How can we learn? As we get past the raw emotion of what’s occurred, let’s start talking about what we learned in Afghanistan. Only history can truly judge the impact of our efforts in Afghanistan. Collectively, we gave the Afghan people a taste of freedom, their children watching and learning from our example. We provided them some semblance of stability, giving our enemies no rest as we hunted them through the valleys and into the mountains. During my time as a Company Commander in Paktikia Province, we protected the people in our area of operations. This is the true American spirit, the very ideal we chose to fight for.Īlso, many of us “got it right” when we fought in Afghanistan. Now, as refugees begin to hit the States, we have ad-hoc teams coming together to welcome them. First, I couldn’t be more proud of how a rapidly formed joint force, including the Devil Brigade, handled a humanitarian crisis at the airport in Kabul. What did we get right? While we’re working through all of that, it is important to remember what we got right.
Now that the war is over, many are wrestling with the conclusion and wanting to quantify that sacrifice while seeing images of the Taliban inspecting American military equipment. The war became a constant, something we could point back to and justify the collective sacrifice. We knew the war wouldn’t go on forever when we left in ‘05 or ‘11, but we knew we were contributing to a larger campaign. How are you doing? For many, the end of this war has forced us to address unhealed wounds. If you can, take some time today to reflect, think, and discuss. By writing this, I offer three simple questions.
Before we move on, as leaders often do, let’s take a few minutes to talk through what happened, to make an honest attempt to learn through it. We are a generation of wartime leaders, who, for a brief moment, have no war to fight. But it did not end with an unconditional surrender and a ticker tape parade, did it? Instead, on live TV, we watched the Taliban rapidly regain control of Afghanistan, ending with a crisis at the Kabul airport as people attempted to flee. After nearly two decades in Afghanistan, the war has ended. The last few weeks have been incredibly hard to watch.