Afghanistan Peace CampaignAfter 20 years, the threat of terrorism did not end; instead, the emergence of the ISIS-Khorasan group after 2010 created a new wave of violence in the country.
On October 7, 2001, the United States and its NATO allies entered Afghanistan with three main goals: fighting terrorism, combating narcotics, and nation-building. However, after two decades, these slogans faded amid ruins, widespread corruption, and the blood of countless civilians.
The first motive for the U.S. presence in Afghanistan was counterterrorism. Yet, during this campaign, NATO and U.S. forces carried out night bombings that killed thousands of civilians, including women and children, stories of these tragedies continue to this day.
After twenty years, the threat of terrorism did not end; instead, the emergence of the ISIS-Khorasan group after 2010 created a new wave of violence in the country.
Mohammad Amin Karim, a peace studies researcher, said: “The only real achievement of the U.S. presence was the education of a young, skilled generation. However, after the U.S. withdrawal, around 200,000 to 300,000 of these educated youths left the country, people who could have served Afghanistan today.”
The second official U.S. objective was to combat narcotics. This mission also failed. Despite spending millions of dollars, the production and trafficking of drugs not only continued but, in some years,
increased, turning Afghanistan into one of the world’s largest producers of opium.
Kamran Aman, a military affairs expert, noted: “Their main achievement was containing the influence of China, Russia, and Iran in the region, but all the economic, moral, and human losses fell upon the Afghan people.”
Nation-building and establishing a stable government was the third U.S. goal, but it became the most unsuccessful part of its mission. Widespread corruption, heavy dependency on foreign aid, and deep political divisions led to the collapse of the 20-year republic. As a result, America’s slogan of nation-building ended in complete failure.
Mohammad Omar Nahzat, a political analyst, said: “They only tried to impose populist ideas to deceive people, while their real agenda was geopolitical, aimed at limiting China’s and Russia’s regional influence.”
In total, during two decades of U.S. presence in Afghanistan, more than 150,000 people lost their lives, including foreign troops, Afghan soldiers, and civilians. Among them were over 3,500 foreign troops, 66,000 Afghan security forces, and more than 51,000 Afghan civilians and fighters.
It is worth noting that during these twenty years, the U.S. spent more than 2.2 trillion dollars in Afghanistan.