'..past experiences – in Vietnam, Iraq and now Afghanistan – have shown that the military cannot adequately accomplish “civilian-centred missions”.
“Military organisations are not equipped for nation building, and they shouldn’t be equipped for nation-building,” Khan said.''The swift collapse of the Afghan government demonstrates the US military’s inability to engage in nation-building, experts say.
..
A military-led project of state-building and nation-building is always going to be doomed to failure,” said Annelle Sheline, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a think-tank that advocates against interventionist policies.
..
Jawied Nawabi, an Afghan American assistant professor in sociology and economics at the City University of New York – Bronx Community College, said he hopes that the US draws a lesson from Afghanistan to become less reliant on military power.
..
Nawabi said the blunt force approach was the main problem with Washington’s relations with Afghanistan, arguing that the US needs more “soft power” in its foreign policy via aid and development programmes.
The US spent more than $2 trillion on the war, but Nawabi raised questions over how much of that money went to aid Afghans versus the money spent on the Pentagon and military contractors, noting the staggering rates of poverty and drug abuse in Afghan society.
Asked if he was surprised by the swift Taliban takeover, Nawabi told Al Jazeera it did not matter how long it took the Afghan government to crumble if the collapse was inevitable.
“Why is it that after 20 years, you built a hollow state that would collapse even in six months, if not 11 days? Why would that question even arise if you had actually built a real capacity and military system?”
Sheline, of the Quincy Institute, echoed Nawabi’s remarks on resources dedicated to Afghanistan being spent on the Pentagon and military contractors, invoking former President Dwight Eisenhower 1961 warnings about the “unwarranted influence” of the military-industrial complex.
She said weapon manufacturers and war profiteers are the ones who want “the forever wars to continue”.
“The nation-building project in Afghanistan was always going to fail because you cannot impose democracy or impose a system of government on another people and expect it to have legitimacy,” Sheline told Al Jazeera.
The view that the US should not police the world or engage in nation-building is a popular one among voters, Sheline added.
Their actual policies aside, the last three US presidents were elected on platforms of less, not more, military interventions. Barack Obama pledged to end the Iraq War in his 2008 campaign. Biden and Trump used the term “forever wars”, promising to end them.
Calls for oversightSahar Khan, a research fellow at the Cato Institute, said while the US army remains the largest and most powerful in the world, Washington is “too reliant” on military force.
“The main lesson, which I hope resonates, is a deeper understanding of the limitations of the US military,” Khan told Al Jazeera.
She said past experiences – in Vietnam, Iraq and now Afghanistan – have shown that the military cannot adequately accomplish “civilian-centred missions”.
“Military organisations are not equipped for nation building, and they shouldn’t be equipped for nation-building,” Khan said.
..
Scott Cooper, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a US military veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he does not like the term “forever wars” because of its isolationist connotations, stressing that Washington should remain engaged in the world.
Still, he voiced support for efforts to curb executive power to engage in war, including the push to repeal authorisations for the use of force (AUMFs) granted by lawmakers to then-President George W Bush after the 9/11 attacks.
“I don’t think that this is an America-first or isolationist idea,” Cooper told Al Jazeera. “What we need to have, and what is important and responsible, is that the first branch of government in the United States, the legislative branch, needs to do its job.”
The US Constitution gives Congress solely the right to declare war, but World War II was the last time legislators did so formally.'
-
Afghanistan shows ‘limitations’ of US military, experts say, August 21, 2021
Context '..Pentagon spending .. substantial and enduring budget reductions..'Watchdog describes litany of US failures in Afghanistan mission'..not through endless military deployments..' - Biden'Thus, as in medieval Europe, Afghanistan has a tradition..' - '..a failure to study Afghan realities.''For starters, Americans are sick of this war and mainstream media warmongering.''..a complete breakdown in discipline - in central banking, in Washington borrowing and spending..'(The Afghanistan Papers) - 'U.S. officials constantly said they were making progress. They were not, and they knew it.' By Craig Whitlock(The U.S. out of the Middle East) - '..Syria .. exit plan .. the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces .. the least apart in terms of their differing visions for the country..'