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This article is part of a Fox News Digital series examining the consequences of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan a year ago this week.
While the Americans who took part in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan took part in one of the most unique victories in American military history, some believe the conflict they sparked ultimately spanned nearly two decades. I later expressed my sadness that it had ended.
“There was no reason to leave Afghanistan … I don’t think there was any reason to leave Iraq at the time,” he told Fox News Digital.
Blackburn, one of the first veterans of America’s longest war, has expressed his sorrow over how the American military effort in Afghanistan ended, and the people America left behind when it left the country. in Afghanistan, who argued that US military power could still have helped bring about a generational change.
While the chaotic images of the US’s lax evacuation in Kabul a year ago are fresh to many, the situation in Afghanistan was not always so bleak.
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The 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was one of the most unique victories in U.S. military history, coming just months after the September 11 terrorist attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.
Leveraging a small footprint of Special Operations Forces and CIA operatives, the U.S. military began working with friendly Afghan forces less than a month after the terrorist attack to destroy al Qaeda and overthrow the Taliban government. I set out for
The mission is perfect for the U.S. Army Special Forces, best known as the Green Berets, who use their language skills and knowledge of local geopolitics to work with indigenous peoples and train local forces for combat operations. was.
Blackburn told Fox News Digital, “We dived under the cover of darkness….everything we were trained to do…to wage unconventional warfare.” “We were able to link up with the warlords and begin training and operations with the friendly forces we were planning to partner with.”
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Blackburn, a member of the famous “Horse Soldiers” of the 5th Special Forces Group, was one of the first to land, and has characterized the invasion phase of the war in Afghanistan as a great success. increase.
“I think it was an overwhelming success…an incredible success,” said Blackburn. “What this Special Forces can do … has never been done in the history of any war I have ever seen.”
Blackburn’s unit received the Hollywood treatment in 2018 in 12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of a Horse Soldier, but he and his associates don’t think much about using horses during the invasion. said there wasn’t. Finding ways to adapt to the environment and accomplish complex objectives is part of the Special Forces job description, and Blackburn was masterfully executed by a group of the Army’s elite soldiers early in America’s longest war. I believe that
“I didn’t think this whole ‘Horse Soldier’ thing was a big deal…that’s what we do. We adapt to the current environment in order to get close to our enemies and defeat them.” said Blackburn. “The speed and lethality that we got working with our Air Force partners is what made us successful so quickly.”
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Retired Sergeant Keith Gamble, also a soldier with the 5th Special Forces Group who conducted the first attack on Afghanistan, wrote a similar story of the invasion’s success.
“It was really good…exactly what we train as Special Forces soldiers,” Gamble told Fox News Digital.
A retired Green Beret recalled that on the morning of September 11, 2001, he happened to be in a classified class dealing with how to deal with terrorists on board an aircraft. Three weeks later, he will be on the ground in Afghanistan, a mission he and his team were eager to carry out after the terrorist attacks.
Gamble said of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, “They had no idea what was hitting them. Basically, we dropped bombs every day for a month. but at times there was little resistance.”
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Gamble said his small team kept a low profile and kept speculating as to where the opposition would attack next. They traveled in the backseat of a van, and while journalists covering the war were trying to locate them, they could hardly find them.
The US military and its Afghan partners rapidly degraded al Qaeda’s operational capabilities and overthrew the Taliban government less than three months into the war effort.
Taliban leaders and fighters began fleeing into the mountains, blending in with the local population and taking refuge in neighboring Pakistan. They eventually regrouped and rebelled, leading to America’s longest military conflict.
U.S. involvement in that conflict came to an abrupt end last year, and the scene of U.S. withdrawal still leaves a bad taste in the mouths of the troops that first entered the country more than two decades ago.
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“If we had kept our footprint small, I don’t think we would have the problems we have now,” Blackburn said. “There is no question of leaving American citizens behind. What are the American ideals when it comes to American citizens? We have shown the world that we are willing to betray our citizens.”
The former Green Berets will at least help ensure an exit for American citizens and allies in Afghanistan if America doesn’t bring about the generational change it promised, a smaller footprint of the U.S. military will stay behind and aid national security. I believe it could have been someone who helped the American war effort.
Blackburn also expressed remorse for American loved ones who lost their lives in Afghanistan and wondered how they must have felt in the final days of the war.
“As a parent, I can’t imagine watching what happened when my son or daughter was murdered in Afghanistan last August,” Blackburn said. “To me, there is no other explanation than that our government has betrayed our ideals as Americans and what our military stands for.”
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Gamble, who returned to Afghanistan in 2018 and returned again as a contractor in 2020, said he had seen warning signs that the Afghan military would collapse without U.S. support. He argued that it should have maintained control and slowly evacuated people from the country. However, he noted that closing the base and opting for a rapid drawdown almost certainly resulted in disaster.
“Over the last 20 years, we’ve worked with a lot of people here and there, and they’re still there,” says Gamble. “If the Taliban catch them…they will die, so basically they are now hiding for their lives.
“It’s a shame we basically left them,” he continued. “We said we were going to help them, but they just bounced back.”