Afghanistan is a wake-up call for US defence establishment (Opinion)
A screengrab from a video showing utter chaos at Kabul International Airport as the US withdraws from Afghanistan. (Social media)
The world has been shocked by the US and allies departing Afghanistan with their tails between their legs. The abandonment is symptomatic of serious problems within the US defence establishment.
Projections were that the offensive by Afghanistan’s Taliban radical Islamic militants could only take the capital of Kabul within three months. Within hours of that prediction, news reports of one city after another falling to the Taliban began flashing across the world’s news services.
On 15 August, the Taliban entered Kabul, and the collapse of the current Afghan government’s control was imminent. Shortly thereafter, President Ashraf Ghani stepped down and fled the country.
On everyone’s mind was this question: How did more than two decades of US training, support and providing equipment to the Afghan National Army vanish overnight and
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