USA’s former Presidential candidate and Democrat Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has criticised the prolonged US mission in Afghanistan as unnecessary and wasteful.
In a video message, Gabbard stated that the US had deployed special forces in Afghanistan to defeat Al-Qaeda, which they did swiftly. The mission should have ended with it, but the ‘elite’ got into nation-building that caused massive suffering and wasted trillions of taxpayer dollars. She claimed that the leadership that continued the war in Afghanistan did not have a clear mission or strategy.
Afghanistan. After al-Qaeda terrorists attacked us on 9/11, brave warriors, special forces quickly deployed to defeat al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. They accomplished their mission rapidly and effectively. THAT is when they should have returned home. But the elite wanted… pic.twitter.com/4I4VDI8QKE
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) August 17, 2021
Gabbard, who has served in the Army, further added that it is unlikely that the people of America would hold the elite, including political leaders, mainstream media, military leaders and defence contractors, accountable for the “foolish, short-sighted mission to turn Afghanistan into a “democracy” costing over a trillion dollars and countless lives”.
Afghanistan. The question is this: Will we hold accountable the elite (political leaders, MSM, military leaders, and defense contractors, etc.) who got us into and kept us in this foolish, short-sighted mission to turn Afghanistan into a “democracy”—costing…
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) August 17, 2021
Gabbard said that it is likely that the elite will drag the people of America in more costly military adventures in the name of spreading and protecting democracy, and Americans would blindly allow them to do so. Emphasizing the need of putting a stop to such missions, she said, “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.”
Out of aloha, we weep for the suffering that the elite have already caused; and out of aloha, we must stop them from causing even more.
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) August 17, 2021
It is notable here that Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu Congresswoman in the USA, has been a vocal critic of the USA’s regime change wars in other countries. She had also built her Presidential campaign around the promise of putting an end to the USA’s regime change wars that cost billions of taxpayers’ dollars and risk the lives of American soldiers.
US President called the withdrawal of troops ‘a correct decision’
In a recent statement, United States President Joe Biden had justified the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, stating that nation-building was never America’s mission. He added that the political leaders of Afghanistan gave up and fled the country. The military collapsed without a fight because of the unwillingness to stand against the Taliban. He said he is the fourth American President to preside over the war in Afghanistan, and he is not interested in passing the responsibility to a fifth President. “I am President of the United States of America, and the buck stops with me,” Biden said.
The USA had invaded Afghanistan in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda. The Afghanistan war lasted 20 years, with the US finally pulling out of Afghanistan and handing over the country to the Taliban. USA’s target Osama Bin Laden was not even living in Afghanistan, he was found and killed in Pakistan Abottabad in 2011.
