Afghanistan: Many Invasions and lessons not learnt

By N.A. de S. AMARATUNGA

Afghanistan is known as the “graveyard of empires”. Almost all the empires that grew in the region, and also some from far away regions, had invaded Afghanistan. These invasions have rarely been successful, the invader being forced to retreat due to a combination of factors; tenacity of the tribes that inhabited the country and the terrain of the land being the main reasons. However, big powers had invaded the country several times and some had managed to stay for long periods, but at great loss in men and money. Britain and the Soviet Union had come there several times, and the US had managed to stay there for two decades in recent times.

Persians had been the invaders that history records as the first empire that made a forceful entry into Afghanistan. Then Alexander the Great from Macedonia (Greece) came there in 330 BC, as part of his war against Persia. After his death in 323 BC, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was formed and they remained in Afghanistan and West India for three centuries. By the way, during this period, one of the Bactrian kings of this Kingdom, King Menander 1 converted to Buddhism following his dialogue with Buddhist priests in India. These discussions have been compiled as “Milinda Prassna” and are an important component of Buddhist scripture.

Arab Caliphate invaded Afghanistan in the 7th Century and converted the country into a Muslim nation. The Arabs were followed by Genghis Khan of the Mongol Empire in the 13th Century, and then by Timur (modern Uzbekistan). In 1837 when there was internal conflict in Kabul, Sikh king Ranjith Singh from Punjab annexed Peshawar and other parts of Afghanistan. It was the British who replaced the Sikhs in 1838. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Afghanistan was invaded three times from British India. The first Anglo-Afghan war of 1838-1842 was conducted with the intention of limiting Russian influence. Within four years the British were expelled. Not learning from their mistakes, the British launched a second invasion in 1878, for much the same reasons and stayed for two years. A third invasion was attempted by the British in 1919, which lasted for three months only and ended in a compromise that saw Afghanistan reassert its independence.

Ten years later in 1929 the Soviet Union launched its first invasion of Afghanistan. The second intervention was in 1930. In 1979 the Afghan government asked for assistance from the Soviet Union to fight a rebellion. After some reluctance the Red Army was sent to quell the insurgency. Russian forces were subsequently reinforced by the 40th Army. This move had several consequences, including a boycott of the Moscow Olympics. Soviet troops numbered 100,000, and provoked the US and Saudi Arabia to fund terrorist groups fighting the Soviet occupation. These groups were successful in finally forcing the Soviet troops to withdraw in 1989. The Taliban grew out of these groups of terrorists.

Though it is often said that the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 in search of Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden, who had taken the responsibility for attacking the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, it had been involved in Afghanistan affairs for quite a while and had been responsible for the rise of Al Qaeda. The US had been funding these terrorist organisations with the intention of thwarting the Russian involvement, but eventually had to pay the price when the terrorists turned their guns on the US.

The US came to occupy Afghanistan in 2001 and fought a bloody war for twenty years. They spent more than three trillion USD and lost more than 3400 troops. After 20 years the US was made to cut a deal with the Taliban. The agreement that was signed by the US and Taliban did not include the Afghan Government or any of the NATO partners who had troops in Afghanistan. Most commentators consider this sudden withdrawal as a betrayal of its allies by the US.

This is not the first time the US has suddenly given up the fight. In Vietnam too, the US was humbled and forced to pack up and leave in 1975, without achieving anything except the men and money they lost. When the US lost in Vietnam, many Americans believed that the US by virtue of its failings at home and in Vietnam had no business attempting international leadership at all. Many believed the US had to pull back in the world and concentrate on challenges at home. In 1941 the US President Franklin Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill had entered into the Atlantic Charter, which sought to advance a rules based liberal world order. To pursue these policies is proving to be highly costly in terms of blood and money.

This is not the first time the US had seemingly betrayed its friends. Historically, it had happened during the American War of Independence against the British too. The US had asked for assistance from France and had got it. But after the War it had quickly made peace with Britain, and unilaterally concluded a peace treaty with Britain that was detrimental to France’s interests. This put Louis XVI’s regime in a difficult position, which it is believed gave cause for the French Revolution.

The US doesn’t seem to have learnt from its past failures. They are now eyeing the Far East, and before the dust has settled in Afghanistan the Vice President is touring that region. One hopes they will not create another Vietnam or Afghanistan in the Far East. Chinese not to be out done have moved into Afghanistan with a lot of aid. Absence of US troops in Afghanistan would help the Chinese to pursue their policies in the Belt and Road Initiative in that region.

In the final analysis, the US or any other big power should not be invading any other country with imperialist intentions. Some argue that the US cannot be trusted and therefore its allies cannot rely on it. More than a question of trust, the fact of the matter is that imperialism, particularly when it is driven by military invasion, may not work in today’s world; for nobody likes to be under the yoke of a foreign power. People in the US have taken to the streets on this issue, and demanded that instead of waging war in foreign lands the Government must solve the problems at home. Poverty rates and homelessness are on the rise and the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Covid pandemic has made the situation worse. While the billionaires in the US have doubled their wealth, the number of people below poverty line has increased during Covid times.

Afghanistan has managed to maintain its reputation as the “graveyard of empires”. Would America continue to strengthen its evil reputation as the invader who cut and ran after causing much damage to the victim, as well as to itself, with nothing to show for its efforts. It’s not only in Vietnam and Afghanistan that America had pursued its evil reputation and then run away, but also in Iraq (2013), Syria (2019) and perhaps in Libya too. Where will it be next? Anyway, it’s time the US realized that the world does not need it as its policeman.