Israel needs to understand what the US no longer does: Only the utter defeat of its enemies can prevent future terror and war
Afghanistan is back to square one after the blitz that the Taliban staged in the aftermath of the American troop withdrawal, 20 years after the US invaded the mountainous country following the Al Qaida attack on the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, DC.
The total collapse of the US-trained, equipped and funded government forces hadn’t been anticipated by President Joe Biden. Biden had assured the American people that the $83 billion the US had spent on building the Afghan army would be enough to ensure that the Taliban wouldn’t be able to do what they had done before the US-led coalition invaded Afghanistan and send the country back to the stone-age.
However, within a week, poorly-armed Taliban forces were able to conquer major Afghan cities, including Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
Widespread consequences
The victory of the Taliban will also have consequences for the Middle East and Israel since the Sunni Islamist bloc that includes groups like Al Qaida and ISIS is looking for a safe haven to regroup before staging another attempt to destabilize the region and take over additional countries.
The overall goals of Al Qaida and its offspring ISIS haven’t changed, and the victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan could provide them with new abilities to seize control of destabilized countries such as Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon, which is now close to total collapse.
The premature withdrawal of the US military and the subsequent humiliation of the US Administration of President Joe Biden at the hands of the Taliban will not reassure America’s allies in the Middle East, Israel included.
Israel’s own experiences
Israel has learned the lesson that the Taliban now teaches the US, and knows that when you pull out the army from enemy territory without a comprehensive plan for the day after, things will quickly deteriorate.
It happened in 2000 when then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak suddenly withdrew the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from southern Lebanon. The same also happened five years later, in 2005, when Israel pulled out the IDF and all Jewish residents from Gaza.
In both cases these withdrawals led to the deterioration of Israel’s security situation and eventually to war.
Read the full article at Source: Israel Today
