Afghanistan fell to the Taliban religious extremists today, as "president" Ghani fled for his life when the Taliban entered the capital of Kabul largely unimpeded. It took less than two weeks for the Taliban to conquer the country once America declared its exit. We in America thought that the war was not very violent in the last couple of years or so because there were few American and Allied casualties, but apparently that was just the happy delusion fostered by the Taliban not to target us while they continued a fierce fighting and killing of Afghan government military and officials.
So, for us to leave just allowed what was already happening to advance with lightning speed. I have read that the Afghan people did not have a fierce reason to defend a government that was so obviously and blatantly corrupt and self serving. That essentially the Afghan military were there just to have a job and make a living, whereas the Taliban were carrying out their understanding of what their god mandated them to do - establish extremist Islamic rule and kill infidels.
This would have been the result at pretty much any point in the 20 year war in Afghanistan, it seems to me. On one side was the Afghan government, which we tried to tell ourselves was some expression of democracy, but was mostly just a government imposed by a foreign power (us) and propped up by a foreign power (us). On the other side was a zealous religious fanaticism, centuries old, fighting to impose their religious vision of Islam, supported by allies in Iran (I believe).
Afghanistan is the land where empires go to die - Persia, Alexander the Great, British, Russian, and now American.
Rudyard Kipling wrote about 130 years ago - "East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet". Oh well. We tried. We lost. We didn't lose through "weakness", we lost pursuing a fool's errand, it seems to me.
Heartbreak. One of so many heartbreaks in the world today.
