Ron Paul: The Afghan War, Fifteen Years Later

DO AMERICANS KNOW THE TRUTH?

By RON PAUL  Last week marked the fifteenth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the longest war in U.S. history. There weren’t any victory parades or photo-ops with Afghanistan’s post-liberation leaders. That is because the war is ongoing. In fact, fifteen years after launching a war against Afghanistan’s Taliban government in retaliation for an attack by Saudi-backed al-Qaeda, the US-backed forces are steadily losing territory back to the Taliban.

What President Barack Obama called “the good war” before took office in 2008, has become the “forgotten war” some eight years later. How many Americans know that we still have nearly 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan? Do any Americans know that the Taliban was never defeated, but now holds more ground in Afghanistan than at any point since 2001? Do they know the Taliban overran the provincial capital of Kunduz last week for a second time in a year and they threaten several other provincial capitals?

Do Americans know that we are still wasting billions on “reconstruction” and other projects in Afghanistan that are, at best, boondoggles? According to a recent audit by the independent U.S. government body overseeing Afghan reconstruction, half a billion dollars was wasted on a contract for a U.S. company to maintain Afghan military vehicles. The contractor “fail[ed] to meet program objectives,” the audit found.

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