What Challenges does NATO Face in its War in Afghanistan?
Introduction
The war in Afghanistan has been among the longest military conflicts in the recent history of mankind. It lasted from 2001 to 2014. Despite the fact that mainly American troops left the country in 2014, the situation is till strained in the country, and people continue to die on a daily basis.
The main justification of this military conflict was the war with terrorism, started by the United States of America after well-known terrorist attacks of 2001. USA has accused Afghanistan of being involved in those attacks and hiding terrorists from legal punishment. USA decided to eliminate the country’s government in order to destroy and prevent development of terrorism. However, a lot of experts believe that the real reasons for the war were quite different. War with terrorism was only a legal justification of such decision (Chossudovsky). Despite the real reasons of the war, NATO, as one of the parts of the conflict, is forced to face significant challenges in the country. These challenges are going to be considered below.
Preconditions of the War
The main precondition for the war was terrorist attacks on USA in 2001. The government of Afghanistan was accused of being loyal to terrorists. The United States of America required extradition of Osama bin Laden. However, the Taliban declined that proposal. Elimination of terrorists has become similar to elimination of the current government. On 7 October 2001 USA started military operation against the country. It was joined by UK troops. The goal was to eliminate terrorists and establish democratic government in the country.
A lot of experts, including Chossudovsky, Griffin and Brown, believe that terrorist attacks 9/11 were only a justification for the war. The real reasons of the war can be divided into two groups. The first one is the so-called political reasons. The United States of America has always pursued political goals in Afghanistan. For example, it supported local tribes during the war with the Soviet Union. Soviet Union’s loss in that war was one of the reasons for the following disintegration of the country. That is why USA is interested in political presence and influence in the region for the purpose of harming political strength of the Russian Federation. Also, the United States of America has always been an ally to Israel. In order to protect interests of Israel, it is essential to control Afghanistan. These political goals could not be realized with the Taliban government. USA has been forced to change the government.
The second group of reasons is the mentioned economic reasons. Afghanistan has been traditional wealthy with natural resources, including oil and gas. It was important for the American government to control those resources. First of all, it strengthened economic safety of the country itself. Second of all, it allowed controlling the world’s oil market. One of the instruments of such control was influencing infrastructure of distribution of oil in the region.
This conclusion is reinforced by reports indicating that the United States had made …
