since 2017 in the form of car , truck , and suicide bombs , surrendering Afghan National Army soldiers gunned down in the street , citizens dragged from their cars and homes and shot dead , people hung from Blackhawk helicopters , press being beaten in Kabul , and former USA interpreters having their tongues cut out , while the media has the audacity to report on the “ toxic culture ” of our own troops .
As to why the country surrendered and fell so fast leading to the current crisis , that is a complicated question with an even more complicated answer . Ultimately the USA , Australian , and allied soldiers fought bravely but failed due to corruption and regional politics ; the two things our militaries were not at liberty to solve .
General Sami Sadat said it well when he wrote in the New York Times that Afghan forces had fought bravely over the past two decades of war and that " we were betrayed by politics and presidents ."
With non-existent logistic , medical , and offensive fire support to the Afghan National Army , the majority of Afghan soldiers decided to go home and protect their families .
On August 16 this year as the situation unravelled in Kabul , President Biden declared “ American troops cannot , and should not , be fighting and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves ."
The statistics tell a different story .
• Forty-one Australian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014 .
• 2,500 American service members with another almost 4,000 USA contractors killed over the duration of the conflict .
• 66,000 Afghan national military and police killed over the last 20 years .
Clearly this was a nation willing to fight .
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