Afghanistan came steaming back into our collective consciousness after 9/11.
Before then it was a half-remembered place: part hippy trail, part The Bear Went Over the Mountain — a Cold War set piece, with dollops of Kim or Flashman, Joseph Kessel’s Les cavaliers or Peter Levi’s Light Garden of the Angel King: Travels in Afghanistan with Bruce Chatwin.
Now all of us recall that sunny September morning 20 years ago — a Tuesday, eight days after Labour Day — when almost no one was expecting an attack on the U.S. mainland master-minded from the Hindu Kush.
Nearly 3,000 lives lost in two Manhattan towers, a Pennsylvania field and Washington, D.C.’s Pentagon brought Afghanistan hurtling back into focus.
Or almost did.
Yes, NATO invoked Article Five — the “all for one” provision of the North Atlantic Treaty.
The UN Security Council even authorized the use of force unanimously.
The whole world sent aid and institutional support.
Over a million served from the U.S. and other NATO member and partner militaries.
Yet here we are: the troops are gone; the Taliban and al-Qaida are back.
Disaster has struck with a vengeance.
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See Also:
(1) Richard Grenell Sheds Light on the Basic Flaw of Biden’s Withdrawal Plan
(2) Biden Afghanistan debacle has made entire world less safe
