Afghanistan front: The war without an end for US

Going against public opinion and his own poll promise, US President Donald Trump has declared that the number of US troops in Afghanistan will be increased. While the numbers have been kept secret, there exists Congress approval for sending an additional 3,400 troops to add to the 8,400 deployed in the war-torn country.

In what is already the longest war ever fought by the US, and with no sign of victory over Taliban, Trump’s announcement is a gamble that has been played by two presidents before him. George W Bush started the war, promised a quick end but then kept on going till he left office in 2008. Barack Obama increased US presence during the deadly years of 2010-11, sending troop strengths to as high as over 98,000.

Both years also saw US casualties touching new highs since 2007. Civilian casualties too increased after a slight dip in 2010. On an average over 3,000 civilians have been killed in war activities every year for the past decade.

The US invaded Afghanistan on 7 October 2001 as a reaction to the 9/11 attacks. Although the ruling Taliban were defeated and al-Qaida network destroyed, attempts by US and its Nato allies to finish the insurgency have failed.

In the last few years the Taliban has regained considerable ground and it is confronting the US and the Afghan armed forces throughout the country.

In 2014, Obama had announced gradual withdrawal of US troops to end the US involvement in the war. This was backed by a growing anti-war tide in the US and in other allied countries. As part of this policy Obama scaled down troop strength from where he had himself increased it to in preceding years.



Opinion polls in the US show an increasingly war weary populace. In 2007, just 25% of those polled thought that US involvement in the Afghan war was a mistake. By 2015, 54% were saying that the war was a mistake. A few weeks ago, one opinion poll showed that just 23% people thought that US was winning the war and only 20% thought more troops should be sent there.

Another unpalatable fact is that US has spent over $800 billion on the Afghan war, according to Boston University professor Neta Crawford. For a country struggling with debt, crumbling infrastructure and cutbacks in social security, US citizens often question the wisdom of this expenditure.

One consequence of Trump’s surge could be a rise in US casualties, if the past record is anything to go by. During Obama’s troop surge years, over 900 US soldiers lost their lives in Afghanistan. But casualties in Afghanistan seem to be following a different trajectory.

They have exhibited an almost continuous rising trend, except for small ups and downs. This appears to indicate that more ‘boots on the ground’, as US hawks are fond of saying, is no solution to the problem.