Submission Statement
Between 2001 and 2021, under four U.S. presidents, the United States spent approximately $2.3 trillion, with 2,459 American military fatalities and up to 360,000 estimated Afghan civilian deaths.
After the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, approximately $7.12 billion worth of military equipment was left behind, according to a 2022 Department of Defense report. This equipment, transferred to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) from 2005 to 2021, included:
Weapons: Over 300,000 of 427,300 weapons, including rifles like M4s and M16s.
Vehicles: More than 40,000 of 96,000 military vehicles, including 12,000 Humvees and 1,000 armored vehicles.
Aircraft: 78 aircraft, valued at $923.3 million, left at Hamid Karzai International Airport, all demilitarized and rendered inoperable.
Munitions: 9,524 air-to-ground munitions worth $6.54 million, mostly non-precision.
Communications and Specialized Equipment: Nearly all communications gear (e.g., radios, encryption devices) and 42,000 pieces of night vision, surveillance, biometric, and positioning equipment.
The total equipment provided to the ANDSF was valued at $18.6 billion, with the $7.12 billion figure representing what remained after the withdrawal. Much of this equipment is now under Taliban control, though its operational capability is limited due to the need for specialized maintenance and technical expertise.
The United States has provided at least $93.41 billion in total aid to Afghanistan since 2001. This includes:
Military Aid (2001–2020): Approximately $72.7 billion (in current dollars), primarily through the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund ($71.7 billion) and other programs like International Military Education and Training, Foreign Military Financing, and Peacekeeping Operations ($1 billion combined).
Humanitarian and Reconstruction Aid (2001–2025): Around $20.71 billion, including $3 billion in humanitarian and development aid post-2021 and $3.5 billion in frozen Afghan assets transferred to the Afghan Fund in 2022. Pre-2021 reconstruction and humanitarian aid (e.g., $174 million in 2001 and $300 million pledged in 2002) adds to this, though exact figures for the full period are less clear.
I disagree with you on the former and it reeks of white-saviour-complex, but I agree with you on the latter. One out of two, isn’t bad.
Try to meddle in other countries’ business, try to force your norms on them, and you will be met with resistance. If your values are so much better and universal you wouldn’t need to force them on other nations through military and economic coercion.
Edit: I guess you are from the UK. You claim to care about people getting needlessly killed, but if UK troops do it it is okay?: Afghanistan: UK special forces ‘killed 9 people in their beds’
It would not be anyone’s business if they didn’t force their own ways onto innocent women. I would be fine with them living in the stone age, if they didn’t drag others into it by force.
A loss of freedom for one is a loss for all!
My people fought centuries to not fall under the banner of the UK and I can see from my desk the spot where british soldiers shot and killed an unarmed civilian. No I am not british and no I do not support their colonialism or their bending over for the US then or now. Their support for Ukraine is laudable but their support for Israel is embarrassing.
Your position that the correct and moral way of life should suceed on its own is not based in reality. If it was then we would not need trade unions, protests, protections on journalism and free speech etc.
If there existed a house in your neighbourhood that was known to be a crack house, that you could hear the sounds of rape from - would you say that it is their right to do in their homes as they please? Now extrapolate to a global level.
It has nothing to do with race, I am a staunch supporter of Palestine and think the UK, US and Germany are to blame for where it is currently. I support the uprising in Syria despite the issues the leadership poses. Race is too easy to throw around and use an escape.
I agree you with that we should strive to make life better for everyone but how does invading a country and killing its people fix any of this? Hundreds of thousands died in Afghanistan for a corrupt puppet regime that fell as soon as the US withdrew.
We have the UN and other international organizations. If anyone’s should do something about it, it should be them in a democratic way that at least has the consensus of the world and the stakeholders. If the people of Afghanistan want the Taliban gone, there are ways to help that doesn’t involve destroying their country and killing them. To borrow from your analogy, you wouldn’t bomb the crack house to help the people suffering in it.
Tiocfaidh ár lá but not at the hands of the US or the UK.