America is in an isolationist mood right
now. Lots of people are asking, “What do
we get out of our efforts in Afghanistan?”
My answer is that we prevent the slaughter we're seeing now in Syria and Iraq.
The effects of our withdrawal can be seen in the disasters that happened
as a result.
In Iraq, we left in a hurry so
we could declare the tide of war had receded. Al Qaeda in Iraq renamed itself
ISIS and seized a parts of Syria and Iraq. They slaughtered Christians
and Yazidis, saving only females of breeding age for sex slave auctions.
In the Iraqi Army, all of the senior officers the US trained were
replaced by politically reliable but cowardly hacks. They abandoned their
units and fled before ISIS even got close. Without officers or orders, the Iraqi Army ran away too. ISIS is now using the weapons they captured from the Iraqi Army disintegration.
There were 100,000 dead Syrian
civilians before we paid attention to Bashir al Assad. Then Barry the
Brilliant cancelled plans to destroy Assad's air force on the ground. Now
there are an additional 100,000 or more dead Syrian civilians. Bashir al
Assad's air force dropped improvised, shrapnel loaded barrel bombs on them.
There are millions of refugees fleeing the choice of barrel bombs or
ISIS.
We could see the same in
Afghanistan or worse, if we leave now.