Secret Documents Show the Afghan War is Worst than What is Portrayed

After the dreadful September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center that left almost 3000 people mostly Americans dead, the US has since been at war with the Taliban and the terrorist organization Al Qaeda. The primary aim that is to capture the primary suspect Osama Bin Laden has not yet been achieved. For many years, the US has been struggling to cope up with this evolving war though they may not admit it. Just recently, an organization called WikiLeaks released confidential information regarding the real situation of the Afghan war and struggles that the US armed forces have faced.

The documents showed a ground-level picture of the war that is grimmer, far from what the US is portraying on the media. What was shocking is that after 2 administrations with $300 billion spent totally for the war, the Taliban insurgency is still growing and is projected to be stronger than the earlier days of the war. It seems that the US hasn’t achieved any significant milestone as instead of the enemy going weaker, it is now going stronger than ever.

One of the given facts mentioned at the report is that the Taliban has been using cheap military hardware compared to expensive military used by the allied forces. The US hasn’t mentioned this but the reality is that the Taliban has been using portable heat-seeking missiles to shoot down the more advanced and more expensive allied military aircrafts. The US taxpayers are actually paying for these pricey technologies while the Taliban has been continuously destroying it by using just cheap weapons.

Another fact is that this war has been molded to demonstrate the latest and most advanced technologies that the US and its allies have. The US has since increased the US of drone aircraft or UAV’s to replace the traditional fighter aircrafts and bombers. The effectiveness of this technology is surprisingly questionable than what the media has mentioned as many of the drones are being shoot down by Taliban anti-aircraft missiles or have encountered technical difficulties. Again it comes to a point where the taxpayer’s money is being put to waste. Also, US operators are put in danger whenever a drone goes down as they engage in risky retrieval operations in order to protect the secrecy of the modern military hardware.

The document also showed how secret military commando units who conducted assassination plots on key leaders of the insurgents sometimes kill civilians instead. This has already resulted in public outrage where people are protesting the inhumane acts done by the allies. It is also good to note that war crimes are real but are continuously denied by the military. This alone diminished the support and trust that other countries give to the US coalition on their war efforts in Afghanistan. There is a big question about morality and justice as more and more innocent civilians are killed each day.

The war in Afghanistan is a perfect example of a situation where transparency is not present. We all believe that the war is going as planned though the reality is that it is going out of hand. The growing strength of the insurgency is a clear indicator that after 9 years of war, the US is constantly failing to meet its goals and should implement a complete revamp and reform on its policies. As long as this unwinnable and expensive war continue, more and more taxpayer’s money will be wasted and more American soldiers shall be killed without a proper and valid reason.