Veterans' torment over 20 years brought to nought

The stark images coming from Afghanistan have stunned many, but perhaps none more so than the men and women of the US military who served there. A common refrain among them in discussions is "Was it worth it?"

The fundamental question, no matter how it is phrased, has long been asked by veterans and others in the United States. It took on added emotion a little more than a week ago when the Taliban took over Kabul. The question resonated even more deeply when, in scenes beamed around the world, people were shown trying to latch on to US military planes at Kabul's airport to flee the country.

The US embassy in Kabul on Saturday told citizens not to travel to the airport without "individual instructions from a US government representative", citing potential security threats.

Against this backdrop, a blog on the Department of Veterans Affairs website titled "Afghanistan: How Veterans can reconcile service" has generated intensely felt comments.

"Christine", a nurse, wrote, "In my job, I see firsthand the ruined lives of young people sent off to (Afghanistan) to fight the endless war to impose democracy on a country with no history of or desire to embrace such a system."

US President Joe Biden has watched his approval ratings fall over the debacle in Afghanistan.

US Representative Brian Mast, a Florida Republican and Army veteran who lost his legs after he was struck by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2010, told Fox News on Friday that the chaos is causing a "hostage crisis".

Open letter

On Friday, Biden found some support from VoteVets, which describes itself as a group for progressive veterans. The group published an open letter signed by 4,300 veterans, 150 of whom served in Afghanistan.

In the letter, the group blamed the "elites who pushed us into a 20-year war with no achievable military mission".

On Tuesday, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, addressing veterans and their families, in a statement, said: "It's entirely natural to feel a range of emotions about the latest developments in Afghanistan－and if you are feeling depressed, angry, heartbroken, or anything else, we at VA are here for you."

"Tim" wrote on the blog: "As a former active member of the Marine Corps, I am crushed and feel for my fellow comrades that lost family members and friends in all of the armed services."

"Henry" wrote: "One thing is clear, the United States has had a crisis in national political leadership that has been exacerbated by politicizing all aspects of society."

"It's like all your hard work has gone to waste," Ashton Kroner, who served in the Marine Corps in Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012, told the Chicago Tribune.

She is an outreach coordinator at Rush University Medical Center's Road Home Program, which provides free mental health services to veterans and their families.

"I've lost friends to suicide, and seeing the emotional and physical tolls that deployment put on your families, put on ourselves," she said. "It's getting punched in the gut over and over and over again," Kroner said of watching the current scenes in Afghanistan.

On the blog, "Ben" raised the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder. "Expect PTSD to continue to soar for as long as we keep asking otherwise decent people to do morally reprehensible things for the benefit of a select few," he wrote.

Matt Zeller, an Afghanistan veteran and advisory board chair of the Association of Wartime Allies, told CNN: "I'm wondering if the last 20 years were completely pointless and in vain. All the friends I lost in Afghanistan－what were their deaths for?"

Gerald Keen, who served in Afghanistan, told CNN that US soldiers should not be sent back to do a job that should have been done before Bagram Airfield in the country's northeast was closed.

"Now we've got to send soldiers back in harm's way to help evacuate the embassies and these interpreters who fought side by side with us every day."