IN a ceremony on Sunday, Dec. 28, in Kabul, the United States and NATO formally ended the 13-year war in Afghanistan.
“Thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, our combat mission in Afghanistan is ending, and the longest war in American history is coming to a responsible conclusion,” President Barack Obama said in a statement.
The war comes to an end with 2,224 American soldiers dead out of 3,500 international troops, Associated Press reports.
“We honor the profound sacrifices that have made this progress possible,” Obama said. “We salute every American – military and civilian, including our dedicated diplomats and development workers – who have served in Afghanistan, many on multiple tours, just as their families have sacrificed at home.”
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) security mission coalition of about 50 nations, led by the United States, will transition into a supporting role at the beginning of 2015. Originally established after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, its purpose was to weaken the insurgency, support the Afghan National Security Forces and enhance the country’s socio-economic development.
In 2010, the mission peaked with 140,000 troops.
The new international mission, called Resolute Support, “will serve as the bedrock of an enduring partnership” between NATO and Afghanistan, ISAF Commander General John Campbell said.
The residual force will have approximately 12,000 members, a significant percentage of which will be Americans. In total, between 17,000 to 18,000 international troops will stay in Afghanistan after 2014, according to The Guardian.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Sunday’s event was a “defeat ceremony” and that insurgents would keep fighting.
“Since the invasion in 2001 until now, these events have been aimed at changing public opinion, but we will fight until there is not one foreign soldier on Afghan soil and we have established an Islamic state,” he said.
As Afghan forces take the reigns, national security adviser Mohammad Hani Atmar told ISAF leaders the presence of foreign troops is still necessary.
“We need your help to build the systems necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of the critical capabilities of our forces,” he said.
Afghans also believe troops are needed to support efforts to bring peace following more than 30 years of war.
“At least in the past 13 years we have seen improvements in our way of life – freedom of speech, democracy, the people generally better off financially,” said Gul Mohammad, a 42-year-old shopkeeper, according to Associated Press. “But we do need the foreign troops to stay here at least until our own forces are strong enough, while our economy strengthens, while our leaders try to form a government.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Afghanistan’s security forces, which number at 350,000, are prepared to battle the insurgency, although officials complain they do not possess adequate air support, intelligence and medical evacuation systems.
“We have made our own nations safer by denying safe haven to international terrorists. We have made Afghanistan stronger by building up from scratch strong security forces. Together we have created the conditions for a better future for millions of Afghan men, women and children,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Afghan security forces have already been leading the fight in recent months, and have suffered hard this year with casualties exceeding 5,000.
“The Afghan national security forces had to suffer losses this year that are too high,” ISAF deputy commander Lieutenant General Carsten Jacob said to reporters after Sunday’s ceremony. “Now that [the Afghan forces] have taken over the tactical fight, losses lie on them.”
Additionally, nearly 10,000 civilians were wounded or killed in 2014.
“There is a lot of concern for the rise in civilian casualties,” Hadi Marifat, a Kabul-based analyst at the Centre for Civilians in Conflict, according to The Guardian. “The more territory the Taliban tries to occupy in the coming years, the more civilian casualties there will be because of military confrontations.”
On Saturday, Dec. 27, two teenage boys were killed in an eastern province when a rocket was launched near a children’s volleyball game; five children between 11 to 14 years old were injured by shrapnel, governor spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said, blaming the Taliban.
In another eastern region, eight insurgents died also on Saturday in an army counter-insurgency operation, The Guardian reported.
But even with the increase in casualties, members of ISAF remain positive.
“We now enjoy considerable momentum as we enter 2015,” Campbell said. “There is no turning back to the dark days of the past.”
The Afghan government signed bilateral security agreements with NATO and the United States allowing extended military presence. This has resulted in increased violence from the Taliban, which is using it as a reason to work harder toward undermining Ghani’s administration.
The Afghan government currently has no cabinet and has virtually no economic growth because of reduced international military presence and other aid. The United States has spent $1 trillion on the war and $100 million on reconstruction in the Middle Eastern country.
Atmar said that although “Afghanistan is now awakening from a 40-year-old nightmare,” the war continues despite NATO’s move to cease combat.
“The threat to our shared national security interests and our shared civilisation is morphing. New non-state actors have emerged in the region in the past couple of years to pursue a deadly campaign against innocent people and the state system,” he said to international delegates at the Sunday ceremony, according to The Guardian.
“We do not want or expect that you will support us indefinitely. However, we need your partnership and support now more than ever.” (Agnes Constante/AJPress with reports from Associated Press, The Guardian and USA Today)
(LA Midweek December 31,2014-January 2, 2015 Sec. A pg.1)
