Control is lost in Afghanistan but the responsibility remains

Although Latvia has not acted as a leading country in international military missions abroad, the name of Latvia is written in the same size letters in the blacklists of radical Islamists. It does not matter whether it is Afghanistan, from which we, along with our allies, have hurriedly moved out this summer, or Iraq and other countries at war or close to it, where we are still represented.

Latvia joined NATO on March 29, 2004, and has since changed from the dependent to the caregiver, taking on international responsibilities and participating in international missions, paying for them both financially and with the lives and injuries of its soldiers.

Medics were the first to go to war

Afghanistan was Latvia's largest mission. The attack was launched by the United States in 2001, NATO took over command in 2003, and Latvia was invited to participate in the operation a year before its formal admission. The first unit from Latvia to go to war against radical Islamists was a medical unit of the National Armed Forces consisting of eight soldiers - two doctors, four paramedics and two orderly drivers. They provided medical assistance to soldiers as part of the rescue team at Kabul International Airport, as well as assistance to civilians when needed. In the following years, the range of Latvia's responsibilities continued to expand - the allies needed drivers, bomb-disposal technicians, staff members and logistics specialists. Military reconnaissance and civil-military cooperation specialists. Also infantry for guarding military bases.

What can you teach an Afghan

As the war between the allies and the Taliban transformed into Afghan civil war, the nature and name of the allied mission also changed. The ISAF combat operation ended in 2014 and the Resolute Support training and advisory mission began in 2015. It focused on training and supporting the Afghan army and police in the fight against Taliban insurgents. The annual contingent of Latvia was no longer measurable in hundreds of soldiers, but in tens. Lieutenant Colonel Kaspars Pudāns, who supervised all the operations in which Latvian soldiers worked, told Neatkarīgā a couple of years ago what he was doing there. Latvians provided planning, quick response. Taught Afghans reconnaissance, patrols and operations management. The success of the students depended on their motivation. Part of the Afghans had really come to fight for their homeland. But there were also those who simply wanted to earn some money seasonally - in their free time from fieldwork. They were not too interested in warfare, and foreigners had to fight in their place.

The Taliban will take revenge on the traitors

The ease with which the Taliban have taken power in Afghanistan since the allies left shows that the vast majority of Afghans were not and are not interested in the fight against Islamic radicals. They were just such seasonal warriors due to a coincidence of circumstances or even they themselves support the return of the Taliban. Indeed, this war has been a joint US-NATO project with hard-to-measure benefits but easy-to-predict consequences. The radical Islamic regime, which was overthrown 20 years ago, has now returned to power, starting to take revenge on its enemies, and here Latvia must also reckon with some consequences.

The Ministry of Defense has instructed the National Armed Forces to gather information on local Afghans who have actively cooperated and provided services to the Latvian contingent. Allied troops have been withdrawn, and there is practically nothing to stop the new-old regime from dealing with traitors any way they wish, with those who supported both the allied invasion and presence and the subsequent attempt to establish something like democracy in the country. Accordingly, all those who have cooperated with the allied troops, and therefore also Latvia, are in danger: politicians, interpreters, cooks, drivers, informants.

Latvia must accept 15 families

Former mayor of the Afghan city of Maymana Nazar Mohammad Sahibzada, who even visited Latvia in 2012, has already applied for asylum in Latvia. Maymana is a twin city of Ogre, and through Ogre Mayor Egils Helmanis, the Afghan politician has asked for help for himself and his family. Another request for Latvian asylum was received from an Afghan who provided logistics services to the Latvian contingent. He was the local link in the chain that helped Latvian companies secure supplies for our soldiers at military bases.

Minister of Defense Artis Pabriks estimates that there may be a total of 15 Afghans and their families who have provided assistance to Latvia in previous years, and now Latvia has a duty to help them. It was mostly the technical staff that provided support to our contingent soldiers. President Egils Levits has also emphasized to LETA that in these tragic circumstances for Afghanistan, Latvia, the European Union and NATO have a duty to help at least those specific Afghans who have helped us in the past.

The rest have to make do for themselves, because the allies have left Afghanistan, and for many, it looks like a shameful surrender.

How to use a Kalashnikov

Iraq is another Eastern country to which the West seeks to teach democracy, business, human rights, and other values ​​unnatural to Eastern culture. Latvian soldiers have also been there since 2003. 98 infantry were the first to be sent there, and they experienced attacks already in the first months. In 2008, the so-called peacekeeping mission Operation Iraqi Freedom was conditionally completed, but fighting continued. Locals versus locals, locals versus allies. After the defeat of the Islamic State, the military mission became a training mission and, similarly to Afghanistan, the task of Latvians in Iraq was and still is to train the local army. Our responsibilities included training the infantry. Iraqis have been taught to work with Russian assault rifles, machine guns and landmines, as these weapons were imported into Iraq in large quantities during the Soviet years. Kalashnikovs are used on both sides of the front - both government forces and Islamic radicals. And not just in Iraq or Afghanistan, but in all other hotspots in the world.

Iraq is doing better

The mission in Iraq is currently called the NATO Mission Iraq and does not include combat missions. As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explains, the main tasks of this mission are: to support the effective, sustainable, transparent and comprehensive establishment of Iraq's national defense and security institutions and civilian sector. Similarly, in Afghanistan, it was hoped that such allied support would be enough for Afghans to lead their country towards a bright democratic future.

Contrary to expectations, Afghans have gone back to the dark past. Iraqis seem to be doing better.

Although terrorist attacks occasionally take place and people are sometimes abducted for ransom or political reasons, active hostilities there have ceased. Iraqi migrants on Latvia's border can certainly be described as Lukashenko's and Putin's hybrid weapons and not as refugees, as the Latvian welcomers would like. They are indeed weapons that have acquired part of their combat capability also thanks to allied teachings. After the defeat of the jihadists, they became unnecessary at their own homeland and went to trouble other lands.

*****

Be the first to read interesting news from Latvia and the world by joining our Telegram and Signal channels.