Tulsi Gabbard calls US' 20-year war in Afghanistan waste of trillions of taxpayers dollars

Former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday said that the US should have returned long back after defeating al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. She said that staying in the war-torn country for a 20-year war with "no clear mission or strategy" was a waste of trillions of dollars.

In a video message on Twitter, the ex-presidential candidate said that the US special forces were deployed in Afghanistan to defeat al-Qaeda following the 9/11 attack. "They accomplished their mission rapidly and effectively. THAT is when they should have returned home. But the elite wanted to nation-build, getting us into a 20-year war with no clear mission or strategy, causing massive suffering and wasting trillions of taxpayer dollars," she stated.

She further said that it is unlikely that we will hold the elite (political leaders, MSM, military leaders, and defence contractors, etc.)  accountable for getting us into and keeping us in this "foolish, short-sighted mission to turn Afghanistan into a “democracy”—costing over a trillion dollars and countless lives."

Gabbard further said that if we allow the elite they will push us into "new" more costly military adventures in the name of spreading or protecting the democracy. "Out of aloha, we weep for the suffering that the elite has already caused; and out of aloha, we must stop them from causing even more," Tulsi Gabbard added.

Afghanistan crisis: Biden defends US pull-out

US President Joe Biden on Monday said that the decision to exit troops from Afghanistan was the right one. "If anything, the developments of the past week reinforce that ending US military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision," the Democratic President had said. 

Biden administration is facing backlash for its April decision to withdraw all American troops of Afghanistan by September 11. In his speech, the POTUS said that the mission in the war-ravaged country was never supposed to be about nation-building.

Taliban takes over Afghanistan

After the Taliban reached the capital city Kabul, the Afghan President fled the country and tendered his resignation. Since then, at least seven people have died in the chaos at Kabul Airport in a desperate attempt to flee the insurgent's hardline laws. 

The armed group had been toppled in a US-led invasion in 2001, however, it quickly gained strength and swiftly took control over Afghanistan following the exit of US and NATO troops.