United States of America eSeries: 'This is not Saigon'

'This is not Saigon'

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August 16, 2021

Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu

'This is not Saigon'

There is no end to the torment of the people of Afghanistan and Haiti. Both nations, desperately poor and plagued by violence, experienced brief glimpses of hope in recent decades, as foreign aid and muscle arrived with the hope of peace and rebuilding. But the agony of each deepened this weekend. Afghanistan is again largely under the boot of the Taliban as America's 20-year misadventure ends in a rushed exit. And Haiti, hit by another murderous earthquake and still reeling from the assassination of its president, seems no better equipped to save itself than it was in 2010.

What was it all for?

The Taliban is back in Kabul. Afghans are once again sliding into a new dark age of repression and persecution of women. And the United States is beating a humiliating retreat, becoming the latest superpower humbled in Central Asia's graveyard of empires.

The most immediate consequence of the militia's blitzkrieg across Afghanistan is a political disaster for President Joe Biden who ordered all American troops out but failed to orchestrate an orderly withdrawal.

Pessimists have warned about a Saigon-style helicopter retreat from the US embassy for a while now. But most didn't really think it could happen. Until Sunday.

It now looks almost impossible that the US will succeed in extracting all the Afghans who acted as translators and fixers and in other roles for its forces over 20 years — and who face an awful fate if they are left behind. Former President Ashraf Ghani's flight and the melting away of Afghan forces trained with billions of US and allied dollars without a fight — finally exposed the myths that Washington had allowed it to believe about "success" in the country.

Ironically, those failures served to prove Biden's rationale for leaving — that no amount of US blood and treasure could ever make Afghanistan a functioning, unified nation — at least the one dreamed of by US foreign policy planners. Like Iraq and Libya, Afghanistan has found out that in the modern era, America's zeal to get into wars is only exceeded by its rush to get out of them, no matter the mess that is left behind. Also spare a thought for the families of Afghan civilians killed by misdirected US fire. Or the relatives of Americans and allied troops from Canada, Britain, Italy, Australia and elsewhere who perished or left limbs on Afghan battlefields.

America's global reputation is meanwhile in for a shredding. The President who just toured Europe promising that "America is back" after the poison of the Trump years is presiding over a humiliating defeat. And Biden's vows to fight for global democracy are now undermined by his own abandonment by a US-backed democratic government in Kabul.

It's not all Biden's fault. He's just carrying the can for the messy exit. Four US administrations tried covert warfare, bombing blitzes, occupation, nation building, troop surges, counter-insurgencies and troop drawdowns on Washington's arbitrary timetables. It all led up to today.

The question "what was it all for" is best answered by another one: Was US intervention ever going to end any other way?

Pashtana Durrani, founder of LEARN, a nonprofit for education and women's rights in Afghanistan.

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'This is not Saigon'

"This is not Saigon," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union," when asked about President Joe Biden's July assertion that under no circumstances would US personnel be airlifted out of Kabul in a replay of the US withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975. Yet the US scrambled to evacuate embassy staff and top officials from its diplomatic compound in Afghanistan Sunday as Taliban fighters entered the city and Afghan government officials – including former President Ashraf Ghani – abandoned their posts and fled the country.

'They have to be rescued'

The earthquake that shook southern Haiti this weekend was just as great in magnitude as its infamous 2010 predecessor that drew the world's attention. Haitians are praying the similarity stops there.

The 2010 earthquake, which killed hundreds of thousands in capital city Port-au-Prince, sparked an outpouring of international solidarity, financial assistance and rescue workers. But ten years and more than $10 billion later, Haiti has hardly built back better -- as evidenced by the fragile interim government's struggle to muster a rescue response this weekend.

Rubble still litters the streets of the seaside town of Les Cayes. Nearly 1,300 people have died -- a number that is only expected to rise as victims are found under the area's 13,000 flattened homes and buildings. "There are still people who have disappeared under the rubble. They have to be rescued," Eveline Dominique Cherie, a UNICEF worker from Les Cayes, told CNN.

But at the fractured white remains of luxury hotel Le Manguier, blinding in the afternoon sun on Sunday, a single excavator stood idle, CNN's Matt Rivers told Meanwhile from Les Cayes. There were no security forces, police, or professional search and rescue teams in sight, while dozens of locals explored the broken building, some walking away with anything that could be useful -- from rebar cut with metal saws to air-conditioners ripped from walls.

Meanwhile, local doctors fighting to save earthquake victims have already run out of space and supplies. Amethyste Arcelius, hospital administrator at Immaculate Conception Hospital in Les Cayes, told Meanwhile on Sunday that the hospital was overwhelmed with at least 500 earthquake victims at the hospital, many with broken limbs and head injuries. "We are starting to receive help from NGOs and from the government but it's far from enough. We desperately need X-ray film."

There's no question that Haiti is desperate for help. The US, several Latin American governments, and international aid agencies are once again preparing to send in support. But no one wants a repeat of 2010's global rescue effort, whose memory has been tainted with allegations that foreign do-gooders misused funds, sexually exploited local women and children, and even introduced cholera into the country – leaving deep distrust in the country, and a bitter taste for those who first came here with big ideals.

Thanks for reading.

On Monday, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pays an official visit to South Korea. England ends self-isolation for vaccinated people who come into contact with Covid-19 cases.