Taliban has won the war in Afghanistan, says Lord Dannatt as UK and U.S. troops pull out

The Union Flag has been lowered in Afghanistan, bringing to a close two decades of British military presence in the country. By Independence Day, US troops are also expected to have fully withdrawn from the region. Now, against the backdrop of widespread Taliban success across the country, the time has come to begin the audit of the campaign…

Encouraged by President Biden’s earlier announcement that all US forces would withdraw from Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the Taliban has paid lip service to the peace talks in Doha while stepping up its attacks right across the country. District after district has fallen to the Taliban in recent days, the Afghan National Army has seemingly lost the will to fight, and many soldiers are abandoning their posts, no longer supported by substantial international air power. In response, the American withdrawal has been accelerated from September 11 to July 4…

The US may have made much of its boast not to “do nation-building”, but that was exactly what Afghanistan needed. Investment in its institutions and economy, the creation of reliable security forces and a welcome inclusion into the cohort of moderate developing nations were all sacrificed on the altar of the Bush/Rumsfeld agenda of unfinished business in Iraq.

That strategic decision was an error of near biblical proportions. Building on initial success in Afghanistan was squandered by the invasion of Iraq, which brought about the downward spiral into chaos from which the world has not recovered – Islamic State, though expelled from the Middle East, is near dominant in Sub-Saharan Africa…

The conflict in Afghanistan has truly been a war among the people and for the people, but ultimately Taliban force of arms has prevailed, and the people of that country have been denied the chance to choose a better way of life. Tragically, a descent into the chaos of civil war seems highly likely.

Does America have the will to see it through? What happens when the war spreads from Afghanistan to other, less-isolated governments—when world opinion begins to turn on the U.S.? What happens if American soldiers begin to die—or if retaliatory terrorist attacks on American soil intensify? Would the unanimity of public opinion fracture? Would fear intensify and determination falter? …

While the U.S. wants to eliminate terrorism and is becoming much more aggressive in trying to do so, its efforts will fall short. It frankly does not have the necessary will to tackle the enormity of the problem!

Thus, America is forced to confront the issue using clever half-measures. At this point Iran is no longer considered a “state sponsor” of terrorism. Instead—in a telling twist of irony—it is being courted as an ally in fighting terrorism! …

The Trumpet has often written that the pride of America’s power has been broken (Leviticus 26:19). That is God’s doing—a curse on a nation that rejected His commandments and abandoned His protection.

With the country currently standing at attention, singing patriotic anthems and waving flags, padding its security, issuing proclamations and orders, deploying ships and planes and personnel, America may appear strong to some. These actions may even be temporarily holding the next attack at bay. But on the whole, they are not acts of courage, but of fear. And they are not complete or savage enough to eliminate the threat.

“The Head of the Snake,” November 2001, Philadelphia Trumpet