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US Hasn't Learnt From 9/11, Making Same Mistake With Ukraine: Indian Army Veteran

© AFP 2023 STAN HONDA In this file photo smoke billows from the twin towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, New York on September 11, 2001.
 In this file photo smoke billows from the twin towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, New York on September 11, 2001.  - Sputnik India, 1920, 11.09.2023
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This year marks 22 years since Islamist militants attacked the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon building. The attacks plunged America into the decades-long 'war on terror' against Afghanistan and Iraq.
America hasn't learnt from the Afghanistan experience and is making the same mistake by providing funds to Ukrainians, an Indian Army veteran has said.
The comments of Major General (Retd) A.K. Bardalai came at a time when the US has become a dividing force in the world, through its supply of weapons to Ukraine's Neo-Nazis.
In this light, Bardalai suggested that the 9/11 attack was a defining moment for the world for several reasons - beginning from the target, the country that was the US, the buildings which in this case were the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the method that was used to carry out the attacks, all of these things one never thought about.

9/11 Showed US was No Longer Invincible

"The 9/11 incident had far-reaching implications with the first being to tell the world that the so-called most powerful nation on the planet was no longer invincible," Bardalai told Sputnik India on Monday.
Furthermore, Bardalai underlined that the United States provoked the largest terrorist attack in history with its own hands by financing radical Islamists in Afghanistan in the 80s, which he said was a "grave mistake".

Washington's War on Terror Alienated the Islamic World

In Bardalai's opinion, the US war in Iraq was a result of Iran's growing influence in the neighboring country because Iraq's Shiite majority was in sync with the Shias of Iran, making Tehran more powerful in the region.
With this, he observed Washington alienated the entire Islamic world and when they attained this alienation of Muslims, Russia and China came closer to forge closer ties in the Middle East, especially with countries like Syria.
"Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, who was struggling to hold on to power in Damascus, miraculously survived a long civil war, on the back of the support by Beijing and Moscow," Bardalai explained.
The military analyst stated that the growing influence of Russia and China in the Islamic world, particularly in the Middle East at the same time when the region's countries have grown skeptical about the US' intentions, is shaping the region's geopolitics at the moment.
A case in point is the recent China-brokered peace deal between arch-foes Saudi Arabia and Iran, which seemed improbable at all times, Bardalai pointed out.
He asserted that after all, the two nations never saw eye to eye and were always in opposing camps. For example, Iran is close to Russia and China while Saudi Arabia has deep relations with the US.

End of Unipolar World

"This has led to the end of unipolarity in the world with the emergence of other power centers on the planet such as China, Russia, and India. Of late, India has emerged as the leader of the Global South, a fact given credence to New Delhi's successful conduct of the G20 summit, which resulted in the admission of the African Union in the powerful economic forum," Bardalai, who holds a doctorate in UN Peace Operations mentioned.
He expressed that despite all this, the world has become much more dangerous and unsafe due to the competing interests of countries, especially the United States with Russia and China.

America Hasn't Learnt From the Afghanistan Experience

"But whether Washington has learned from that experience or not should be the prime question today," he commented.
According to the former Indian Army officer, the US is making the same mistake by providing funds to Ukrainians who use the weapons they supply to carry out attacks against Russia.
He emphasized that the military conflict in Ukraine was not one between the Kiev regime and the Kremlin. Rather it was between Moscow and the West that was fighting it to save NATO from getting irrelevant and guarding Ukraine's sovereignty.
He articulated that the situation in Ukraine has been pushed by the instigation of the US and its European allies - money and equipment from the West on one hand and the Ukrainian troops on the other.

US Not Affected by the Vagaries of War

"Interestingly, far away separated by the Atlantic Ocean, the US is controlling the combat operations from a distance. But it is not affected by the vagaries of this war, not at all," Bardalai remarked.
Meanwhile, the European countries are among the worst affected as prices of energy and food are at an all-time high there. Some rich countries like the UK, are dealing with a cost of living crisis, where everything from bread to electricity has become costlier.
Yet America is not at all concerned about their problems because Washington is trying to reclaim its lost status of the sole power in the world, by someone else to fight on its behalf.

Profiteering Behind US Support to Ukraine

The international relations pundit signaled that though it is a strategic mistake that the US has made, Washington is making a profit out of this crisis. As per Bardalai's assessment, the US arms sales to Ukraine have already surpassed $43 billion and there's more to come.
Besides, America's arms industry has taken a boom, witnessing a 14 percent growth since the Ukraine-Russia confrontation began last year in February.
"America's arms industry needed a conflict to sell their weapons and for this, they lobbied hard with the US government to come out in support of Ukraine so that they could profit by supplying their military equipment to Kiev. That's why, they are dragging this conflict," he concluded.
Chevron FSB - Sputnik India, 1920, 07.09.2023
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