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How the Kabul airport events reveal the limited impact of the campaign
Imagine yourself feeling safer in the wheels or the sides of a plane about to take off!
Imagine the rivalry between you and your threat! The enormity of the crimes (to be) committed by both sides.
As the days went by -and my sentiment subsided- I realized that I had missed an obvious, undisputed fact:
In a city of more than 4 million, less than 10,000 local (0.25%) supporters of the “old regime” opted to leave the city with the allies! If you consider that many were there with their family members, this is hardly telling of the success of the old regime or the fear of the new.
Costs.
There are numerous articles on the estimated cost of the campaign. My favourite is the plain vanilla by Associated Press.
Having quantified the cost (over 150,000 human lives and 600,000 people with life-changing injuries) and more than $2 Trillion directly ($6.5 Trillion by 2050) it is about time to also try to quantify the positive impact that the war had.
Benefits.
A. Location, Location, Location
Afghanistan’s strategic location in the underbelly of both the former USSR and west China was a plus.
Verdict: Impossible to quantify