– It is unbelievable how little we have gained from 20 years of effort. The results we have achieved have completely disappeared, and we are back at the start, says Claus Stenberg.
He is a spokesman for the Veterans Alliance, which consists of soldiers who have been sent on missions in the Balkans, Iraq, Africa and Afghanistan, among others.
– Overall, it is very difficult to point out some positive results that we have received for the billions of kroner and the lost human lives it has cost, says Claus Stenberg.
Some of what has gone wrong in the eyes of the spokesman is a lack of an overall goal for the effort.
– There are many things that have gone wrong. But, among other things, there was a lack of a purpose to the mission. The goal has been constantly shifted.
– First, the goal was to fight the terrorist organization al-Qaeda. Then it was time to build schools and wells. And finally, the mission was to train the Afghan forces to take care of security themselves.
– Today we can see that we have not gotten much out of it, says Claus Stenberg.
Niels Hartvig Andersen is national chairman of Denmark’s Veterans and has himself been sent to Afghanistan.
He says he has been following developments in Afghanistan “with a bleeding heart”.
In the President’s opinion, there was a lack of a clear plan for the reconstruction of Afghan civil society.
– One thing is that soldiers can create peace and security. But what is the task then? We have not been good enough to make a plan for building civil society, says Niels Hartvig Andersen.
44 Danish soldiers have died in Afghanistan – including 37 in direct combat operations.
Their death has not been in vain, the veteran chairman believes.
– There are no soldiers who have died in vain. Because I believe and hope that somewhere a seed has been sown in the Afghans for equality and democracy and our values.
He calls on the politicians at Christiansborg to set up a commission that can investigate further what went wrong in connection with the efforts in the country.