WASHINGTON: On the second floor of the Pentagon, a small map marked the road taken by the American aircraft which was hijacked before hitting the military headquarters on September 11, 2001, an attack that drives the US-led invasion to Afghanistan.
Some corridors hanged the full wall size poster from the cover of the 2009 Time magazine, with the words “how no less than Afghanistan” and a picture of a US soldier smoked somewhere in the country.
The building near Washington who accommodated the office for more than 20,000 members of the civil defense service and employees, filled with reminders for 20 years of US involvement in Afghanistan, the longest war of America.
Is that worth it? – That was the question of senior military leaders wrestling by following the collapse of the Afghan military trained and funded by US, a surprising takeover of rapidly, a careless evacuation of civilians from Kabul and Afghan’s prospects that help Americans be left behind to face retaliation from Islamic militants in power.
“We saw videos and photos, we read the story that brought back memories for some of us, and it became very personal,” General David Berger, Commander of the Marine Corps, wrote in a memo to the Marines.
“Is it worth it? Yes.
Is it still sick? Yes,” Berger wrote.
‘It doesn’t have to end like this is common for service members to form bonds with the countries they use for, especially in battle.
There was a deep frustration among the service members deployed to Syria when President Donald Trump in December 2018 suddenly announced a withdrawal of 2,000 troops that mostly defeated the Islamic State (ISIS).
The move was criticized by officers and members of parliament as the neglect of Kurdish allies and abandoned the influence of Russia and Iran which were uncontrolled in Syria.
But unlike Syria, the generation of service members was formed by Afghanistan, the war was originally intended to overthrow the Taliban and targeted Al Qaeda militants there who planned attacks in New York and Washington.
Over the years, 800,000 Americans were deployed to Afghanistan because the mission developed into the nation’s development exercises.
Nearly 2,400 was killed and more than 20,000 were injured.
For critics, the US military is part of the problem.
Senior military leaders are often served with too optimistic views.
Airstrikes and US attacks killed women and children.
When the intelligence report began dripping in two weeks ago that the Taliban swept the country with a little resistance by Afghan forces, Pentagon officials said they were surprised.
When President Joe Biden gave a speech where he said some risky Afghans did not want to leave, there was anger over the lack of felt empathy.
In the past few days, it has become frustrated at the rate of evacuation of US citizens and vulnerable Afghans.
US military officials said they could not hold back tears during the past week.
For some people, it read a report about the base they lived into an overrun.
For others it received a message from Afghanistan, begging for help and warnings that the Taliban would kill them.
“I want to be very clear: your service is not in vain, and it makes a difference,” Admiral Mike Gilday, the head of the US naval surgery, said in his own memo last week.
AIDES for US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and head of the head of the staff General Mark Milley, both of which served in Afghanistan, including references to the range of emotional services felt when they spoke to reporters.
Both of them said they understood that events in Afghanistan were personal for service members and this was difficult times.
“It will end sometime.
It doesn’t have to end like this,” said a military official.