When the United States and its coalition partners entered Afghanistan twenty years ago, the mission was, to quote former U.S. President George W. Bush, “to defeat the enemy where they live and plan, so we do not have to face them here at home.”
After some time, it became quite apparent that defeating Al Qaida and the Taliban wouldn’t be enough. If America just left and turned its back on Afghanistan, the terrorists would return and the cycle would start all over again. Therefore, the mission turned into nation-building. Building a stable society on former enemy soil would help Afghans and keep Americans safe in the long run.
No matter your opinion concerning the success of this ambition, that was the logic behind the mission. And for a while, it worked. Al Qaida was defeated. The Taliban was driven to Pakistan. Afghanistan slowly progressed, embracing democracy and human rights. And the United States did not open its doors to mass migration.
President Biden has changed this drastically.
Tired of nation-building in foreign nations when there is so much work to do back home, he hastily withdrew the last 2,500 forces from Afghanistan.
However, Biden didn’t just cut and run. He also brought over some 100,000 Afghan refugees back to American soil. More are probably expected to arrive if they can escape the Taliban regime. Many Afghans do deserve a better life in the United States. Afghan translators, soldiers, human rights advocates and young women whose profession in music, science or sport are now prohibited by the Taliban has been abandoned by the West and deserves another chance. Many of them will also contribute greatly to their new societies and should indeed be welcomed. In the current situation, they don’t have an option.
That said, from a strict policy perspective, a change of paradigm has taken place. A shift that must not go unnoticed. The doctrine of helping many in their own native country has now changed to the doctrine of helping a few by helping them flee their native country.
This is a change from a mentality of strength to a mentality of weakness. Also, it sends a simple message to the world: America is not what it used to be. Its allied can no longer feel trust and its enemies no longer need to feel fear. The United States, whose policy was never to negotiate with terrorists, has just surrendered a whole country to terrorist hands. Not because of a military defeat, but because of a change in the state of mind.
But this change is real, and cannot easily be undone. Therefore, America would do well to learn some lessons from Europe, and in particular my home country, Sweden. We have from the beginning had the attitude that helping a few refugees here on our soil is better than helping many in their home countries. Both methods can be, as well as feel, morally justified. But the big advantage of the former strategy is that it only costs money, not soldiers dying on battlefields in foreign lands.
As far as Sweden goes, which hasn’t been in a war since 1814, this option is the instinctively natural action. In practice, this strategy might save Swedish soldiers from dying in foreign countries. But the price will instead be paid by the citizens of Sweden. Looking back, this price has not only come in the Swedish currency kronor, but also in the cost of ruined human lives.
Sweden, with a population of ten million people, has 60,000 Afghans. Many Afghan refugees have committed severe crimes. This summer, one Afghan and one Bangladeshi immigrant raped a disabled 14-year-old Swedish girl. They were only sentenced to five years in prison.
In 2017, two Afghan immigrants and a Swedish-Iranian citizen raped a 30-year-old Swedish woman and live-streamed it on Facebook. The two main culprits were sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.
The extremely lenient sentences are a consequence of a Swedish justice system unable to handle these kinds of grave crimes that Sweden is not used to. A system based upon the Marxist idea that criminals are the victims of their own criminality rather than responsible for their own actions. Nothing exemplifies this upside-down worldview better than when a 15-year-old Somali asylum-seeker stabbed a 22-year-old female asylum center worker to death in 2016. Sweden’s now-former National Police Commissioner, Dan Eliasson, said on state television that it was a tragedy for both parts, and asked with pity what the culprit “had been through” to do such a thing.
These examples are only the tip of the iceberg. Statistics from The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande rådet, BRÅ) show that almost 60 percent of rape convictions between the years 2000 and 2015 were committed by non-Swedes.
America used to believe that helping the people of Afghanistan to build their own functioning societies with a step-by-step approach to social progress was the best way forward. This might take time, but the problems of Afghanistan would eventually be solved on their soil, not in America. This was the rationale for ignoring when Afghan soldiers used Afghan boys for their own sexual pleasure. This was not the Taliban raping children, it was the same Afghan soldiers now looking for a way out of Afghanistan.
President Biden has changed that strategy for a Swedish one, where American civilians, not soldiers, must solve Afghan problems, Afghan religious ideas, Afghan views on sexuality, and Afghan views on women, right on American soil. This obviously does not mean that every Afghan immigrant is a potential rapist. As I stated before, many of those who are fleeing deserve another chance in the West. During the chaotic withdrawal from Kabul, many brave American veterans chose to risk everything one more time, to save their Afghan interpreters and fellow Afghan soldiers from falling into the hands of the Taliban. Afghans, such as now-American citizen Janis Shenwary, fought bravely and often saved the lives of their fellow Americans. They truly became brothers in arms. If the vetting process of Afghan refugees were run by these veterans, I have no doubt that the people allowed to enter the United States would be the people deserving it.
But a fact remains: Problems rooted in the soil of Afghanistan will soon take root in the soil of America. This is a consequence of mass immigration, a u-turn in strategy, and not what the United States set out to accomplish twenty years ago.
Is the present strategy better than the former one? My personal guess is that not even the brave Afghans believe that it was.
But take a look at Sweden and reach your own conclusion.
Dhimmi says
I think the value of a civilisation for the people who created it, is not just money or the lives of some individuals but migration of a different culture in particular following a koran which is full of hateful statements towards the others would result in a fate similar to that of copts or assirans after the muslim invasion . Of course the migration of populations with low skills, low talent for innovation and technology is an economic disaster but not only that , it’s the destruction of a civilisation
tim gallagher says
I agree, Dhimmi. It is a whole way of life, a decent and civilised way of life, which is what our western civilisation is, that is threatened by the invading Muslim barbarians.
Wellington says
I agree too, tim.
What a collection of buffoons are now running the West and, ad nauseam, giving a pass to Islam and its deluded followers who wish the utter eradication of Western Civilization.
Madness. Imbecility. Stupidity on display right-up front like.
What a weird era we live in. I despise it but I can’t thoroughly explain it except to note that there has been a self-criticism existent in Western Civilization from ancient Greece onwards that simply does not exist in other societies and civilizations.
To a certain extent such honesty by a civilization is laudable but It has now reached a suicidal level. Definitely.
tim gallagher says
I agree, Wellington, that it is a pretty strange time we are living in. Self criticism is fine. Everyone can see some things wrong with our western societies. Nothing human is perfect. But too many people these days have gone way beyond self criticism into self loathing or always apologising for the supposed terrible crimes of the western world. I think it mainly stems from the march of the cultural Marxists through the schools and universities and brainwashing the students (many now well into adulthood) into hating the western societies that they live in. I agree with you that this self loathing and this failing to see what really pleasant and decent societies we live in in the western world is madness and rank stupidity. Compared to any Muslim society, (or Marxist society like say China) we are really living in something close to utopia, yet a lot of people want to spend all their time trashing our western civilisation and its achievements. It is truly bizarre.
gravenimage says
Grimly spot on, Tim.
PVV says
The picture is actually not from Sweden but from Helsinki, Finland. A couple years ago, there was a huge tent camp full of illegal Muslim immigrants right in front of the city’s main railway station. They were under police protection, and were allowed to do pretty much what they wanted to do. It was interesting thing to witness.
gravenimage says
You are right, PVV. This is Finnish, not Swedish. Looks like Finland has many of the same problems as Sweden, though.
gravenimage says
PVV, the picture has now been changed to one from Sweden. Thanks again.
Infidel says
Lesson from Sweden? Are we talking about the same country that has allowed Malmo to become another Kabul or Cairo, and where their authorities regularly cover up the islamic identity of muslim criminals? That Sweden?
I welcome Mr Berggren here, but please tell us what the Nordic countries – Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland – have been doing to protect their native indigenous populations against these jihad-driven crime activities
gravenimage says
+1
saturnine says
The author is advising the US to learn from Sweden, i.e. learn that Sweden’s policy has baneful short and long term consequences for its society.
In other words, “If you can’t be a good example, then you’ll have to be a horrible warning.”
Infidel says
Okay, I get it now! Somehow missed that the first time
gravenimage says
Quite right, saturnine. Sweden is a *cautionary tale*, not a model to follow.
tgusa says
“The US could learn a lesson”
Under the biden regime? You lost me right there.
gravenimage says
The US could learn a lesson from Sweden on Afghan immigration
……………………
First, a welcolm to Ronie Berggen. He runs American News Analysis
After that, though, there is a lot to unpack here:
When the United States and its coalition partners entered Afghanistan twenty years ago, the mission was, to quote former U.S. President George W. Bush, “to defeat the enemy where they live and plan, so we do not have to face them here at home.”
……………………
The problem is that Afghanistan, as a nation almost 100% Islamic, never could be civilized.
And bringing people here–most of whom adhere to the vicious creed of Islam, does nothing good for Sweden or the US or any other place Afghan Muslims have been flocking to. Even in Afghanistan, many of our supposed Afghan allies waged Jihad terror against us. This became so common there is even a term for it: green on blue terror.
This is not the first time the US has allowed in Afghan Muslims. I live near the largest population of Afghan Muslims in the country, and remember the terrible San Francisco SUV Jihad terror attack in 2006.
So Mr. Berggen, I’m afraid you are mistaken in believing that no one is dying here because of these policies, either here or in your own nation.
You are right, though, that neither Sweden nor even the US are equipped to handle this invasion. In fact, raping Infidels is not just condoned in Islam, it is a core part of Jihad, and was practiced by the “Prophet” Muhammad himself.
More:
America used to believe that helping the people of Afghanistan to build their own functioning societies with a step-by-step approach to social progress was the best way forward. This might take time, but the problems of Afghanistan would eventually be solved on their soil, not in America. This was the rationale for ignoring when Afghan soldiers used Afghan boys for their own sexual pleasure. This was not the Taliban raping children, it was the same Afghan soldiers now looking for a way out of Afghanistan.
……………………
How could the problems of Afghanistan be solved if we were not even going to stand up *against child rape*? Sadly, this is rife in Islamic societies as well, both child “marriage” and the rape of “pearly boys”.
You are certainly correct that the US faces the same horrors that are now so common in Sweden and the rest of Europe with mass Muslim immigration. We are following the same road; we are just not as far down it…
Valhella says
Wow gravenimage! Brilliant missive – thanks. If only you were in Priti Patel’s job.
gravenimage says
Thank you so much, Valhella. High praise indeed.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Hello, Ronie Berggren. You refer to “the Marxist idea that criminals are the victims of their own criminality rather than responsible for their own actions.” To me, this is a surprising revelation. Please cite a passage to this effect in the writings of Karl Marx.
tgusa says
Mark,
I am sad I have to inform you but most everything that was thought up or written about in the past has been twisted around by this group or another to fit their modern day teachings.
tgusa says
What I am saying is no one today can determine the true truth about anything in the past because you wont find the truth on the internet. You have to go back to old books to figure out the truth in any and all of it. And still, some of that might be untruth. When history is written without the truth that history cannot be relied on. And so, we cant really blame people like Roni, He is commenting on things in our times using info that may have been untrue from way back when. This is not uncommon in today’s world.
gravenimage says
Mark, this may not have been an idea held by Karl Marx himself, but it is a bedrock trope of neo-Marxists today.
Linde Barrera says
Hi Ronie Berggren- Thank you for your article. I read on “taurillon.org” that an
estimated 18% of Swedes believe there
is a God, and about 57% of Swedes
belong to the Church of Sweden, which
is Lutheran. It appears to me that these numbers reveal Swedes place a bigger emphasis on church festivals and church
holidays as a way to gather with family,
friends and neighbors, and that this is
more important to them than learning
about God, His justice, His mercy, and
His salvation. Please correct me if my
assessment is wrong.
I think any person who commits the
barbaric acts of rape or murder deserves more than just 2-3 years in jail. Do
Swedish politicians believe victims of
rape and murder should be role models?
Please consider this statement which I
learned in college 50 years ago upon
listening to my Western World Literature Professor discussing Dante’s “Inferno”;
“The hottest places in hell are reserved
for those who remain uncommitted in a
time of crisis.”
Thank you for reading my comments.
Best wishes to you.
Hank says
Lessons from Sweden: From a Judeo-Christian perspective, I am afraid you cannot consider Sweden a Christian nation anymore. They have thrown out their Judeo-Christian culture and beliefs for socialism-Marxism. Rejected the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for Atheism, and other idols leaving a vacuum for Islam to fill and replace. Confusion reigns and Islam invited. I believe it started with Olof Palme and his socialist utopia.
Exchanging the Living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is not taken lightly – good things start disappearing:
Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. (Jeremiah 2:11)
I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:8)
And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. (Jeremiah 18:9-10)
He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again. (Job 12:23)
Exchanging the truth for a lie has very bad consequences for ANY nation as seen in the West.
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)
And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it. (Ezekiel 7:21)
Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. (Ezekiel 7:24)