Soldato
I haven't really paid much attention to news recently, which is maybe why I was quite shocked when I saw a story about Afghanistan today and went on to read a bit more about what's going on. While of course I was aware that there had been near continuous fighting against insurgents since the 2001 invasion I didn't realise the current scale of the problem. Basically, the Taliban are making major gains, the US has nearly finished pulling out, and it really doesn't look like the current government is robust enough to put up much of a fight. It seems likely that Afghanistan has a volatile and violent future ahead, and the Taliban seem likely to end up controlling most of the country again.
1000+ Afghan soldiers flee across the border, with poor morale across the army: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-57720103
US leaves Bagram Airbase, apparently without the Afghan base commander knowing in advance: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-57682290
And a map, showing quite how far things have already gone:
I was still in primary school when the world trade centre attacks took place, and therefore 'the war on terror', and especially 'Afghanistan' has been a presence in my mind for pretty much the entire period I've been following the news. Maybe for that reason this actually hit me quite hard - the thought that after all that fighting and struggling, deaths of thousands of soldiers and civilians, a conflict which has been going on for decades, it looks like nothing has really changed, and nothing lasting accomplished.
I can't imagine what the average Afghan will be feeling at the moment.
Maybe this was inevitable - the US invasion was criticised at the time for not really have a clear and achievable plan for creating a sustainable non-extremist Afghan state, Afghanistan itself has a special history of being impossible to control. Top that off with foreign troops pulling out when 'the job' was clearly far from done (whatever 'the job' was, or whether it was achievable or not)... Still, doesn't make it any less sad, or worrying for the future of the region.
1000+ Afghan soldiers flee across the border, with poor morale across the army: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-57720103
US leaves Bagram Airbase, apparently without the Afghan base commander knowing in advance: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-57682290
And a map, showing quite how far things have already gone:
I was still in primary school when the world trade centre attacks took place, and therefore 'the war on terror', and especially 'Afghanistan' has been a presence in my mind for pretty much the entire period I've been following the news. Maybe for that reason this actually hit me quite hard - the thought that after all that fighting and struggling, deaths of thousands of soldiers and civilians, a conflict which has been going on for decades, it looks like nothing has really changed, and nothing lasting accomplished.
I can't imagine what the average Afghan will be feeling at the moment.
Maybe this was inevitable - the US invasion was criticised at the time for not really have a clear and achievable plan for creating a sustainable non-extremist Afghan state, Afghanistan itself has a special history of being impossible to control. Top that off with foreign troops pulling out when 'the job' was clearly far from done (whatever 'the job' was, or whether it was achievable or not)... Still, doesn't make it any less sad, or worrying for the future of the region.
