We need a memorial to honor the dead in America’s longest war

If you served in Afghanistan or know someone who did, say a prayer of gratitude. Can you imagine giving your life for a country that is now crumbling in front of our eyes? 

The Taliban seized two Afghan provincial capitals on Sunday, including the strategically crucial northern city of Kunduz, a key commercial city and strategic hub. Since the United States withdrawal began, the Taliban have captured more than half of Afghanistan’s 400-odd districts. Their attacks on provincial capitals violates the 2020 peace deal between the Taliban and the U.S. Under that deal, which precipitated the American withdrawal from the country, the Taliban committed to not attacking provincial centers like Kunduz. So much for commitments.

 An exhausted Afghan military is doing its best, with remaining U.S. and NATO support to hold on to territory that the West helped solidify over two decades ago in what we think of as the “long war,” in which parents who served in Afghanistan saw their own grown children serve in the same war. 

With America withdrawing from Afghanistan, it is time to think about how we honor the brave men and women who fought there. 

American forces went to Afghanistan in October 2001 just weeks after the horrific attacks on 9/11 — that blue, cloudless day when planes crashed into buildings and fell to the ground, leaving 2,997 innocent souls to perish.

The initial purpose of the U.S. mission was to go after al Qaida and ultimately to kill Osama bin Laden, and we did. But our initial mission led to a lengthy mission to root out terrorism, protect our homeland and build civil society in a country ravaged by internal conflict. Our troops did what was asked of them and many came home wounded, physically and emotionally. Some died fighting for democracy. 

In all, a total of 2,312 US military personnel died in Afghanistan — almost a mirror image of the numbers lost on 9/11.  More than 20,00 have been wounded since 2001. Add to that the number of civilian deaths in Afghanistan, ranging from 35,000 to 40,000, and you have a tremendous loss of life, which continues.

More women and children were killed and wounded in Afghanistan in the first half of 2021 than in the first six months of any year since the United Nations began systematically keeping count in 2009, according to a U.N. report. 

So here we are just weeks away from the end of our engagement in Afghanistan and there is little discussion of how to remember those who went there over the course of 20 years. The U.S.-NATO withdrawal is more than 95 percent complete and due to be finished by Aug. 31. So it’s time to ask:

How do we honor the 2,312 U.S. military personnel who died in Afghanistan and the 20,066 American service members who have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since 2001? 

Many organizations honor veterans from foreign wars, including Iraq and Afghanistan. In honor of Women’s History Month, one veterans’ group is recognizing the more than 345,000 women who have deployed since 9/11, as well as all female veterans and service members.

Some veteran organizations are calling for the Biden administration to ensure the expeditious evacuation of all remaining Afghan applicants who want to come to the United States, and the Biden administration is committed to bringing back translators and support staff.

But we need a rallying cry to honor our own while we also doing right by Afghan citizens.

Around the country there are local veterans’ organizations with memorials to those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, including in Michigan, California, Massachusetts and other places.

But we need something based in Washington, D.C., where veterans from both Afghanistan and Iraq can be remembered.

Memorials are often built long beyond wars end — often too late for the survivors. Now is the time to put the plans in place before memories fade. The National Mall has limited space, but we should have unlimited love and appreciation for our troops and figure out where and how best to honor them beyond Arlington National Cemetery.

President Biden is rightly unwavering in his decision to bring home the troops from Afghanistan. “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build,” he has said. “And it’s the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country.”

It is also America’s right and responsibility to remind future generations about the sacrifices our troops made and to give veterans a place to remember.

Tara D. Sonenshine is a former U.S. under-secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs.