{"id":192654,"date":"2021-08-30T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T11:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=192654"},"modified":"2021-08-22T08:27:26","modified_gmt":"2021-08-22T07:27:26","slug":"i-was-a-marine-in-afghanistan-we-sacrificed-lives-for-a-lie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/08\/i-was-a-marine-in-afghanistan-we-sacrificed-lives-for-a-lie\/","title":{"rendered":"I Was a Marine in Afghanistan. We Sacrificed Lives for a Lie."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Illustration by The New York Times
Photograph by Scott Olson\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

16 Aug 2021 – <\/em>The Afghan cities fall in rapid succession, like men caught in enfilade fire. First Zaranj<\/a>, Kunduz a few days later, then Kandahar and Lashkar Gah. Next is Mazar-i-Sharif. And finally, the Taliban begin their move to swiftly and decisively take Kabul.<\/p>\n

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I watch this news, and at first I feel nothing. But at night I return once more to Afghanistan. There is a nightmare: The enemy and I are in each other\u2019s sights. Who will shoot first? I squeeze, but the trigger freezes. The Taliban fighter\u2019s finger curls. I wake. I have had this dream for 10 years, ever since returning from Afghanistan, but now it feels as though it has become real.<\/p>\n

Decades of war are dissolved in weeks. The Taliban advance with a speed that reminds me of the American conquest of Baghdad. There are other similarities: Taliban troops enter the gilded compounds of our corrupt Afghan allies and marvel at the evidence of years of American aid stolen by their former government leaders.<\/p>\n

During the day my thoughts become preoccupied by the past. I hear a squad on the other end of the radio pinned down, a report about a Marine hit, the crack of fear in the sergeant\u2019s voice, clock ticking as the blood pours from the 19-year-old\u2019s neck; we race to send the helicopter that will arrive too late.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n