The New York Times has written that the United States has learned nothing from its defeat in Afghanistan, and that its conflict with Iran is now turning into another prolonged war.
The war in Afghanistan ended five years ago. But after the U.S. withdrawal, many of the key fears that had prevented three successive American presidents from leaving proved largely unfounded. Afghanistan did not become the hub for terrorist attacks against the United States that Washington had feared.
The New York Times asks; If the United States is now trying to avoid another prolonged war in Iran, why was it so difficult to leave Afghanistan, and what lessons does the Afghan experience offer for Iran?
According to the newspaper, the United States had a major opportunity to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2011, but chose to continue the war. Eventually, Washington was no longer trying to completely defeat the Taliban. Instead, it focused on reducing American casualties and financial costs while keeping the Afghan government in power, that strategy ultimately failed as well.
The New York Times says the Taliban understood that they did not need to defeat the United States directly. They only needed to sustain a prolonged resistance against U.S. forces and a war-weary American public. Over time, political support for continuing the war weakened in the United States, and Washington eventually lost the conflict.
The article says Iran’s current situation has similarities to Afghanistan, but there is one important difference, the stakes and costs for the United States in Iran are much lower than they were in Afghanistan. As a result, the cost of withdrawing from the conflict should also be relatively low.
According to The New York Times, U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth had insisted that the war with Iran would not resemble the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He described it as fast, limited, lethal and decisive.
However, Iran responded to U.S. attacks by moving to close the Strait of Hormuz. Senior U.S. military officials later acknowledged that airstrikes alone might not be enough to defeat Iran and might not even be sufficient to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.