WASHINGTON AND LONDON -

One week before the end of his presidency on January 20, 2009, former US President George W. Bush awarded former British Prime Minister Tony Blair the Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor awarded to individuals who have made a special contribution to security or national interests. for the United States.

Bush described Blair, saying, "This is the true friend of the United States. He has faced historic challenges with great determination and was an example of the kind of statesman needed in his country and abroad."

Blair stood with Bush, Britain participated with the United States in its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and with the Taliban's return to power in recent days, no one heard the voice of the two former officials who once celebrated "the elimination of the Taliban and its removal from power in Afghanistan."

Tony Blair addressed the British Parliament in 2001, saying: I am proud that we contributed to the overthrow of the Taliban regime (Al-Jazeera)

Blair...a friend of war

“I am proud that we contributed to the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan,” the British Prime Minister addressed his country’s parliament immediately after the fall of Kandahar and the exit of Taliban fighters from it in December 2001, and the years are passing and the Taliban movement returns to the capital, Kabul, and controls all areas of the country.

Perhaps Tony is one of the most prominent faces chronicling the era of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it was he who announced immediately after the attacks of September 11, 2001, that he would stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the United States, and was keen on his country's participation in the first military operation in Afghanistan.

Tony Blair has not yet announced his position on what is currently happening in Afghanistan, although he justified his decision to intervene in those distant countries in order to "fight terrorism, protect the national security of his country, and protect the values ​​of Western democracy."

He was deaf, accompanied by George Bush, to the recommendation of then US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who demanded that the intervention be a "punishment and then withdrawal" without getting involved in a long-running battle.


The Five Questions Doctrine

For years, the duo Tony Blair and George Bush have been the most important defenders of the war in Afghanistan and its importance. Although it is not surprising from US President George W. Bush, many still blame Blair for his position on military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The reason for this admonition is what is known as the “Blair Doctrine”, which is a document he presented in 1999 at a conference in Chicago, which included the five criteria that must frame any Western military intervention in any region of the world, and in which he considered that the world should act only for humanitarian purposes.

This doctrine, which Blair believes that the world must adopt, poses 5 questions before intervening in any country, which is "Are we sure that what is happening in this country is crimes against humanity? Have all diplomatic options been exhausted? Are military operations conducted with caution and precision?" Are we ready for the long term? Finally, do we have national interests that require intervention?"

When applying this doctrine to the Afghan model, it will appear that it does not fit with Blair's theory more than two decades ago, so he says that his model needs to add, "What is the danger of Islamic extremism?"

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continued to pursue Tony Blair, and they were the reason for his removal from the leadership of the Labor Party, despite his maintaining a great influence on the British political scene, and his good relations with the Americans, who gave him the highest honors, in return for the support he gave them in their war in Afghanistan.

But so far, Tony hasn't answered the question: Was it really all worth it?

It is a question that is currently being repeated in all the British media that consider what happened in Kabul as a "historic insult to Britain", according to the description of the British newspaper "The Times".

One of George Bush's aides said he was very upset about the Taliban's control of Afghanistan (Reuters)

Bush: "War on Terror" and "Axis of Evil"

During his election campaign, George Bush pledged to pursue a modest foreign policy that reflected the American character of "the humility of real power, and the humility of true greatness." He compared his approach to the "arrogance" of the Bill Clinton administration, which "undermined American alliances, alienated its friends and emboldened its opponents."

Inevitably, all of this changed on September 11, 2001, as the attacks united America in a common grief and determination to eradicate Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Hours after the September 11 attacks while in Florida, George Bush returned to Washington and addressed the American people with the help of a biblical text that said, "Even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil, because you are with me."

Bush summoned religion for his war on terrorism, a war that he never imagined would extend to 3 American presidents after him, and would cost Americans a lot of blood.

President Bush responded to the "terrorist attacks" with a "war on terror", and identified the "axis of evil," whose members remain a constant headache for the United States;

North Korea has a nuclear weapon, Iran is still intent on acquiring nuclear capabilities and expanding regionally, while Iraq is not far from Tehran's influence.

Addressing a joint session of Congress on September 20, 2001, President Bush announced a new approach to foreign policy in response to the September 11 attacks, "Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there, and it will not end until every terrorist group is found." preventing it from spreading worldwide, stopping it, and defeating it.”

A small CIA strike force arrived in Afghanistan two weeks after the 9/11 attacks, and used the money to buy the cooperation of enemies of the Taliban, rival militias, and warlords.

Bush did not mind cooperating with the warlords who had been running and destroying Afghanistan for many years in order to eliminate the Taliban.

US air strikes allowed Afghan fighters to push the Taliban out of the capital, Kabul.

But bin Laden - Bush's main target - has disappeared.

On Monday, Karl Rove, a top Bush aide, told Fox News that President Bush was "deeply upset about the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan."

And George Bush left power after 8 years in the White House to his farm under the burning Texas sun, leaving his country suffering in the quagmire of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Twenty years after starting the war and defeating the Taliban, the Taliban are back in control of a country exhausted from a war that George Bush did not define victory for.