US occupation of foreign land

Introduction:

• The US occupation of a foreign land and the chaos it leaves behind are hardly new.
• In the past two decades alone, there have been many such interventions, the most significant of these being the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Background:

• Spurred by the September 11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, both were launched by then US President George W Bush purportedly to annihilate Al-Qaeda and related terror organisations.
• The strategic locations of the regions and their vast oil reserves too have been cited as peripheral reasons for the wars.
• Interestingly, just between 2018 and 2020, the US undertook 12 ‘combat or potential combat via surrogates’ activities around the world. Many of these actions have been in Africa and West Asia.

US in Iraq

• The US invaded Iraq in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, claiming that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was in possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
• Though Hussein had used biological and chemical weapons during the Gulf War, he had agreed to unconditionally give them up after the ceasefire of 1991.
• However, the US and United Kingdom, under George W Bush and Tony Blair, respectively, claimed to have intelligence that Hussein had stockpiled dangerous quantities of WMDs.
• The UN Security Council, though, remained unconvinced of this evidence, with a memorandum submitted by France, Russia and Germany.
• United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan said the war on Iraq was illegal and violated the UN Charter.
• Bush administration invaded Iraq on March 19, 2003, leading a coalition of troops from the UK, Australia and Poland.
• The forces overthrew the ruling Ba’ath government, installing a West-backed elected government in its place, and disbanded the Iraqi army, leading to a power vacuum and the eventual destabilisation of the country.
• These highly-trained military members later joined forces to form the Al Qaeda of Iraq which later became a part of the Islamic State of Iraq, which eventually morphed into the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
• Even after the withdrawal of US forces in December 2011, Iraq saw political instability, sectarian conflicts and insurgency, resulting in a civil war in 2014.
• This prompted a second US intervention. The crisis is ongoing.

US in Libya

• The US-backed bombing in Libya, which resulted in the collapse of the 42-year-old government, cannot quite be referred to as an invasion because it did not involve foreign troops on the ground.
• The military intervention by a multinational coalition under NATO was carried out by airplanes and missiles, and lasted over seven months.
• The bombing campaign began after the UN Security Council passed a resolution approving strict sanctions against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and the establishment of a no-fly zone over the country’s airspace.
• Since early 2011, Gaddafi’s security forces had been clashing violently with anti-government protesters in different parts of Libya.
• The pro-Gaddafi forces had threatened to unleash violence over rebel groups in Benghazi, the second most-populous city in Libya.
• The NATO-led coalition, with significant support from France and Canada, enforced the no-fly zone, a naval blockade and an arms embargo against the regime until Gaddafi’s execution in October 2011.
• After the government collapsed, the ground situation deteriorated, and tensions between the various ethnic and religious groups in Libya rose to the forefront.
• Since then, Libya has seen a second civil war and a rise in Islamist insurgency.

US in Syria

• Following the Syrian Civil War of 2011, the US had been providing underground support to select rebel groups fighting against the autocratic regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
• In 2014, a US-led international coalition began brutal airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in the country.
• The US had refrained from military action against the al-Assad government until April 2017.
• That changed with a chemical weapon attack in Khan Shaykhun area in northwestern Syria that killed and injured hundreds of civilians. The US blamed the Russia-backed Assad regime for the attack.
• Citing this, the Trump administration launched a missile attack on a Syrian airbase controlled by the al-Assad government.
• There was status quo until December 2018, when Trump, against counsel of his advisors, declared that US troops would “soon” be pulled out of Syria.
• As of now, the timeline and scope of withdrawal of US troops remains fluid.
• Meanwhile, the Biden administration continues airstrikes against militia groups in Syria till date.

US in Afghanistan

• The US has a protracted history with Afghanistan.
• In 2001, in the wake of 9/11 attacks orchestrated by Al Qaeda, the US forces invaded Afghanistan to fight the terror group and its host Taliban.
• With the support of the UK government and its military forces, the US toppled the Taliban regime and established a West-backed government led by President Hamid Karzai.
• However, the Taliban regrouped and insurgency took root, prompting Obama, who had been elected to office under the promise of ending the Afghan occupation, to inject more than 30,000 US troops into the fight in 2009.
• The first serious attempt at withdrawing foreign troops from the country came under President Trump, who signed an accord with Taliban in Doha in 2020, promising a conditional withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021.
• Joe Biden, began a phased withdrawal, which culminated in the frenzied scenes that have unfolded in Kabul.
• Taliban has now returned to form a government almost two decades after they were ousted from power by the US.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/us-intervention-afghanistan-iraq-syria-libya-wars-7460330/