(HOST) Six years ago this week, the American military attack on Afghanistan and its Taliban government began. The U.S. quickly claimed victory, but, as commentator Barrie Dunsmore tells us this morning, this has become another mission not accomplished.
(DUNSMORE) Afghanistan became America’s first target less than a month after 9/11 because it was harboring Osama Bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorists – the man and the group held responsible for the worst attack on the U.S. homeland in its history. The evidence was solid against al Qaeda, and almost everyone in this country – and the rest of the world, for that matter – thought the invasion was justifiied.
Initially, the operation was a success. The fundamentalist Taliban government was overthrown, and a form of democracy headed by Hamid Karzai was installed in Kabul. Karzai was hand-picked by the U.S., but he wasn’t a bad choice; and, after a long history of foreign occupation and home grown dictatorships, prospects for the Afghan people seemed much improved.
But six years later, Osama Bin Laden is, of course, still at large and still believed to be hiding somewhere along the Afghan – Pakistani border. And, according to an official American intelligence estimate, his al Qaeda network is as strong as it ever was. Of equal significance, the chances for a real democracy, or even genuine stability in Afghanistan, are today in serious doubt.
President Karzai’s government was never able to establish its authority much beyond Kabul – as powerful tribal leaders have maintained their control outside the capital. Under a United Nations mandate, about 50,000 NATO troops, half of them American, have been trying to stabilize the situation. But in the past two years there has been a resurgence of the fanatical Taliban, which now controls significant areas of the country. There are now military clashes almost daily, and so far this year 87 Americans have been killed.
A perfect example of the negative turn of events is the poppy crop. At the time of the American invasion, Afghanistan’s trade in poppies that produce opium was insignificant – because drugs went against the Taliban’s religious values. But today, according to United Nations estimates, Afghanistan is producing 93 percent of the world’s opium. Afghan farmers’ incomes have become heavily dependent upon growing poppies, while the Taliban has changed its tune and is using large profits from opium smuggling to finance its comeback. The United States and the Karzai government are currently stalemated on what to do about all this because of fears that eradicating the poppy crop by aerial spraying would alienate the farmers as well as give the Taliban a great propaganda victory.
So what went wrong in Afghanistan? In a word – Iraq. At a time when early victory could have been solidified and broadened to embrace most of the country – and when Osama Bin Laden’s hide-out was generally known to American intelligence – senior members of the Bush Administration took their eyes off the ball. For reasons which made little sense at the time – and now make none at all – they decided that Iraq was a greater threat. For that monumental miscalculation, Afghans, Iraqis and Americans have paid – and will continue to pay dearly.
Barrie Dunsmore is a veteran diplomatic and foreign correspondent for A-B-C News, now living in Charlotte.