Afghanistan - The Winners and the Losers

COL Ted Mc — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 04:45:25 -0500

The Toronto (Canada) Globe and Mail has an interesting analysis

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/somnia/article22236363/

Out of Afghanistan: The winners and losers after 13 years of combat

Thirteen years after the campaign began, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) formally ended combat operations in Afghanistan on Dec. 28. A residual foreign military presence of about 18,000 troops, the Resolute Support Mission, will stay on for counter-terrorism purposes and provide training and logistical assistance to Afghan police and security forces.

With rising Afghan civilian and military casualties, and Taliban gains amidst generally deteriorating conditions, there was little to celebrate at the secret handover ceremony. That event received only passing media attention – surprising given the exceptional human and financial costs associated with this intervention.

As coalition members rush for the exits, there have been many attempts to explain what went wrong, which by my reckoning includes just about everything. That said, few in positions of authority are admitting failure. Clearly, among responsible senior officials, more than a few of whom managed to eke a promotion or two out of the war, there is no appetite for a searching retrospective.

While awaiting the attribution of some form of culpability for the wilful blindness which plagued the ISAF mission, it may be useful to look ahead with a view to identifying some of the main winners and losers.

Out of Afghanistan: The winners and losers after 13 years of combat

For Canada, for NATO, and for much the world the war was an unmitigated disaster