I asked the high representative of NATO a few years ago what were the results of the war fought in Afghanistan for almost 10 years, at the end of the day. Have you achieved your goal, are Al-Qaeda destroyed, are Taliban eliminated? In response to the first question my interlocutor answered absolutely affirmatively, in response to the second one, he answered affirmatively with some reservations. That optimistic assessment in a way contradicts American influential senator, Republican John McCain’s assessment, according to which, “If Afghanistan dissolves into a situation where the Taliban were able to take over a chaotic situation, it could easily return to an al-Qaeda base for attacks on the United States of America.” McCain explains why the coalition forces should remain in Afghanistan in that way.
The speculation that the United States and other armies should withdraw from Afghanistan has become much more after it came out two days ago that an American sergeant, leaving his base, had entered an Afghan village and unleashed sporadic fire at peaceful residents who were asleep, killing 16 people, including 9 children. By the way, thus the claim of some of our analysts that “only Turk” can kill people asleep is denied. This latest incident caused another Republican Newt Gingrich, a former press secretary for the House of Representatives, to claim that they were risking the lives of young men and women in Afghanistan “in a mission that may frankly not be doable.”
On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda terrorists killed thousands of Americans in New York. The “response” has been lasting for 10 years and during that time thousands of Americans have died again. It is pointless to continue that war (Newt Gingrich), and it is impossible to suspend (John McCain). In order to get out of that deadlock one should first realize why the mankind has found itself in such a condition. Perhaps my answer will sound idealistic, but it seems to me that the issue is that everybody pins his hopes exceptionally on force. They, so to say, resort to muscle. Not realizing that force is temporary and quite relative from the historical perspective and no James Bond can solve issues in reality. However, the American sergeant that probably thinks he is a James Bond may make the issue much more complicated.
Shall I add that the mission based only on force in the internal life of a country (including Armenia) is not doable either?
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ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
