US leaders know they cannot win the Afghan war despite the heavy costs that the United States is paying for it, an American activist says. While the Afghan war is taking its heavy toll on both the American troops and civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the majority of the US military commanders as well as the civilian leaders “do not believe that they can win the war militarily,” Richard Becker from ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition said in an interview with Press TV on Friday.
According to the US activist, US leaders are making efforts to avoid the appearance of a catastrophic defeat.
“What the US leaders are really trying to do is not to achieve victory but to avoid the appearance of a catastrophic defeat, which they believe can endanger the prospect of the empire in the Middle East, Central Asia and around the world,” he further explained.
“Both the Democrats and the Republicans support the war … [and the] individuals in Congress who are opposed to it, their voices have been muffled,” he went on to say.
Becker expressed disappointment that under the current economic hardship in the US, the people are making sacrifice for the human and financial costs of the war “while the commanders and the president all know that the war is unwinnable.”
The US Army has lost over 1,300 soldiers since Washington unleashed the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 to overthrow Taliban militants.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and many others sustained injuries in US-led operations in Afghanistan.
Western public opinion is increasingly growing tired of the war. Deaths of civilians in NATO and US attacks have also fueled tensions between Afghanistan and Western countries.
Source: Press TV