According to the former US President Jimmy Carter, the US spent 95% of the 245 years of US history in war. The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and was defeated by the Taliban after 20 years. The US lost the longest war in history.

Who are the Taliban?

The US media gave us the impression that the Taliban are wicked religious fanatics. That is not true! The Taliban fought against the Russian invasion in 1979 and defeated the Russians in 1986.

How could the Taliban defeat the US?

The Taliban fought against the US invasion in 2001 and defeated the US in 2021 after 20 years of war. 

Since the US started withdrawal in the last few weeks, the Taliban has taken control of Qalat, Terenkot, Pul-e Alam, Feruz Koh, Qala-e Naw and Lashkar Gah, raising the number of captured Afghan provincial capitals to 17.

Without US military support, the people who were controlling the government just surrender to the Taliban without firing a shot. Very soon the Taliban will take control of the government in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

Cost of the war to the US  

When you add up the cost of Défense and State Department funds sunk into Operations Enduring Freedom and Resolute Support, then throw in the cost of caring for the conflicts’ veterans and the interest on the money borrowed to cover it all, you’re looking at over $2 trillion, according to a report released Friday.

The Costs of War Project detailed its most recent estimates, finding that most of the money came out of $933 billion in DoD overseas contingency funding. The rest includes: $443 billion in DoD base budget increases to support the war; $296 billion to care for veterans; $59 billion in State overseas contingency funds; and $530 to cover the interest on the money borrowed to fund 20 years of deployments.

Those funds do not, however, include the amount the United States government is obligated to spend on lifetime care for American veterans of this war, nor does it include future interest payments on money borrowed to fund the war.

Reminiscent of US defeat in Vietnam.

US invaded Vietnam in 1961 and was defeated in 1975. The Vietnam War was another long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians. Opposition to the war in the United States bitterly divided Americans, even after President Richard Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. Communist forces ended the war by seizing control of South Vietnam in 1975, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.