Finally there’s an admission, of sorts, from some arm of the US government – the Pentagon in this case – that the war in Afghanistan was indeed lost and that 20 years of mistakes led to this outcome. Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Miley admitted as much but, much to the consternation of Islamabad, went on to say that the Taliban’s alleged ability to escape into Pakistan during these two decades of war contributed in no small manner to the defeat. It’s no surprise for Pakistan that it is being mentioned in this manner in debriefings in the US, though it is a bit of a shock that the American military is finally coming round to admitting that the war was indeed lost. However it will still be a while before such candid assessment of the withdrawal can be expected from the White House. For President Biden has squarely refused to admit that the final pullout was botched and his forces – by far the best fighting machine in the history of the world – came back humbled. What is more, almost two dozen Republican lawmakers have gone so far as to formalise the narrative that all that went wrong was Pakistan’s fault by calling for sanctions against the Taliban regime as well as anybody who assisted or aided them in any way over the last 20 years. And, once again, it’s no surprise that in utter frustration they too have tried to blame Pakistan for their country’s loss. America’s influence over the rest of the world allows it to get away with such excesses. It’s one thing to lose the war and leave an already war torn country much worse off. But it’s quite another to take no responsibility for it and, in fact, even cut off the poor country’s aid supply, besides freezing its central bank’s funds abroad. Now that the admissions have started coming, though, it shouldn’t be long before the US realises that funding the rebuilding of Afghanistan is also chiefly its responsibility. *