Proud? Not today. We’ve left our Afghanistan mates to die

ADF personnel board an RAAF aircraft in Townsville bound for Afghanistan.

“A proud Australian” is what I consider myself to be. And as ­Australians we have a great deal to be proud of.

This is a wealthy country with the best health system in the world. We give aid in cash and kind to other nations less fortunate than ourselves. We are good citizens in a world where some citizens don’t pull their weight or are more interested in selling arms than giving aid. Good citizens never abandon their mates when they hit hard times. For those we leave behind, the game they have to play has the highest possible stakes. If you lose, you die.

The Taliban is already dragging those who helped us from their homes and executing them.

Our efforts to save these brave souls are paltry at best, pathetic at worst. The fate to which we have left them is as cruel as it gets.

The thing you have to acknowledge about the Taliban is its fanatical dedication to wiping out those who dare to dissent. Its barbarism knows no bounds.

You can see the vision of these desperate souls clinging to the ­fuselage of the last flight out only to fall a few hundred feet and die an awful death. No dignity, just desperation. They probably reckon that this horrible death is far superior to having their heads lopped off by a Taliban warrior.

The amount of time and money poured into training the local army was a waste. Despite the best efforts of our SAS and others to put backbone into those fighting the Taliban, at the first whiff of grapeshot they ran back to their villages with their tails between their legs or turned 180 degrees and joined the Taliban. It was reminiscent of the efforts of the South Vietnamese Army battling the Vietcong. If the locals have no great desire to take up the fight, any foreign army is doomed.

Joe Biden leads a nation weary of war and US participation in any conflict. This caution is unlikely to dissipate any time soon.

The Taliban is styling itself as a liberator. The irony is it “liberates” people from freedom and enslaves them in a totalitarian nightmare.

The misery that accompanies every Taliban success is felt particularly by women. It will root out any attempt to educate girls, and will stamp on any efforts to give women even basic human rights.

Afghanistan was once an impregnable fortress that defied all attempts at capture. Alexander the Great could conquer all before him but he hit a hurdle he couldn’t jump on the way to Kabul.

The Russians had an almighty crack but fell well short despite thousands of their soldiers losing their lives. Now the US and its allies including Australia have been rebuffed yet again.

It would seem that no one ever gets the message: Afghanistan can only ever be governed, no matter how poorly, by its own.