- WIADOMOŚCI
American Admiral: You don’t want to fight alone
William H. McRaven wrote that if the US continues to show contempt for its allies, if it fails to appreciate their contribution to U.S. national security and broader global stability, someday the US will fight alone. He asked readers to believe him and warned that war is never a duel you want to fight alone. McRaven is a retired U.S. Navy admiral.
Photo. U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jacob N. Bailey
A remark by U.S. President Donald Trump suggesting that allied NATO forces were „holding back a bit” during missions in Afghanistan provoked outrage among many European leaders and military officials. Although a few days later the U.S. president used a post on Truth Social to praise the commitment of British troops (without mentioning service members of other nationalities), a bad taste remained. The former commander of U.S. special operations forces also decided to comment on the matter, arguing that such careless words could have very negative consequences for the United States.
He said they „paid a high price for standing by our side”
In an article for The Atlantic, Admiral William H. McRaven set out his point of view on European allies« involvement in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. McRaven, who became commander of U.S. Special Operations Command in 2008 and in 2011 was responsible for preparing and carrying out the famous Operation Neptune Spear (which resulted in the killing of longtime Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden), focused mainly on cooperation with the British.
McRaven noted that their work unquestionably saved the lives of American soldiers and our allies, and he added that the British Special Air Service (SAS) had undertaken one of the most difficult missions in the fight against terrorism, referring to operations against suicide-bomber networks in Baghdad.
He wrote that they had paid a high price for standing by our side, and he emphasized the importance of soldiers from other countries. McRaven said that many times he had stood on the tarmac at Bagram and Kandahar, paying final respects to soldiers from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Denmark and Germany. He added that many other countries joined the NATO mission and lost young men and women because we asked them for help — we asked for help and most did not hesitate. They understood the value of our alliance, he noted.
The American was also highly critical of those who seek to downplay allied contributions: McRaven said that anyone who diminished the service of our NATO allies had obviously never spent a day in uniform.
Polish involvement in Afghanistan
Let us recall that members of the armed forces of Poland, the United Kingdom and many other countries took part in operations in Afghanistan. More than 3,500 coalition soldiers were killed, the majority of them — nearly 2,500 — were Americans. The British Army suffered the second-largest number of casualties: 457 service members were killed. In Afghanistan 43 Polish soldiers and one civilian military employee were killed.
