Robert E. Lee and Afghanistan
Trump claims that Robert E. Lee would have prevailed in Afghanistan. Oh, yeah, like he prevailed at Appomattox. Lee couldn’t hold the South even with his army actively defending the Confederacy. So, there is no way he would have figured out a way to withdraw all his armies from America and still have the Confederate government remain in power. Nor would have he found a way to withdraw from Afghanistan and have the Afghan government remain in control.
Actually, it was not possible for anyone to prevail in Afghanistan. The problem was not the lack of courage of the Afghans. They will fight hard for what they believe in, tyranny. The problem is a lack of faith in democracy. And is this a surprise? “America is here. America is bad. America supports democracy. Democracy is bad.” They would have had a better chance of developing an appreciation for democracy if they were occupied by the Russians or Chinese, although that still would not have been enough (it wasn’t in the 1980’s).
The struggle for Afghanistan was not even close. As soon as we left, faster than one can travel by foot across Afghanistan, the Taliban took over. This is not a case of, “Well, if Biden did things differently, the government might have prevailed.” It was no contest.
So, no, Robert E. Lee would not have prevailed in Afghanistan. Even if he elected to hold all the airports and ram the ramparts. Caesar could not have prevailed. Alexander the Great could not have prevailed. Heck, Alexander the Great did not prevail in Afghanistan. That is why, to this date, the Afghans do not speak Greek or engage in intellectual debate. Alexander the Great occupied the region of Afghanistan but came to realize that he needs to move on. And, being Alexander the Great, it did not take him nineteen years to figure this out. Had he realized that he should not go into Afghanistan in the first place, he might be known as Alexander the Greatest.
