A reader suggested I write an article comparing the British Army withdrawal at Dunkirk early in World War II to the recent US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The British army withdrawal from Dunkirk was a brilliant military operation. It saved 300,000 of Britain’s most experienced officers, non-commissioned officers (NCOs), and soldiers. Those troops helped deter Germany from invading Britain. Later they landed on D-Day with the other allied forces and advanced across Europe to conquer Germany and win the war.
The British military planned and conducted the Dunkirk withdrawal. By comparison, the US State Department politicians planned and conducted the Afghanistan withdrawal. Those politicians know absolutely nothing about military operations. They cannot even protect their Embassies and consulates around the world. They naively trusted the Taliban to secure the airport and safety of the US military and civilians during the withdrawal. This was the same Taliban that ruled Afghanistan originally and allowed Muslim terrorists to operate freely there and plan and conduct the US 9-11 attack and others around the world. Had the US military been allowed to plan and conduct the withdrawal, it would have used US Special Forces to secure the airport and protect military personnel and civilians. Our US Special Forces are the best in the world and have proven that with many successful strikes against terrorists.
The key difference between the two withdrawals was Dunkirk was a military operation and Afghanistan was a political operation that should have been a military operation.
The purpose of the Afghanistan war was to drive the Taliban out and replace it with a democratic government. As the US military withdrew over the past 2 years, the Taliban took back over. The war accomplished nothing. It should not have been a war in the first place. Instead, It should have been an intelligence operation to identify and locate terrorist leaders and operation sites and destroy them with drone strikes, airstrikes, and Special Forces strikes. The war cost more than $1 trillion in US debt and thousands of military lives and failed miserably.
Article by Ralph Coker