On 24 May 2000 the last Israeli soldier left Lebanon after 18 years of war. A few months earlier I completed my national service as an IDF operations sergeant, serving in command centres on the Lebanese border. Back then I watched the withdrawal with relief; happy that the roadside bombs, shelling, Hezbollah attacks on convoys and outposts, the wounded and the killed – everything that had been my daily reality for two years – was now a thing of the past.
Today I watch the withdrawal of American and British forces out of Afghanistan with dread. There are differences between Israel’s involvement in Lebanon and the involvement in Afghanistan; there are also differences between Hezbollah and al-Qaeda and the Taliban. But the two conflicts also have much in common and important lessons can be learnt from the Israeli experience.
Following the 1982 war, Israel’s main objectives for remaining in Southern Lebanon were to reduce risk from the terrorist organisations by creating a buffer zone and limiting Syrian presence close to the border.
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