A member of Taliban (C) stands outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 16. REUTERS/Stringer
(WTAQ) — As the Taliban retake control over Afghanistan less than two months after the bulk of US forces pulled out of the country they’ve been fighting in since 2001, some veterans of that conflict are suffering.
Sam Rogers is with Concerned Veterans For America of Wisconsin, and is a veteran of the conflict. Rogers says some are not taking the situation well–and that includes himself.
“Veterans are hurting, myself included,” he told WTAQ. “I feel physical pain watching so much fall apart in less than one week.”
He says his phone has been ringing constantly.
“My phone has been ringing for 48 hours nonstop from Afghan veterans, people I served with, family members of folks that were lost in that conflict,” Rogers went quiet for a second, his sentence trailing off.
“…Yeah.”
They’re looking for support.
“They’re looking for someone to remind them that what they did meant something,” Rogers said. “And it did. They were there protecting each other. They were there fighting because the American people asked them to. Their sacrifices are not minimized by bad policy.”
Concerned Veterans For America has lobbied for an end to the War in Afghanistan, one of America’s ‘endless’ wars, for the past two years. Rogers says the Taliban’s retaking of the country proves that withdrawal was the best option.
“If 20 years of mentorship and equipment and sacrifice and bloodshed and suffering got us one week out of the Afghan Security Forces, then clearly it’s time to go,” he said.
Rogers called the quick deterioration of the country inevitable, and that servicemen who worked with Afghan Government forces were aware that the situation was “impossible”. The reasons, Rogers tells WTAQ, were plentiful.
“It’s a combination of the Afghan people not trusting the government leaders that we supported because they were hopelessly corrupt, and thus not investing in the future of the Afghan government,” said Rogers. “It was partially because of the education gap, the inability to train the army to be like the American army, training an illiterate military.”
It’s a failure of policy that Rogers lays solely at the feet of the nations top military commanders–and on American politicians.
“In 2019, the Afghanistan Papers showed that for the last decade plus, all of the senior commanding generals and military officers have all known tacitly that this was a rolling failure, and they continued to deceive the public. They continued to deceive congress when they were interested in hearing about these efforts,” Rogers said Monday. “I can’t speak as to why so many people at the top have perpetuated a failed campaign.”
He called on military and political leaders to admit that the situation was due to political, not military, failure and encourages veterans in crisis to get help.
If you are a veteran looking for assistance, you can call the veterans crisis line at 1-800-273-8255 and press #1.
“Reach out to the guys and gals you served with,” Rogers added. “Call them. Find them on Facebook. Find your people and talk to them and remind each other that we did these things for each other and for America and that we all knew that this was going to end this way.”
“Everyone knew this was going to end this way.”
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