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| Courtesy CNN: "Evacuees crowd the interior of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, carrying some 640 Afghans to Qatar from Kabul, Afghanistan on August 15. (Defense One/Reuters)" |
What we are left with for sure, is a humanitarian disaster. Here are some thoughts...from the experts:
The Experts:
~ From Foreign Policy :
Don't miss all of the sections:
Special Reports: Leaving Afghanistan
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~ From Informed Comment:
Excellent Reports going all the Way Back:
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~ From Democracy Now ! :
Fantastic, relevant reports and interviews since 2001: Do Not Miss !
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A must read...and as with the other links, you can sign up for their newsletter (free):
~ From The Conversation:
By,
Professor Emeritus, American University School of International Service
Updated August 17, 2021 4.45pm EDT
Powerful :
Afghanistan Only The Latest US War To Be Driven By Deceit and Delusion
"In Afghanistan, American hubris – the United States’ capacity for self-delusion and official lying – has struck once again, as it has repeatedly for the last 60 years.
This weakness-masquerading-as-strength has repeatedly led the country into failed foreign interventions. The pattern first became clear to me when I learned on Nov. 11, 1963, that the U.S. embassy and intelligence agencies had been directly involved in planning a coup to depose the president of South Vietnam and his brother, leading to their executions.
I was a Fulbright Fellow, starting a long career in national security policymaking and teaching, studying in Europe. On that day, I was in a bus on a tour of the battlefields of Ypres, Belgium, led by a French history professor.
As I watched the grave markers sweep by, I was reading a report in Le Monde exposing this U.S. effort to overthrow another government and I thought, “This is a bad idea; my country should not be doing this.” And the war, in which the U.S. was directly involved for 20 years, marched on.
The American people were told we had no hand in that coup. We did not know that was a lie until The New York Times and Washington Post published the Pentagon Papers in 1971. By then, 58,000 Americans and possibly as many as 3.5 million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians had died – and the goal of preventing the unification of Vietnam had died as well.
For 15 years, the American foreign policy establishment struggled to overcome what it called the “Vietnam Syndrome” – the rational reluctance of the American people to invade and try to remake another country.
American hubris reemerged, this time as “the global war on terror.” Afghanistan is now the poster child for the sense that the U.S. can remake the world.
‘A sea of righteous retribution’
Osama bin Laden gave American interventionists eager for the next fight a huge justification – an attack on the U.S., which washed the Vietnam Syndrome away in a sea of righteous retribution against al-Qaida.
The al-Qaida attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon also gave interventionists the opening to invade Iraq, as an extension of the war on terror. We built on the terrorism lie – Saddam Hussein was no friend of the 9/11 terrorists – by arguing that he had weapons of mass destruction. American hubris ran the full course as we invaded another country, overthrew its government and aimed to build a new nation, all of which have kept American troops in a dysfunctional Iraq for 18 years.
And the truth, which insisted on penetrating the American delusion, was that the war meant the deaths of 8,500 American troops and civilians and at least 300,000 Iraqis as well. No modern, rebuilt Iraqi nation has emerged.
And now the country faces the dark at the end of the tunnel in Afghanistan, where lying and self-delusion have continued for 20 years.
An initial mission intended to remove the Taliban and close the al-Qaida training camps succeeded, though Osama bin Laden slipped away for another 10 years. But hubris kept the U.S. from stopping there.
The mission expanded: create a modern democracy, a modern society and, above all, a modern military in a country with little history of any of those things.
A new generation of U.S. officials in uniform and policymaker suits and dresses fooled the American people and themselves by lying about how well the effort was going.
The failure was actually there to see, this time, well documented by the systematic auditing and reporting of the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, John Sopko. But government officials and the media blew by those truths, giving voice instead to the lies out of more visible officials’ mouths. The human price tag of hubris grew – 6,300 U.S. military and civilian deaths, and an understated estimate of 100,000 Afghan deaths.
Three strikes and you’re out
Three times now this country has been lied to and the media deluded as America marched stolidly over the cliff into failure.
Recriminations are flying back and forth – who lost Afghanistan is the latest version of who lost Vietnam, Iraq and, for those with long memories, all the way back to 1949 and “who lost China.” What America has lost is, I believe, the capacity to learn, to learn from history and from our own experience.
I’d argue that no one who was paying attention should be surprised that the Taliban swept back into Kabul in a nanosecond. Or that a failed enterprise like the Afghan national army collapsed. Army and special operator trainers who went there could see the corruption, the personnel who left in the night and the disdain for corrupt political authorities in that army.
Many brave, honorable Afghans fought there, but the cohesion and commitment, the belief in their mission, was not there.
By contrast, the Taliban were organized, dedicated and coherent, and armed and trained for the actual combat taking place, not for European-style trench and tank warfare. The Taliban clearly had a plan that worked for that country, as the speed of the takeover shows. It succeeded; the U.S. and the Kabul regime failed in what became mission impossible.
The fall of Kabul was inevitable. Washington, once again, deluded itself into thinking otherwise. The secretary of state said, “This is not Saigon.”
It is Saigon. It is Baghdad. It is Kabul."
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More experts....
Where would we be without Jeffrey St. Claire ? You might want to grab that bottle of Jack Daniels...seriously, a great synopsis plus he posted my all time favorite, Peter Rowan, god bless his heart. Ya'll know Jeffrey graduated Mensa, all the think tanks want him but he is too hot to handle. I need to join Facebook so I can comment...except I don't like Facebook, oh well.
~ From Counterpunch
Just an excerpt, you have to read the full report:
"+ The fact that the anti-vaxx movement has more passion, energy, anger and sway, protesting for the freedom to expose themselves and others to mass death, than the climate movement can come close to generating in its campaign to save life on Earth as we (once) knew it, says pretty much everything you need to know about how royally fucked our predicament really is."
Roaming Charges: When the Empire of Graveyards Falls in the Graveyard of Empires
Live Updates:
~ From CNN:
Live Updates - 08/21/21
CNN did not have their live updates up this morning ?? But they did have this:
ISIS Terror Threat Forces US Military to Establish Alternate Routes to Kabul Airport
Live Updates - 08/20/21
The Latest on Afghanistan as the Taliban Take Charge
Live Updates: 08/19/21
The Latest On Afghanistan as the Taliban Take Charge
By Kara Fox, Aditi Sangal, Jessie Yeung, Steve George, Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya and Melissa Mahtani, CNN
Live Updates - 08/18/21
The Latest On Afghanistan As Taliban Take Charge
By Meg Wagner, Melissa Mahtani, Melissa Macaya, Mike Hayes, Joshua Berlinger, Brad Lendon, Aditi Sangal and Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN
Live Updates - 08/18/21
The Latest On Afghanistan as Taliban Take Charge
Live Updates: 08/17/21
By Aditi Sangal, Kara Fox, Joshua Berlinger, Brad Lendon, Melissa Macaya, Melissa Mahtani and Meg Wagner, CNN
Updated 5:22 PM ET, Tue August 17, 2021
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I thought Biden did the right thing pulling out, but disappointed so far in his approach to the human element. Our intelligence had to know the Afghan Army would fold and run as well as the so-called "leadership" of Ghani and his amigos who made immediate bank withdrawals and split - why weren't any concessions made in advance to help the people evacuate somewhat orderly instead of in utter chaos and make provisions for guaranteed placement ?
Apparently, Bernie is working on it:
~ From Truthout:
Bernie Sanders, Barbara Lee Call For Opening US To Refugees From Afghanistan
"Progressive lawmakers are calling on the U.S. to accept Afghan refugees as the Taliban has taken over the country, forcing at least thousands of residents to attempt to flee.
After the Afghanistan government collapsed, the Kabul airport has been flooded with Afghans desperate to flee the country. Particularly striking footage Monday showed hundreds of Afghans attempting to cling to a U.S. Air Force plane that was taking off. Meanwhile, earlier that day in Afghanistan, five people were killed at the Hamid Karzai International Airport amid chaos.
The United Nations (UN) has warned of a coming refugee crisis as conditions worsen drastically for the people of Afghanistan. It also said that the vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees who have fled the country over the past months have been women and children.
Some countries are bracing for the sudden influx of refugees; Canada last week announced that it would be offering refuge to 20,000 Afghans, with an emphasis on women, children and LGBTQ people. Mediterranean countries have requested European Union-level talks on the situation.
But the U.S. has yet to announce any mass refugee resettlement plans. President Joe Biden has been relatively quiet and, on Friday, Reuters reported that the U.S. is searching for countries willing to temporarily house Afghan refugees who have worked for the U.S. government. The U.S. is reportedly considering other resettlement plans but officials are still discussing details.
Biden has announced that he will address the nation on Afghanistan on Monday afternoon.
Progressives on Twitter say that the U.S. should open its doors to refugees immediately — not just because of the morality of the matter, but also because of the U.S’s role in imperializing the country and killing civilians, adding to chaos and destruction in the country over the past two decades.
“Foreign policy matters: After 20 years of U.S. effort,” wrote Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), “Afghanistan was left with a corrupt government and an ineffectual military. At this moment, we must do everything we can to evacuate our allies and open our doors to refugees.”
“If we don’t start putting everyday people first, no matter what country they’re born in, this will keep happening,” wrote Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) on Sunday. “Let’s start by opening our country to shelter refugees fleeing the consequences of our actions.”
Tlaib also pointed out that, while the U.S. has waged its forever war in Afghanistan, politicians and arms dealers have profited greatly from the conflict. “Innocent people suffer the horrors of war while political leaders and arms-dealing corporations sit back and make billions,” she said.
Indeed, on top of the hundreds of thousands of people killed over the past 20 years in the country, the U.S. has also spent over $2.2 trillion on the war, according to research from Brown University.
Defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have profited massively from the U.S.’s military spending over the past decades. Members of Congress with stock in such companies, meanwhile, have profited from the aggressive U.S. defense spending — spending that the lawmakers themselves authorize.
As Republicans scramble over messaging on Biden’s troop withdrawal from the country, liberal and Republican war hawks alike are saying that the Taliban’s takeover is justification for the U.S. troops to stay in the country, citing lies from American officials that the war is effectual in preventing terrorism.
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California) pushed back against that idea over the weekend. “What’s happening in Afghanistan currently is a humanitarian crisis. Let’s be clear: there has never been, and will never be, a U.S. military solution in Afghanistan,” she wrote. “Our top priority must be providing humanitarian aid and resettlement to Afghan refugees, women, and children.”
Indeed, many progressive advocates have said for decades that the U.S. should never have engaged in war in Afghanistan to begin with, arguing that the war would and has done more harm than good, especially to the citizens of Afghanistan.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) argued as such last year when she introduced a proposal to accelerate the U.S.’s withdrawal from the country and end the war. But she was shot down by Republicans and a whopping 103 Democrats in the House who voted down her proposal."
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That is right - we never should have been there in the first place.
Over and Out For Now.
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edit 08/19: We haven't heard much about this group, maybe the experts will throw a bit of light on this one - even though I know many of you think this is an unreliable source:
~ From Telesur:
Published 18 August 2021 (18 hours 20 minutes ago)
The Panjshiris Set Armed Resistance Against the Taliban
The National Resistance Front begins its operations from a territory that has never been conquered either by foreigners or Afghans.
The National Resistance Front begins its operations from a territory that has never been conquered either by foreigners or Afghans.
"Former Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who declared himself Afghanistan's acting president on Tuesday, met with Ahmad Massoud in Bashir City in Iraq. From there, they will gather supporters, tanks, and planes to fight the Taliban. Both called on Afghans to work towards a revolution against the Islamic Emirate.
Therefore, Afghanistan is back into a civil war scenario between the Taliban and the Panjshiri, a Tajik ethnic community which played an important role in the resistance against the Soviet occupation (1979-1989). They inhabit the mountainous areas north of Kabul.
“The Panjshir Province… is still free from the Taliban… Panjshir, which translates to ‘Five Lions from Persia’, has never been conquered, either by foreigners or the Afghans. It remains a liberated zone,” India Today recalled.
Ahmad Massoud is the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was both a guerrilla commander during the fight against the Soviet army and a leading opposition commander against their Taliban’s first government (1996-2001).
Two days before the 9/11 attacks in 2011, he was assassinated by two alleged journalists linked to Al Qaeda who detonated an explosive charge hidden in a fake camera. Since then, the Panjshiri have created a very strong cult to his memory through photographs in which he appears with a rebel-style beret.
The Taliban have already begun to face the many complex internal issues in the country, the most important being the difficult economic situation, in which the Afghan currency fell to record low, while citizens fear the disruption of food supplies if the borders with neighboring countries remain closed.
Some sources pointed out that the new government will include long-time Afghan leaders such as former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Islamic Party leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and the former chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah.
The Taliban are also developing a strategy to include all religious sects in a political process away from hostility and sectarian strife. Pakistan is moving forward with a dialogue process with Afghan leaders, including the speaker of the Afghan parliament of the former ousted government, aiming to strengthen the mechanisms for dialogue and ensure successful negotiations, primarily focused on stabilizing the security situation."
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Except the Taliban has all the U.S. weapons now, right ?
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edit 08/19:
What a treat ! Wow ! Honored and completely stoked: Professor Gordon Adams responds:
Marjorie Drake-Grisak
logged in via Google
Gordon Adams
Professor Emeritus, American University School of International Service
Marjorie Drake-Grisak
logged in via Google
Gracias Professor Adams. I kind of thought telesur was jumping the gun…yikes, and they still are promoting Daniel Ortega, who initially we liked…but now no.
Take care, get your booster !
Well, let's hope everyone gets out safely. And pray. What a disaster. Take care guys.
Well, you nailed it and we loved it. Any thoughts on the Panjshiris - or are they just a flickering candle? P.S. Glad you mentioned 1949 China.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/The-Panjshiris-Set-Armed-Resistance-Against-the-Taliban-20210818-0006.html?utm_source=planisys&utm_medium=NewsletterIngles&utm_campaign=NewsletterIngles&utm_content=14