when the war was continued for far to long. It is hardly surprising that both he and Donald Trump were keen to withdraw from Afghanistan as soon as possible. Viet Nam is now a peaceful and commercially vibrant country.
Britain faced the same problems in Afghanistan in the 19th century when we invaded twice to thwart suspected Russian influence. The first Afghan war was a military disaster and after the second we rapidly withdrew having learned our lesson. In the 1980s Russia invaded the country but after 10 years withdrew after effectively suffering military defeat. The history of Afghanistan and the reasons why it is so difficult for foreign armies to gain control was well covered in a TV documentary by Rory Stewart in 2012 under the title “The Great Game” – it was rebroadcast this week and acted as a good reminder why military success in the country is always a mirage.
Ultimately the US and UK’s efforts in Afghanistan followed the same problems as in Viet Nam. The regime they established was corrupt and only kept afloat by oodles of money while the western culture they attempted to establish was not accepted by most of the population. Afghanis looked on western armies as invaders of the wrong religion. This was never going to work.
Ultimately, and when otherwise facing a military situation that could not be won, withdrawal was clearly the best solution after the original reason for the US invasion was forgotten after 20 years of war (originally intended to stop terrorism promoted by al-Qaeda).
Could the withdrawal have been better handled? That is debateable. It is clear that all the “hangers-on” to the US, UK and other foreign forces might want to depart but with tens if not hundreds of thousands of such people this was hardly very practical. A date was set of the end of this month and Joe Biden does not wish to stretch it out. They claim to have already evacuated 70,000 refugees. There was sufficient time given to remove military forces and the Taliban have promised an amnesty for others. It is clear that Afghanistan faces a very difficult time in the next few years both socially and economically as Viet Nam did. But extending the withdrawal by a few weeks or months will surely not help much while militarily it makes no sense. Kabul airport cannot be defended easily if the Taliban choose to block a time extension. The West should concentrate on coming to an accommodation with the new rulers and helping them to develop the country, not attacking them for perceived undemocratic failings.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
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Bearing in mind the history of Afghanistan, which is comprised of various tribal groups, do you really think that giving the Taliban help to develop their country is going to lead to successful outcomes? Isn’t that what we tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, with neighbouring Pakistan? That said, I do agree with the general principle that the West should not ty and impose cultural ideals, such as democracy, upon countries that have no real history of accepting such values. The desire for democracy must surely come from the local population, not by imposition from outside.