Xinhua News Review: "The Day of America's Defeat" Becomes Afghanistan's "Celebration Time"
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 30 (Xinhua) -- The "Day of the United States" Becomes Afghanistan's "Celebration Time"
Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Rong
On August 30th, two years ago, the US military announced the completion of its evacuation mission from Afghanistan, marking the hasty withdrawal process as the "Kabul moment" in history. The key words such as misjudgment of the situation, ineffective command, disregard for human life, and lack of coordination with allies outline the background of this American style defeat. Every year at this time, Afghans take to the streets to celebrate the return to freedom, becoming the biggest mockery of "American style democratic exports.".
In 2001, the United States launched the Afghanistan War under the pretext of "counter-terrorism", while carrying the flags of "freedom" and "democracy". The United States named its military operations in Afghanistan "Enduring Freedom", and the then president who initiated the war, George W. Bush, claimed to establish a "free society" in Afghanistan. However, it has been proven that the United States is not interested in whether the Afghan people can obtain freedom and happiness. What it truly pursues is military hegemony and the interests of military industrial groups. The Kabul moment marks the comprehensive failure of the United States in Afghanistan's military, political, and counter-terrorism efforts, once again proving that military intervention, political infiltration, and democratic exports to other countries are not feasible and will only bring turmoil and disaster.
The US military intervention is stained with the blood of Afghan civilians. According to statistics, during the 20 year invasion of Afghanistan by the US military, 174000 Afghan people, including over 30000 civilians, were killed, and nearly one-third of the Afghan people became refugees. In addition, the US military has also extensively used cluster bombs in Afghanistan, causing serious disasters to the local population. What is the value of Afghan civilian life in the eyes of the US military? Former US drone operator Brandon Bryant has repeatedly told the media about his personal experience: once during an attack mission in Afghanistan, he saw an Afghan child breaking into the target site in the final moments before missile launch from the drone lens. He reported to his superiors and received a response of "don't worry about him, it's just a dog.".
US military intervention makes it difficult to establish a sound social governance system. The United States claims to create a "democratic model" in Afghanistan, but in fact, all its efforts revolve around serving its own hegemonic interference. The successive governments it supports lack a mass base and cannot truly effectively coordinate organizational politics, social life, and economic development. Except for a very small number of pro American government officials and Afghans who serve the US military, the vast majority of ordinary people living in difficult circumstances have deep grievances and even hatred towards the United States.
The so-called "counter-terrorism" by the United States in Afghanistan is counterproductive. The United States defines terrorist organizations based on its own interests and uses "terrorists" to constrain them, resulting in the number of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan increasing from single digits more than 20 years ago to over 20 today. Professor Abuzar Hapalwa Zazai of Kabul University in Afghanistan said that the actions of the United States have left the Afghan people constantly shrouded in the shadow of terrorist attacks.
US military intervention has left Afghanistan's economy and people in dire straits. Under the leadership of the United States, Afghanistan has formed a distorted "garrison economy", with economic activities centered around the garrison of the United States and its allies, rather than being built on the needs of the Afghan people. More than 20 years have passed, but Afghanistan still has not established a decent economic system, and cannot be self-sufficient in food, electricity, and other aspects. Even in the capital Kabul, people do not have urban public transportation systems, municipal water supply systems, and heating systems, and a large number of people live in self built adobe houses on the mountains.
The United States is militaristic, addicted to foreign interference, and addicted to democratic exports. To understand what the military intervention of the United States has brought to other countries, let's take a look at the situation in Afghanistan. This country silently answers the world with broken mountains and rivers, the lives of over 100000 people, and the heavy economic and social costs.
