Advertisement

Updated December 11th, 2019 at 18:36 IST

US officials misled public on Afghan war, reveal confidential documents

US officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan during the last 18 years and drew a rosy picture of America’s position in war-torn region.

Reported by: Kunal Gaurav
US
| Image:self
Advertisement

Senior US officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan during the last 18 years and drew a rosy picture of America’s position in the war-torn region, revealed confidential documents accessed by The Washington Post. The documents were obtained by the American daily under the Freedom of Information Act after a three-year-long legal battle.

The documents are part of a federal project, with notes of interviews of officials involved in the war, to analyse the reason behind failure in Afghanistan. Officials interviewed for the project include general, diplomats and aid workers. The government not only tried to hide the identities of interviewees but also concealed most of their remarks. During the interviews, hundreds of officials provided a look into various issues that kept the US stuck in nearly two decades of conflict.

Read: Google, Facebook No Longer World's Most Desirable Workplaces: Report

Douglas Lute, an army general who had served as the White House's Afghan war czar, confessed in 2015 that the US was “devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan”, saying they didn’t know what they were doing. According to Defence Department figures, 2,300 military personnel died while 20,589 were wounded in action in Afghanistan. Lute blamed the deaths on the Pentagon, the State Department, and bureaucratic breakdowns among Congress.

The interviews highlighted the flawed policy on Afghanistan and wastage of an enormous amount of money in a failed attempt of turning it into a modern nation. The US officials acknowledged that the war strategies were deeply flawed that led to the longest armed conflict in US history. 

Read: Dalai Lama: 'Religious Harmony In India An Example For Conflict-torn Syria & Afghanistan'

'Unjustified spending'

In February this year, US President Donald Trump lamented the cost of the war in Afghanistan claiming that they spend $50 billion every year on it. Jeffrey Eggers, a retired Navy SEAL and White House staffer, had asked the worth of “$1 trillion effort” during one of such interviews. He said that Osama bin Laden, the former al-Qaeda leader, would probably be laughing in his grave on the amount the US spent in Afghanistan.

Read: Afghanistan: Taliban Abducts 6 Tribal Elders Amid Peace Efforts

Read: Parker Looks Up': Two-year-old Shares A Moment With Michelle Obama

Advertisement

Published December 11th, 2019 at 18:24 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo