Canada gets its plot in the graveyard of empires

National Post, 14 August 2021

There will soon be no Canadians left to make rinks or decorate classrooms for rural girls.

In the last weeks before Western troops depart Afghanistan completely, Western troops are headed back to Afghanistan.

Canadian special forces are reportedly on their way to evacuate staff at our Embassy in Kabul. The Canadian Embassy will soon be shuttered. There will be no need for it, as Canada does not anticipate having diplomatic relations with the Taliban.

The Taliban have been on a roll this year, claiming huge chunks of territory after U.S. President Joe Biden announced — in continuity with the policies of former president Donald Trump — that all American troops will leave Afghanistan by the end of this month. This week, the Taliban took Kandahar and Herat, two of Afghanistan’s biggest cities. Intelligence officials have been reported as saying that Kabul, the capital, will be surrounded by Taliban forces in 30 days and it will fall in 90 days.

As the final failure and humiliation in Afghanistan nears its end, both the United States and Britain plan to send thousands of troops to evacuate their own embassies. The U.S. has sent 3,000 extra troops and Britain will send some 600.

It is expected that embassy staff, security and translators will be safely out before the Taliban arrive. There is no plan for a last-minute helicopter airlift, Vietnam style.

Afghanistan has been America’s longest war. Beginning in October 2001 with the goal of driving the Taliban from power and depriving al-Qaida of a friendly regime and staging ground, 20 years later, Western forces are now preparing for the Taliban to return to power. Untold blood and treasure has been spent in pacifying Afghanistan. It has been more or less pacified under military occupation. But occupation and pacification go hand-in-hand. As the former ends, so does the latter.

Afghanistan thus confirms its status as the “graveyard of empires.” Whether the 19th-century British Empire, the 20th-century Soviet empire or the 21st-century Americans, Afghanistan is hard enough to invade, but much harder to subdue, and impossible to rule.

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