Afghanistan, Hollywood,
and Memorial Day
By Michael Moffett
Recent media opinion
pieces have rightly focused attention on Afghanistan, the site of America’s
longest war, and a place where President Trump wants to increase our presence
to 12,000 troops. So should we? Force level questions bring us back to 2001 and
the 9/11 attacks.
Like millions
of fellow citizens, I responded to 9/11 by offering to do what I could for our
country. I was soon back in a Marine Corps uniform, working for General Tommy
Franks at the ground operations desk in the top-secret War Room at Central
Command at MacDill AFB in Tampa, Fla.
We received
updates there on the latest Afghanistan developments—where we had ZERO troops.
We moved some CIA people and Special Forces to Karshi-Khanabad in Uzbekistan,
north of Afghanistan, as the first step in engaging Afghanistan’s Taliban
regime, which provided safe haven to Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaida plotters
who masterminded 9/11. All this was then top-secret.
A perilous
infiltration brought around a dozen operatives into Afghanistan to connect with
anti-Taliban elements. While tracking their progress at CENTCOM, we also noted
the defeatist commentary from numerous pundits, claiming that a ground war to
dislodge the Taliban could take years, countless troops, and end up like
Vietnam. The Soviet Union’s defeat in Afghanistan, after all, had prompted the
end of the USSR. But the remarkable events which then took place are no
longer top-secret. Our infiltrators linked up with the anti-Taliban Northern
Alliance and acquired horses. A dozen or so Americans actually participated in
cavalry charges, while calling in air strikes on Taliban positions. We tracked
these remarkable exploits on a daily basis at CENTCOM. America’s awesome air
power vanquished the Taliban, and in December the Northern Alliance rolled into
Kabul. Essentially, a dozen Americans overthrew the Afghan regime.
These
astounding developments are chronicled in a book by Doug Stanton titled HORSE
SOLDIERS, which inspired an upcoming American war drama
film of the
same name directed by Nicolai
Fuglsig. (The film stars Chris
Hemsworth, Michael
Shannon, Michael
Peña, Austin
Stowell, Trevante
Rhodes, and Rob Riggle, and
will be out by the end of the year.)
This 2001
victory did not end the fighting in Afghanistan—a vast country inhabited by 40
million people of numerous tribes and ideologies. The Taliban didn’t disappear.
Still, the leaders at Central Command and the Bush administration sought to
keep a minimal US presence there. If a dozen people could overthrow the Taliban
regime, then we didn’t need a massive occupation force. Within the top-secret
War Room, it was clear that the administration wanted to minimize our “boots of
the ground” to 5000 or so.
Inspired by
how our Special Forces toppled the Taliban in 2001, Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld sought to replicate the feat in Iraq in 2003. We overthrew the Saddam
Hussein regime with only around 120,000 troops, even though the generals had
requested three times that number to successfully occupy the country. The
subsequent shortage of personnel resulted in five years of bloody battle,
before a “Sunni Awakening” in Al Anbar Province in 2008 routed Al Qaida in
Iraq.
Meanwhile,
Afghanistan saw a Taliban resurgence. The Obama administration then deployed
almost 120,000 troops there after 2009—while completely pulling out of Iraq.
History will
judge as to whether or not the US withdrawal from Iraq led to the establishment
of an ISIS state that filled the vacuum left by American forces. But our
commitment to Afghanistan clearly turned the tide against the Taliban in
2010-11, when I once again put on my Marine uniform and traveled on special
assignment to Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.
The Taliban
was no match for the full power of American and NATO forces. The Hamid Karzai
regime there was given breathing room to train an army that might secure a
non-fanatical future.
While in
Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand Province, I met an extraordinary person named
Fahim Fazli. A native Afghan who escaped to America as a refugee, Fazli became
an American citizen and eventually a movie actor with 50 films on his resume,
including IRONMAN, ARGO, AMERICAN SNIPER among many others. He bravely put on a
uniform to return to his native country as an interpreter with the Marines,
where the charismatic actor was so successful as a translator—bringing together
Americans and Afghans—that the Taliban put a price on his head.
After
surviving Helmand we stayed in touch back in American and collaborated on an
award-winning book called “FAHIM SPEAKS: A Warrior-Actor’s Odyssey from
Afghanistan to Hollywood and Back.”
It happens
that Fahim also has a nice role in HORSE SOLDIERS. I can't wait to see it. And
interestingly, my co-author and I share the same birthday—May 30—the
traditional Memorial Day.
Having been
in harm’s way, we make it a point to stay in touch and remember those who died
in the line of duty. Such is the purpose of Memorial Day. So should we support
President Trump’s plan to increase our presence in Afghanistan?
Maybe. But we
must be very careful. Eventually the Afghans themselves need to work out their
country's future. And we may need to tolerate war lords in some areas, in lieu
of the Taliban. Still a minimal USA/NATO force that prevents the Taliban from
re-taking the reins of government makes sense. The Iraq pull-out yielded
painful lessons.
So on this
Memorial Day, we should think of the all Americans who gave their last full
measure of devotion to our national interests—including over 6000 killed in
Afghanistan and Iraq. And we should also expect that our national leaders will
fully explain and justify any decisions to put any Americans in harm’s way,
whether it involves 12,000, 120,000—or only 12.
