This is the assessment from Peter Viggo Jakobsen, who is an associate professor at the Defense Academy.
– The mission was successful because the Danish soldiers solved their tasks in a professional and exemplary manner.
– But the patient died because we did not achieve the overall goal of the operation: to make Afghanistan a safe and stable place.
– The success we had on the battlefield was not exchanged for lasting peace. And that was the real goal of being in Afghanistan, he says.
In an update on Danish missions, the Armed Forces has stated that Denmark has formally begun the withdrawal of Danish soldiers in Afghanistan.
The first Danish soldiers came to Afghanistan in January 2002, and since then the mission has developed into the bloodiest of the international efforts that Denmark has participated in in recent times.
It has previously been announced that the withdrawal must be completed by 11 September.
It is the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States, which led to the so-called war on terror and the US invasion of Afghanistan in the autumn of 2001.
According to Peter Viggo Jakobsen, Denmark’s efforts in Afghanistan have shown that the Danish soldiers are “really skilled”.
In addition, with the effort, Denmark has ensured that it still has a relatively high star with NATO, just as relations with the British and Americans are good.
In the future, however, we will look back on an effort that was “too costly”, the defense lecturer believes.
– We already have today what can be called a “never again Afghanistan” effect, where instead of deploying combat soldiers and fighting, we have started to support local parties so that they can fight their wars themselves.
– So we have learned not to try to fight other people’s wars. That is why we now see Denmark making other forms of efforts in Iraq, the Sahel, Mali and elsewhere, says Peter Viggo Jakobsen.
44 Danish soldiers have lost their lives in connection with their efforts in Afghanistan. In addition, 214 Danish soldiers have been wounded. Several of them have lost limbs as a result of roadside bombs.
On Thursday, it was announced that both NATO and the United States have begun the withdrawal of soldiers. And also Danish troops are on their way home.
Source: The Nordic Page