By Gil Barndollar
Afghanistan’s hoary reputation as “the graveyard of empires” is ill-deserved. Foreign invaders have generally withdrawn from the country — under varying levels of duress — because they simply decided an Afghan ulcer was no longer tolerable. Even the British Empire, its first military expedition annihilated almost to a man, returned in force in 1878 and 1919. Defeat, even disaster, in Afghanistan has not consistently augured an end to empires.
To the hundreds of thousands of U.S. servicemembers who fought in rural Afghanistan, the place could feel timeless and almost untouched by these waves of outsiders. The mud brick or stone villages felt like a trip back to the 13th century, with only motorbikes, automatic rifles, and cell phones intruding. Fortresses and other military detritus seemed to be the only lingering evidence of armed tourists from Alexander to the Americans. Hesco and plywood patrol bases, many initially handed over to Afghan security forces and now all in Taliban hands, are just the latest Ozymandian testimony to imperial hubris.
This piece was originally published in War on the Rocks on September 20, 2021. Read more HERE.