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Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to US SoS, explains the reasons US was in Afghanistan

lol

so US went to fight terrorism?.. right?

so why didn't they just leave post OBL incident ? after all most of the NATO allies left.

Osama Bin Laden founded Al-Qaeda Network in 1988; related information in here. Osama began to criticize Saudi leadership and moved to Sudan in 1992 where he attempted to create a base of operations for Al-Qaeda Network. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) froze Osama's assets in the country and revoked his citizenship in 1994, and Sudan expelled him in 1996.

However, Al-Qaeda Network in Afghanistan had created a base of operations in Tora Bora because of its vast network of caves that offered protection and grew close to Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA) in the 1990s.

Al-Qaeda Network is responsible for a large number of attacks around the world:

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World Trade Center bomb blast in 1993 for reference

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Many are not aware of the fact that the United States (US) requested TTA to cut ties with Al-Qaeda Network before 9/11. A former Mujahid and Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud somehow discovered the Al-Qaeda Network's plot to execute a series of terrorist attacks on US mainland and he made a trip to France to warn the world. The Al-Qaeda Network assassinated Massoud on 9/9 - 2 days before 9/11.

This video explains how the twin towers of the World Trade Center (WTC) collapsed:


Those who were trapped inside the twin towers complained of facing fire and intense heat while contacting their loved ones. Some decided that it was better to jump from WTC. The video highlights the source of fire and intense heat.

Flight 93 recordings for reference
Flight 93 passenger phone calls for reference

9/11 motivated Bush administration to invade Afghanistan:


Even George W. Bush had a positive view of Islam and pointed out that terrorists do not represent this religion.

Now that US was involved in Afghanistan, regional geopolitics would affect American mission and views would be exchanged on these matters. This is logical.

But hunt for the Al-Qaeda most wanted continued:


The US did not leave after assassinating Osama because some of the Al-Qaeda most wanted were still at large and something had to be done about TTA.

TTA had recovered from the blows received in the (2001 - 2002) period and was able to stalemate US-backed Afghan setup with support of Pakistan so Trump administration cancelled American military aid to Pakistan but made a deal with TTA to recall troops from Afghanistan in exchange for TTA not allowing Al-Qaeda Network to plot more attacks on US and its assets around the world and pitched Intra-Afghan Dialogue as the way forward for Afghanistan. Biden administration scrapped the Intra-Afghan Dialogue and pulled the plug on the American effort to rebuild Afghanistan which led to collapse of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and TTA took control of the country. Many in Pakistan celebrated this development, and then PM Imran Khan boasted that the Afghans had broken the shackles of slavery.

Mashallah. Chashm-e-Baddoor.

A Hollywood-style grand conspiracy sounds great in theory and makes for a interesting movie plot but things do not work like this in real world.

Still, the consensus among U.S. policy makers across both Republican and Democratic administrations remained the same. They would rather the lesser price of America’s losses in Afghanistan and endure the ISI’s harassment, intransigence, and double dealing than incur war with a jihadist, nuclear-armed Pakistan. Those convinced of this argument pointed to transactional achievements like the land and air lines of communications into Afghanistan supporting the U.S. war effort. But post-9/11 counterterrorism cooperation, albeit incentivized by many millions of dollars, in detaining and transferring high-profile Arab al-Qaeda leaders such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, had long since ended, and well before the May 2011 U.S. operation that found Osama bin Laden suspiciously living comfortably in Abbottabad.


Defeating the perceived Hollywood-style grand conspiracy sounds great in theory as well and provides fuel for baseless chest thumping but the fact is that US is far more capable than Pakistan in military capability:

But nothing worries the generals more than unilateral U.S. military or covert operations on Pakistani soil. The 2011 Abbottabad raid and the 2016 strike that killed Taliban Amir Mullah Akhtar Mansoor countered the generals’ narrative of omnipotence. They increased both popular anger among the masses, and dissent within the army’s own ranks — the nagging conspiratorial sentiment suggesting that the army is either weaker than depicted, or the generals had been complicit with their American masters.


Fact is that Pakistan avoided direct confrontation with the US while the latter showed restraint in its moves but interests of both diverged in regards to how to reshape political landscape of Afghanistan. However, US - Pak relationship has taken a nosedive and Pakistan finds itself in such a beautiful situation in the present.

Geo Bhutto
 
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