The New York Times
‘No Victory Dance’: Veterans of Afghan War Feel Torn Over Pullout
Was it worth it? After two decades of midnight watch and heartbreaking patrols of bomb-riddled roads, after all the deaths, bloodshed and lost years, that was the only inescapable question on Wednesday among many of the 800,000 Americans who have served in Afghanistan since 2001. “There is no easy answer, no victory dance, no ‘we were right and they were wrong,’ ” said Jason Dempsey, 49, who served twice as an army officer in Afghanistan to train the Afghan forces that are now fighting a losing battle. For military leaders, Dempsey said, “the end of the war should only bring collective guilt and introspection.” It became known that President Joe Biden planned to withdraw virtually all US troops from the country by September 11 and end the longest war in US history, messages flashed on phones and veterans called old teammates, some relieved and some on the brink of tears Few wanted the war to continue, but its ending posed questions that some have pondered for years without hesitation. Simple answers: How is it possible for the United States to win almost every battle and still lose the war? How could the countless sacrifices and small victories leave Afghanistan with no better promise of peace than a generation ago? What does departure say about the value of the nearly 2,400 Americans who died? And what does it say about the nation as a whole? “It’s confusing, it’s complicated,” said Elliot Ackerman, a former marine and intelligence officer who has been deployed five times to Iraq and Afghanistan. Ackerman arrived in Afghanistan in 2008 for his first tour there, believing he had missed the war. He would soon be involved in a wave that sent more than 100,000 troops into the country. Now a writer, Ackerman said he and many others had long ago been forced to make their own individual peace with war. “Many of us have tried to move on, and when we saw the news, it was no big surprise,” he said. “The people who served on the ground are the last people to tell you that the war will end in tears.” But that acceptance didn’t take the sting out of the news, he said. “For years I sat opposite Afghans in shuras and looked them in the eye and told them to make an alliance with America,” he recalls. “That was the first thing that came to mind when I heard the news. What about these people who trusted us? Will this be seen as a great betrayal? How will the world now see us as a nation and a people? Even veterans who see the end as a relief say withdrawing troops from Afghanistan doesn’t mean the United States should turn its attention to counter-terrorism. Tony Mayne was there in the beginning. As a 25-year-old Ranger, he parachuted into the night. over Kandahar province five weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Many saw the routing of al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the months that followed as a decisive victory, but military leaders felt it necessary to keep sending soldiers like Mayne , who was deployed three more times in counter-terrorism missions when the Taliban returned with force. Mayne, now 44, said the effort in Afghanistan was worthwhile. The world is full of violent extremists, he said: better to fight them in places like Iraq and Afghanistan then let them attack the United States Some veterans who lost brothers and sisters in arms want the United States stay until “all terrorists are wiped out,” Mayne said, while others see the need for a different approach to the conflict. “Everyone has such a personal experience in Afghanistan that it cannot necessarily predict how anyone will respond to the news of the withdrawal,” he said, “because of the scars many people have left there.” Many veterans feel betrayed that a war they put so much effort into is still lost. Commander after commander told the nation that progress was being made and the effort was turning a corner. Cynical troops noted that so many corners had been turned that they went in circles or strayed into a maze. “It seemed a lost cause when I got there – the leaders were talking about winning hearts and minds, but that’s not what we did,” said James Alexander, an army soldier who served in a small infantry outpost in Kandahar. near the height of the troop increase in 2012. A few months after the start of the tour, team leader, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, killed 16 villagers. “After that I knew it was done – that we could never make progress, and this war would just keep people chewing as long as we fed it.” Still, he said, the news of the end came as a disappointment. “We’ve really tried to make a difference,” he said, “and now I’m afraid we’re making a generation of Afghans into nothing.” Many veterans say they need to weigh the guilt of leaving allies against the prospect of more bloodshed. “I didn’t even know how to feel – I had to text other vets I know for a bowel check because it’s so confusing,” said Ashleigh Byrnes, 37,. She served as a field journalist for the Marine Corps in Afghanistan in 2009. Even during those more optimistic days, she said, it was clear that the training of Afghan forces was faltering and that the US efforts were “a dark endless tunnel that didn’t end well. . Byrnes now works for US veterans with disabilities and sees people injured in the war every day. She said she thought retreating was a difficult choice, but the right one. when I think of it, “she said apologetically, holding back her tears.” We have made a promise to the Afghan people. But this cannot be our eternal reality. We must stop. I have children now and I cannot imagine that this war is still going on when they are old enough to join. ”Several veterans noted that Afghanistan was already engulfed in war before US forces invaded, and will likely be after they disappear. Brian Castner, 43, was an Air Force explosive ordnance disposal expert who defused roadside bombs, and has since written several books about the war. He said ordering the withdrawal by September 11, 2021 means little in practical terms. “But it’s a genius story-wise,” he said. Biden’s government figured out a way to make sense of the repeal: do it on the anniversary of 9/11, remind people why we were there – say we stayed for 20 years, then chose to leave. Tell them we’ve done our part, lift your chin. “It’s a myth,” he said, “but at least it’s something.” An ending, even if it was long ago and perhaps conceived, can still have real power, said Thomas Burke, who was 20 and was a lansk corporal in 2009 at a fire base in a small Afghan village. He later attended Yale Divinity School and is now an assistant pastor in Connecticut. During the war, generals often brought visiting dignitaries to his village to demonstrate progress, he said, but small victories there were often followed by bloody losses. Friends were killed, Burke said, and he once had to pick up the pieces of village children torn apart by a rocket-propelled grenade. Ultimately, the American forces withdrew. The village is now in the hands of the Taliban. “Was it worth it? I could answer either way,” he said. “Good people have dedicated their lives to this project, and many have been destroyed. There is so much suffering among the Afghan people. In that sense it is. not worth it. “But for individuals there are experiences and realizations from Afghanistan that will always define their lives,” he continued. “We think about it every day. They are who we are. And I can’t say that has no real value. There are experiences that I cherish, people I love that I met there. ”If nothing else, he said, it is worth putting an end to it. “It’s important to have ceremonies and rituals, times when we mark and remember things,” said Burke. “That’s what this is: we need an end. An ending is how you grieve. We have not been able to do that yet. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company