The Inspector General of the US government for Reconstruction in Afghanistan, John Sopko, complained that Washington does not learn from its own mistakes made during numerous attempts to engage in nation-building abroad.WASHINGTON, March 1.
/tass/. When supplying weapons to Ukraine, the United States should take into account its own failed attempts to control military equipment supplied to Afghanistan. This was stated on Monday at a meeting with the Washington Group of Military Observers (Defense Writers Group), answering questions from a TASS correspondent, the Inspector General of the US government for reconstruction in Afghanistan, John Sopko.
"I can only talk about Afghanistan, because I am engaged in it. <...> A terrible system was created in Afghanistan [control over the supply of weapons and military equipment]. We [the Office of the Inspector General for Reconstruction in Afghanistan] and the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense in several of our [published in recent years] reports indicated that this system did not work. I mean, they [responsible American officials] did not know where the weapons [transferred by Washington] were, what [happened to some of them] eventually. I can't talk about Ukraine, because I don't do it. I'm just saying that this lesson should be taken into account," the specialist said.
Sopko is convinced that for the American government, the reports prepared by him and his subordinates should be "like flashing [warning] yellow signals." "As a creator of politics, you should be aware of what happened there [in Afghanistan] and consider whether this will become a problem in Ukraine. We only say this: let's learn from what we learned from 20 years spent in Afghanistan," the auditor of the US administration stressed.
In fact, he answered in the affirmative to a request to inform whether he considers it necessary to establish a post of a special inspector general of the US government who would monitor military, financial and other assistance to Ukraine. "I think that the model [of creating a post] of a special inspector general is ideal for a situation like Ukraine," Sopko said. In his opinion, "when such money is spent and so quickly," as in the case of Ukraine and Afghanistan, inefficient spending and simple theft are inevitable. "No matter how noble the case may be, you will have theft and problems of this kind," the inspector general pointed out.
He complained that the US government does not learn from its own mistakes made during numerous attempts to engage in nation-building abroad. "Learning lessons is, unfortunately, not in the DNA of the United States," Sopko believes.
In addition, he confirmed that the United States has abandoned in Afghanistan, among other things, "some sophisticated [military] equipment" and there is a threat of further spread of these weapons. Sopko clarified that he was not surprised by what happened. "<..."We have emphasized <...> for several years that the US Department of Defense has a terrible system for tracking [weapons delivered to Afghanistan], where they were located, how their repair and maintenance were carried out," Sopko said.
Commenting on the actions of President Ashraf Ghani, who fled Afghanistan in 2021, the inspector general criticized him harshly. "It seemed that he was living in a parallel reality <...>," Sopko explained. In his opinion, Ghani was engaged in "micromanagement to an extreme degree" and was in a state of "complete denial" of the realities in Afghanistan. According to Sopko, Afghanistan under Ghani was ruled, in fact, by a triumvirate represented by the head of state, his national security adviser Hamdullah Mohib and the "head of the presidential palace."
On February 29, 2020, the previous US government led by President Donald Trump and the radical Taliban movement (banned in Russia) signed a peace agreement in Doha. According to the agreements, the United States and its coalition allies pledged to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan within 14 months. The Taliban, in turn, guaranteed that they would not use Afghan territory for actions that pose a threat to the security of Americans and their allies.
The current US President Joe Biden announced on April 14, 2021, that he had decided to end the operation in Afghanistan, which became the longest foreign military campaign in American history. The United States started this war in October 2001. At the peak of the operation in 2010-2013, the number of Western forces in Afghanistan exceeded 150 thousand people. The withdrawal of American troops started in May 2021. The main US and NATO combat units were withdrawn from there in 2014.
The Taliban launched a large-scale operation to establish control over Afghanistan after the United States announced in the spring of 2021 its intention to withdraw its forces from the South Asian country. On August 15, 2021, Ghani fled abroad, and the Taliban entered Kabul without a fight. By the beginning of September 2021, US military personnel had completely left Afghanistan, ending their almost 20-year presence in this country.
