Today I would like to talk to discuss the Afghanistan war, but more importantly why our troops should be brought home. Australian Forces should be withdrawn from Afghanistan immediately, not only because our commitment is over and the loss of life entailed with our support of a war doomed to fail, will only increase and rapidly, but also because the war itself can never truly be won.
Firstly I would like to explain a little about the Afghanistan War and Australia’s part in the war. In 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks America gave Afghanistan an ultimatum to stop harbouring Al-Qaida amongst other demands. This was rejected by the Taliban. Less than a month later on October 7 the U.S government launched military action against Afghanistan. Australia pledged military units to the campaign against the Taliban and Al-Qaida in accordance with the ANZUS treaty. After years of tough fighting the Taliban was overthrown and both Al-Qaida and the Taliban fled the country. And our troops were kept in the region as a security force, patrolling the Uruzgan Province. But why should our troops still be there, policing the aftermath of another countries war. Must our diplomatic ties be kept strong through the blood of our sons and daughters? Now onto my next point...
22 - 167 - These are the numbers of the Australian soldiers who have lost their lives and been wounded in the Afghanistan War. That’s 22 sons, 22 husbands, 22 brothers, 22 Young men who can never be replaced, 22 families that will never be the same again. And what about the wounded, the 167 men and women with life changing injuries, Will their lives ever be the same again? And let’s not forget the emotional and mental trauma that comes with being a part of the warzone, with reports of post-traumatic stress disorders and severe depression most common. No one leaves a war unscathed. The latest casualty in the war Corporal Richard Atkinson was only 22; he had barely started his life before it was brutally snatched away from him and his fiancé by a Taliban bomb. He left behind his fiancé and his parents; will their lives ever be the same again? How many more families must suffer?
Must we continue to risk our own in support of a conflict that is not only, America’s but that is also doomed to fail? With even American intelligence agencies saying that the war “cannot be won.” (Pentagon ignores gloomy war review, the Australian 16/12/10) Should we not just get out while we are ahead?
I’d like to continue with a quote. A man wrote to the Australian on the 9th of October 2006, that “We [can] never win a war against guerrillas or insurgents unless we win their hearts and deprive them of their local support.” An unforgettable example of this is Vietnam. A former Lance Corporal whose name cannot be disclosed contrasts the Afghanistan War to the Vietnam War of 1955 to 1975 dubbing it “Vietnam Ver. 2”, Co-incidence? The Taliban and the Vietcong are extremely similar, they use the same guerrilla style tactics and use improvised explosive to kill their enemies, more than 40% of Australian casualties come from what the army calls improvised explosive devices. These Improvised explosives are just like the booby traps and improvised mines used by the Vietcong. Do we really want another Vietnam? A war where 521 Australians lost their lives and more than 3000 were wounded, a war we did not even win? I didn’t think so and that’s just what the war is shaping up to be with no end in sight and Defence Minister Stephen Smith predicting this year to be bloodier than last year, last year which according to the Afghanistan Rights Monitor was the bloodiest year since the invasion in 2001 with a “300% increase in security incidents” reported in the December 22nd U.S Military briefing. The same briefing from the US Defence Department also shows the discontent the locals have for the US-led troops with 92 out of 121 in either full support of the Taliban or Sympathetic to their cause. That’s 76% of the populace backing the Taliban. Well we’re sure depriving them of local support aren’t we?
Of course there are those that argue that removing our troops from Afghanistan will destabilize the zone and cause harm to the afghan people however these arguments have no real substance, they are just ‘what if’ scenarios. The absence of our troops alone would not be detrimental to the war on terror as they would be replaced by either the Afghan Army that has been training to do so for the past few years, or American troops. And with Obama pouring another 30 thousand troops into Afghanistan it seems hard to believe the withdrawal of 15 hundred will make much of a difference. If we go deeper into the issue we know that our occupation is not helping the Afghan people. Yes, we have overthrown the Taliban Oppression but the new government is corrupt and the number of Civilian deaths outnumbers the amount of troops killed more than 2 to 1 and those are just the ones we know about estimated Civilian deaths are about 12 thousand however the real number could be anywhere from 30-100 thousand. Not to mention the wounded and damage to properties, from either being caught in crossfire or the overuse of American Air Strikes and Taliban Suicide and roadside bombs. It is shown in the 2009 ICRC(Red Cross) Afghanistan opinion survey that 96% of the populace has been affected by the US-led occupation of Afghanistan.
In conclusion Australian forces can and should be immediately withdrawn from Afghanistan, because our commitment to international security is over, the possible loss of life if our troops remain is astronomical, and the war itself could never end. Do we really want to still be there when it becomes Vietnam Version 2?
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