The Middle Eastern country is not the only country where the US armed forces have been deployed. From 2018 to 2020, the United States government carried out counterterrorism activities in 85 countries not counting the sale of weapons or all the deployments of the special operations forces of the United States. The winners are usually private defense companies.
“The war on terror is not over and the war in Afghanistan is not over,” Kenneth McKenzie, commander of the United States Navy Central Command, responded when asked in Congress if the war on terror was over. His claim was made on September 28 before the Senate Armed Services Committee, almost a month after the emergency evacuation of US troops from Kabul after the Taliban group seized power.
General McKenzie’s version is different from that of President Joe Biden, who on August 31 he said: “Dear Americans, the war in Afghanistan is over.” In that same speech, Biden added: “We are going to continue the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and in other countries, only we will no longer need to fight a war on the ground to do so.”
According to the president, the United States has the capabilities to operate from other countries and wage war at long distances, “which means that we can hit terrorists and military targets without the need to have American soldiers’ boots on the ground or very few , if you need them, “said Biden.
However, Mark Milley, commanding general of the US Armed Forces, explained in Congress that the withdrawal of troops makes it much more difficult to carry out intelligence, monitoring and reconnaissance on the ground. That reality reduces the precision of military missions carried out from other parts of the world against terrorist targets in Afghanistan. An example of this is the drone strike with which the United States claimed it hit the Islamic State in Afghanistan following the airport bombings in Kabul. Days later, the US Army acknowledged that it actually killed 10 civilians by mistake, including seven minors.
“STRATEGIC FAILURE”: The end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan was a “strategic failure,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers, while Pentagon leaders directly contradicted Pres. Biden by saying they advised him to keep thousands of troops in the country. pic.twitter.com/sd6bp3Cl7B
– CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) September 28, 2021
Regardless of how much the president and generals trust America’s military capabilities, the war on terror continues.
From 2018 to 2020, the United States government carried out counterterrorism activities in 85 countries, according to Brown University. These operations include air and drone strikes, ground combat, and so-called “Section 127e” programs, in which US special operations forces plan and control missions for allied armies. In the operations they also carry out military exercises in preparation or as part of missions, and counter-terrorist operations to train and help foreign forces, according to the report delivered by the Watson Institute of Public and International Affairs from Brown University.
The study authors note that the map does not document US military bases used for counterterrorism operations, arms sales to foreign governments, or all US special operations forces deployments.
Although the Pentagon argues that it is shifting its military focus toward competition against great powers such as China and Russia and moving away from counterterrorism, “examination of US military activity on a country-by-country basis shows that there is still no downgrade. considerable counter-terrorism apparatus, “say experts from Brown University. In fact, counterterrorism operations have expanded globally, as the map shows.
Does the war on terrorism have an end?
Responding to terrorism with a war mentality is the root of the problem. The United States views terrorism as a war and not as a criminal activity. This is what has led the country to respond using tools of war and even breaking the law with torture, illegal detentions, unfair trials, etc. ”, he told France24 Andrea Prasow, security expert and deputy director for Washington at Human Rights Watch.
For Richard Downie, retired colonel and executive vice president of global strategies for OMNITRU Technologies, a security and technology company, “it is not a war against terrorism, it is a war, it is against groups that want to use this tactic of terrorism, this is the point … The United States does not have the option of not fighting terrorism because the primary function of the State is to maintain the security of its citizens ”.
According to Downie, there will be no winner in this war on terror, there will only be successes and failures against those groups that want to use violence to achieve their goals and intimidate those who do have power.
Who wins in the war on terror?
Those who have benefited the most after 20 years of the war on terrorism have been the large private defense companies and arms manufacturers that have spent more than 2.5 billion dollars lobbying in the last two decades. According to the report ‘20 years of war‘, these companies have employed an average of more than 700 lobbyists per year in the last five years. “That’s more than one lobbyist for every member of Congress,” the report emphasizes.
Since George W. Bush declared war on terror the Pentagon has spent more than 14 trillion of dollars in its operations and almost half of this money has ended up in the hands of five defense contractors and arms manufacturers such as: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. This is revealed by the Watson Institute of Brown University.
To put it in perspective, in fiscal year 2020 alone, Lockheed Martin received $ 75 billion in Pentagon contracts, well above the annual budget of the State Department and the Agency for International Development of $ 44 billion.
Specifically in Afghanistan, some of the defense companies that benefited the most were Dyncorp International which was in charge, among other things, of equipping and training the National Police. According to the page usaspending.gov, since 2008, Dyncorp has won contracts with the US government for more than $ 24.8 billion.
Flour CorporationFor his part, he obtained contracts of more than 14,000 million dollars and was in charge, among other things, of the construction of military bases in southern Afghanistan. Kellogg Brown Root, a Halliburton subsidiary, which was responsible for the food, lodging and logistics of the military and allies on the ground, obtained contracts equivalent to about 500 million dollars.
That picture partly explains why General Mark Milley believes that 20 years of war in Afghanistan were a “strategic failure.” A failure in which very few gained much.
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