Early in March 2006, President George W. Bush made a surprise visit to Afghanistan, where approximately 20,000 U.S. soldiers are currently stationed. Bush’s visit highlights one of the most successful theaters in the U.S.-led War on Terrorism. Despite the enormous amount of negative press coverage that operations in Iraq currently receive in the shadow of the war’s recent three-year anniversary, one must not forget the success of its twin endeavor, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, and its implications for the international geopolitical zeitgeist.
Operation Enduring Freedom began on October 7, 2001, with the intention of killing or capturing al Qaeda members living and training in Afghanistan. An objective look at the achievements and setbacks of OEF show it has been a tremendous success. The Taliban have been driven from power, and only a few diehard loyalists are currently lurking in the mountains. It is believed that many mid-level al Qaeda lieutenants were killed in the 2001 campaign; it is certain that the high-level leadership is on the run. The day of these terrorists’ capture will come.
Women are free to dress as they choose, citizens are free to listen to music, thieves do not receive amputation as punishment, and no longer are citizens publicly executed in soccer stadiums. A government of peace has been elected into power.
Yet no changes would have resulted had President Bush and General Tommy Franks not given the green light to OEF. No Camp David conference, no international summit, no Jimmy Carter–styled whining would have convinced the Taliban to renounce terrorism and relinquish al Qaeda leaders. Only Coalition forces through OEF could forcibly uproot terrorist networks and the Taliban government nourishing them. Time will tell that OEF was a landmark decision for the 25 million Afghans who currently live in a country at peace with its neighbors.
Positive conditions on the ground in Afghanistan are progressing at such a quick rate that U.S. troops are coming home at an equally fast pace: 20,000 U.S. soldiers are stationed in Afghanistan, and 3,500 are coming back to the United States within the next two months according to USA Today. As Afghan Army troops train, and NATO — which endorsed military operations in Afghanistan — forces take over the calmer portions of the country, U.S. soldiers return home. Imperialism, indeed.
Increasing the ranks of our allies in the region without the need for American military strength is a positive, bipartisan goal of American foreign policy. Afghanistan will join Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Israel as an ally in the current war to destroy al Qaeda, its state support, and its capacity to inflict harm on innocent civilians.
To be fair, conditions in Afghanistan are not perfect. Osama bin Laden is still presumed alive and on the run, and illegal poppy-seed production has skyrocketed. The accidental death of Pat Tillman and the friendly-fire incident with Canadian forces in 2001 are both reminders of the awful horrors of war. But from a historical and holistic perspective we are succeeding. Afghanistan can now almost be considered a truly free, democratic country. Al Qaeda has lost support in its former base of operations. But we are not hearing about these triumphs as often as we hear about Iraq. Many Americans instinctively lump Afghanistan and Iraq together, consequently overlooking Afghanistan’s progress.
The mainstream media, which includes print and television news sources, is still overwhelmingly liberal. CNN, The New York Times, NPR, CBS, the San Francisco Chronicle, and innumerable other media outlets are ridiculously biased in their presentation of domestic and international news, especially regarding the Bush administration. The Dan Rather “Memogate” fiasco and outrageously slanted news items, especially the rhetoric in the news articles and the priority those articles receive, are only the tip of the iceberg.
The media bosses seek to distract Americans from operations in Afghanistan, which are going well, to those in Iraq, which have mixed success rates. Anti-American riots and the deaths of U.S. soldiers make the front page, but reports of the historic seating of the Afghan parliament, the opening of the Kabul-Kandahar road, and drastic reductions in the political influence of the warlords are buried in the newspaper. What liberal media?
Perhaps there’s nothing revelatory here, no special inquiries that provoke such a factual reminder. But that’s the point, isn’t it? We are a culture so demanding of our own actions, so expectant of our easy successes, that we flippantly dismiss our achievement as rote and harp on the failures. But we are successful, and we do many good deeds, and we should be reminded of those actions. In Afghanistan, we are doing good, and doing it well, and if the mainstream media is unwilling to report it, common American political activism calls for us to expose the truth.
Reconstruction and anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan will go down in history as being equally successful as American efforts in post–World War II Japan and Germany. The media’s disregard for important progress made in Afghanistan is an insulting gesture to the 25 million Afghans who are now living in a fledgling democracy and the 320 Coalition heroes who gave the last full measure of devotion to protect a terrorized people from those who behead civilians and slam airplanes into buildings.
Mark Twain once wrote, “public opinion … is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse,” and who am I to disagree with Twain?
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