Politics
Lesson from America ’ s Afghan Debacle
Bernard Sabiti
America spent about 2.6 trillion USD in Afghanistan over the course of 20 years . That ’ s about exactly the total combined nominal GDP of all African countries in 2019 . One would think that America was generous to Afghans if it weren ’ t for the CNN lamentations over “ the world ’ s biggest deposits of lithium ” that American troops have left in the hands of the Taliban . If anything , there is one simple lesson Africans should learn from America ’ s shocking and chaotic exit from Afghanistan : Uncle Sam is not your uncle .
I have in the recent past called attention to the dangers of western intervention in Africa , highlighting Libya as one catastrophic example . A once successful , prosperous middle-income country was turned into a medieval hellhole teaming with slave traders and terrorists in just a couple of years , all because the West didn ’ t like the guts of its strong , nationalist , pan-African , if authoritarian , leader .
Ghaddafi ’ s cardinal sin in the eyes of the powers that be in Washington DC , Paris , London and Brussels was his stubborn refusal to allow his country ’ s oil wealth be pillaged by marauding western oligarchs . Ten years after they murdered him on a dusty street , Libya is in a shambles and , in perhaps one of the greatest ironies to grace western adventurism into the third world , recent polling and numerous reports indicate that millions of Libyans now miss the Gadhafi years and many intend to vote for the late Dictator ’ s son , Saif al-Islam in the next elections !
If history is anything to go by , little , if any , good has ever come from America ’ s military adventurism in Africa . From the time the CIA assassinated Lumumba in 1961 , plunging the Congo into an eternal abyss , to their 1993 Somalia debacle that resulted in the ‘ Black Hawk Down ’ iconography , it seems troubles follow Uncle Sam wherever his mischief takes him , and misery is visited upon indigenous populations .
The American public seems to be genuinely shocked and dismayed by the nature of their military ’ s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the fear and uncertainty that followed it . But countries that have been at the receiving end of America ’ s raw predatory military forays and those of fellow NATO allies will not find a lot to be surprised by in this Afghan debacle .
In 2019 , years after they had valiantly fought ISIS and suffered unimaginable casualties , the Kurds were left hanging when President Trump ’ s decision to pull U . S . troops away from the Syria-Turkey border tacitly endorsed a Turkish assault on their posts in Northern Syria , which killed and displaced lots of them .
In April 1994 , France and Belgium sent their troops to airlift their citizens from Rwanda as genocidaires began a 100-day genocidaire extermination of that country ’ s Tutsi minority . According to the PBS Documentary “ 100 Days of Slaughter : The Triumph of Evil ,” not even the Rwandans employed by Western governments in their embassies and consulates were rescued .
For those whose memory is intact , the act of Americans leaving behind thousands of Afghan allies that helped them in their 20-year nation-building project is not surprising .
Currently , thousands of troops from western armies are operating in several African countries , from the Sahel region to the Congo . Most are there , ostensibly , to support these countries ’ counter-terrorism operations against insurgents . What this America-Afghan imbroglio should remind these countries is that these western troops are not in Africa to win the wars for us and build our nations . We should address the root causes of these conflicts ourselves , and yes , fight and die addressing our national and pan-African interests ! Indigenously hard-fought victories tend to be more sustainable and impactful . This is why the pan-African dreams of Nyerere , Nkrumah , Mandela , Seko Toure and Lumumba must be revived and fulfilled .
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