Before taking public office, Western Massachusetts State Senator Adam Hinds spent years working for the United Nations in the Middle East. His tasks ranged from reconstructing Iraq to removing chemical weapons in Syria from 2005 to 2014. Hinds spoke with WAMC about the chaotic conclusion to the war in Afghanistan – a two-decade conflict that saw tens of thousands of Afghans and thousands of US troops die. The Democrat calls the American withdrawal a disaster and says the rapid disintegration of the US-backed Afghan government is a stark reminder about the risks of intervening abroad.
HINDS: I joined the United Nations in June of 2005 and went to Baghdad. I was a political officer. And we were focused at the time on Iraq reconstruction, and given the moment, it was supporting the constitution drafting. There were three election events in one year. And I was also focused on a kind of violence reduction effort in Baghdad. Left for a while to work on Iraq from headquarters in New York, and came back to focus on disputed internal boundaries between the Kurdistan region in the north and the rest of the country. About a year or two later, I was pulled to the Middle East peace process, and was based in Jerusalem from 2011 to 2013. And I was the regional guy, so I spent a lot of time in Cairo and Beirut and Amman, Damascus, and Syria had already kind of- The civil war had really kicked off, so I didn't spend as much time there. But then I left the Middle East peace process and focused on Syria, and was starting to be a part of the post-Assad transition and what the UN would do and the international community to do when the chemical weapons attack happened in August of 2013. And so we were then all hands on deck and removing Syria’s chemical weapons program, and I was the political person on that team. And so, in and out of Damascus during that process.
WAMC: What was your reaction to the rapid fall of the Afghan government to Taliban forces with the official withdrawal of US forces?
Well, I think it was probably surprising to nobody that the Afghanistan government fell. I think the pace at which it fell is what caught everyone off guard. And so it's a real shame. I mean, I guess it's also a clear lesson in, you have a war that started 20 years ago with one purpose and the goals, sometimes stated, other times, not clear and incoherent, were very different right now. And so it's a real lesson in the problems of starting wars that you don't know how to finish.
There's been a lot of criticism of President Joe Biden from either side of the aisle – including from one of your fellow Democrats here in Massachusetts, Seth Moulton – over the way in which operations officially ended in Afghanistan. What are your thoughts on that criticism? Is it warranted?
Well, I think most agree that getting out when we have mission creep in the overall approach to Afghanistan- It was leading to the fact that we had unachievable goals. And so leaving made sense. It came down to the timeline, and what actions in the lead up to that timeline. Do you stick with the May withdrawal that was agreed to under the Trump administration? Do you wait past the fighting season? I think the consensus is by doing so you would have forced the Taliban's hand. And so the timing and the actions in this summer period were the problem. So the president was in a tough spot, for sure. But could we have started evacuations earlier? You know, probably. I think the answer is yes. And so the handling of the withdrawal was just a disaster.
What is the return of the Taliban to power mean for the region, based on your experience working in the Middle East?
Well, look, I mean, it's moving in the wrong direction when it comes to just fundamental human rights and democracy and standing up for stability. And so I think this is a moment when we would, the international community would work to stand up something of a compact, right? You would agree, you would use our leverage where we have it. I think it comes in the form of either international recognition of certain steps are met, holding money or releasing money, creating sanctions or withdrawing sanctions, and beyond. Engaging in trade, international assistance, in exchange for very clear goals by the Taliban. And that includes right now allowing folks to leave who have the documentation and the desire. So the transportation corridors, not using the territory to support terrorism, basic rights, including for women and girls. And so, this is something that would typically take place and there is considerable leverage there. And so, I think now is the time for the international community to start to think of how we can shape the day after.
Digging into that international community angle, are there parallel experiences in the region or internationally that you could point to as an example of how the international community might be reacting to this, and how it might move forward from here?
I think in the short term, the attention will be on the humanitarian aid and assistance and security of Afghanis. And so that means we're going to have, there's going to be a UN Security Council meeting this afternoon, Monday afternoon, with a proposal on the table to create a UN zone around the airport to allow for the continued transportation out of the country. And so that would go beyond the August 31st deadline without the US guarding the airport. And so that's an important piece where the international community can and should and must come together to say, well, let's create a safe zone here. And that's something that the UN and the international community has experience doing. It wouldn't necessarily amount to a peacekeeping force. And some countries have already stated, including Russia, that that's not what the resolution would do. But it can at least create some stability around the airport and allow for a continuation of transportation out of Afghanistan.
Looking at American intervention and foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last two decades at this point, what is the takeaway from the results of the lives lost and the money spent? I think there's a lot to reflect on on that, seeing the longest war in American history and in these scenes of chaos in Kabul.
Yeah. I mean, it's so difficult. I lost one of my good friends in Afghanistan and spent- I haven't spent time in Afghanistan, but I spent a lot of time in Iraq. And you really- One thing that really jumps out at you is, you better be very clear on why you're intervening in a foreign country, and have very clear, timely goals for how and when you're leaving. And so there are unintended consequences in every one of these interventions, and I was against the Iraq war. And even though I ended up spending so much time there, it really, it can have a tremendously destabilizing effect over the long haul. And so I think it's, when you look at 20 years of this intervention, and at the extreme costs in life and treasure, we just need to take a look at the whole range of problems. There's an interesting report that a lot of people are referring to, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, and very methodically says, there was no coherent strategy. The timelines were constantly wrong. The US did not understand the Afghan context and on and on and on, and that that became obvious right from the start in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
In that community of folks working for the UN and working for international peace efforts, what's the conversation like at this pivotal moment in Middle Eastern history with the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan? What are you hearing from folks who you know from that world?
I mean, I think everyone right now is focused on safety and trying to do everything they can to make sure that folks who are trying to leave and have the ability to leave can, and so I'm part of text chains as well that we've been hearing about and seeing that folks are trying to find anybody who still has contacts on the ground or otherwise. And so I think that's the big piece. I think, you know, as we've seen another conflicts, including in Syria where I was involved, there's a lot of attention on, how do you make sure that the Afghan residents don't suffer. And so there's a real attention in the first instance to humanitarian aid and the like. I mean, we're talking about a major shift in how a government on the ground can function. 80% of the Afghan budget in the spring was controlled by the US. Something like 40% to 50% of the entire economy is driven by international aidm I believe the World Bank said. And so, if a lot of that is going away, we're now on the cusp of yet another humanitarian disaster inside Afghanistan. And so there's a lot of attention to that as well and preparing for what happens next.
