OPINION:
Americans feel like the world is burning down. It’s the sentiment driving the 21st-century American zeitgeist. The United States faces global threats of a technology and influence war in the East, a hot war in Ukraine, and a reemerging global violent extremist surge. Most recently, reports of Russians recruiting American-trained Afghan commandos show that the United States appears to be adamant about stacking the chips against itself.
The United States has special operations troops deployed to around 150 countries, where we partner by, with and through people from around the world in the name of national security. This experience has allowed our veteran community to have the most intimate knowledge of what policies, resources and actions are needed. Time and time again, our special operations veterans have been asked to carry more than their share in numerous conflicts, including Afghanistan and Ukraine. We have been ignored for too long.
Congress and the Biden administration have lacked action and understanding about why the Afghanistan crisis is not an isolated issue despite the special operations veteran population sounding the alarm since well before August 2021. Afghan commandos are now being forced to face Western-supported Ukraine, actualizing a global stability and national security crisis that is not born out of a policy crisis but instead is born out of a D.C. echo chamber that repeatedly abandons our allies when political will wanes.
Afghan commandos, trained by U.S. forces, have knowledge of the intimate workings, tactics and intelligence of the U.S. military. Allowing Iran and Russia to exploit this population sets a dangerous national security precedent: U.S. military intelligence has consistently been compromised when the U.S. exits a conflict because we leave behind U.S.-trained allies. We are now supporting Ukraine in its fight against a common aggressor. Will they face the same fate as Afghans at the eventual resolution of the conflict?
After the United States’ retrograde, the commandos and other Afghanistan special operations were the last forces fighting for a lost nation. Units were surrounded and overrun, chose to fight to the death rather than retreat, and suffered total annihilation. Hunted since the spring of 2021, Afghan commandos faced certain execution in Afghanistan. The survivors evaded the Taliban for months — hiding in basements, burning their documents — in hopes of escaping a Taliban-controlled country in August 2021. When all hope ceased for an evacuation to America, the only choices left were death at the hands of the Taliban, or torture from the Iranian regime.
These brave men were trained by members of U.S. and global elite units, the 75th Ranger Regiment, Special Forces, Navy SEALs and United Kingdom Special Air Service. When Afghanistan fell, they were the Taliban’s most wanted. Knowing this, Russia and Iran found a more effective way to exploit this well-trained force through an arrangement to conscript U.S.-trained Afghan commandos. The clear message to the Afghans within their borders: Go to war or watch your family be executed.
There will be numerous conflicting reports in the coming weeks on Afghan conscription into the Russia-Ukraine war. The reality is that Afghan bodies are going to show up on the battlefield, and this is just the beginning. The conflict in Ukraine will not ultimately be affected by a few hundred Afghan commandos, but it speaks volumes about the United States and its allies that the situation has deteriorated to this level.
The time is now for the country to acknowledge its mistakes in Afghanistan, prevent a parallel mistake in Ukraine, and resume evacuations to bring those who we trained to safety in the U.S. This call for resumed evacuations is not just about Afghanistan; it’s about Ukraine, the safety of our forces in 150-plus partner countries, and repairing the moral fabric of our national security policy. The world doesn’t have to burn down; we just have to listen to those on the ground who know how to stop the fire.
Special Operations Association of America urges President Biden and Congress to return America to being the world’s guiding light by standing beside our allies and honoring the promises we make. We must investigate the mistakes that were made in Afghanistan so that we will never make them again.
• Daniel Elkins is a special operations veteran and the founder of Special Operations Association of America.
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