Our puppet government in Afghanistan is collapsing
The Afghan army, an army that we've armed and trained for 20 years, at the cost of hundreds of billions of dollars, is collapsing before an army that is only a fraction of its size.
Maybe the problem isn't the amount of guns, bombs, and men.
Taliban insurgents tightened their grip on captured Afghan territory on Tuesday as civilians hid in their homes, and a European Union official said the militants now control 65% of the country after a string of gains as foreign forces pull out.
2017
2018
The number of provincial capitals falling is recent days is striking.
2021
Aug. 6 - ZARANJ. The Taliban take over the city in Nimroz province in the south of the country, the first provincial capital to fall to the insurgents since they stepped up attacks on Afghan forces in early May.
- Aug. 7 - SHEBERGHAN. The Taliban declare they have captured the entire northern province of Jawzjan, including its capital Sheberghan. Heavy fighting is reported in the city, and government buildings are taken over by the insurgents. Afghan security forces say they are still fighting there.
- Aug. 8 - SAR-E-PUL. The insurgents take control of Sar-e-Pul, capital of the northern province of the same name. It is the first of three provincial centres to fall on the same day. read more
- Aug. 8 - KUNDUZ. Taliban fighters seize control of the northern city of 270,000 people, regarded as a strategic prize as it lies at the gateway to mineral-rich northern provinces and Central Asia. Government forces say they are resisting the insurgents from an army base and the airport.
- Aug. 8 - TALOQAN. The capital of Takhar province, also in the north, falls to the Taliban in the evening. They free prisoners and force government officials to flee.
- Aug. 9 - AYBAK. The capital of the northern province of Samangan is overrun by Taliban fighters.
There are only 34 provincial capitals, so at this rate the Kabul government will collapse by the end of the month.
The news media and the politicians are all reporting "How can we leave them?" as if staying for another couple decades was the moral thing to do.
They never bother to mention the Afghanistan Papers, which revealed that a) the military always knew that the war was unwinnable and lied about it, and b) that roughly half of the money we spent in Afghanistan was stolen.
The Afghanistan Papers are less than two years old, and still no one is talking about them.
But even if that deception has been the main focus of reporting, the hundreds of interviews – with senior generals and Afghan governors, with ambassadors, aid officials and policy advisers – also tell another story: how successive presidents from Bush through Obama to Donald Trump, publicly rejected “nation-building” but created a violent, corrupt and dysfunctional state only barely propped up by US arms.They detail too how – like the Soviet Union before them – the US and its allies came so badly unstuck in Afghanistan through a combination of hubris and ignorance, and with a political leadership – both under Obama and Bush – more concerned with domestic politics than the impact of their decisions on Afghanistan.
I hate Biden, but unlike Trump, he has the courage to actually get us out.
Comments
Russia calls bullsh*t on our Syria occupation
call out
This is quite informative concerning involvement in Syria.
From the link a brief explainer.
This is what really happened.
I fully agree with your essay except for this.
Out but still heavily involved!
The MIC doesn't particularly care where the aircraft are based as long as the bombs keep dropping and their profits continue to increase.
Trump actually signed an agreement to get out
Biden first abrogated the agreement and then thought better of it. The Taliban were furious and
promised revenge on US troops.
There is nothing that I like about Biden. I thought that he was better on the environment, but
it turns out that he let more oil drilling leases in his first six months than Trump. Covid, delta, gamma and others is now on Biden's watch and he is doing a grade F job. I think that it is Arkansas
that now has the highest level of Covid hospitalization during this pandemic. Florida and
California are leading the nation in new infections per day. Trump did two significant things,
he immediately closed the border with China and he started operation Warp Speed to generate
vaccines. What has Biden done?
From CNN: (forgive me dear c99er)
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
We are talking a VERY low bar
Please don't mistake me for someone defending Biden, but he's is marginally better than Trump.
True, but Trump also at first promised to completely pull out of Afghanistan and then backed down and only pulled out half of the troops. We'd seen this act before in Syria. So you have to give Biden at least half credit for pulling out, when it was likely that Trump was going to cave again.
Yes, but states have more control over that then the president.
I'm not actually impressed with either of those things. I'd give Trump higher marks for pulling out of Somalia.
What did Biden do?
1) He stopped the pointless attempts at sanctioning Nord Stream.
2) He started talking to Iran again
3) He isn't Israel's bitch
4) He appears to be pushing through an infrastructure bill
5) this is the one that might be the most important, he's putting teeth into the anti-trust divisions
The anti-trust thing I've been meaning to make an essay about, but haven't gotten around to it.
That being said, Biden will burn in Hell. Nothing listed here will stop him from burning.
Well, unlike Trump,
Biden is not to blame for the increased covid infections - oh, no, we cannot blame Biden. We must blame the unvaccinated, although the vaccinated have brought about the variants as discussed in the video posted earlier today in the "Any Questions?" essay. Great videos in that one by commenters.
America has fallen back to sleep because their savior, Biden, is in office and making everything all better and not scaring them with every word. I don't care for Trump, at all, but Biden is worse. Our society is afraid of confronting the truth and only wants to live on easy street with their toys, games, TV's, electronics, etc. Anything to distract from reality. Sad.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Operation Inherent Resolve
Seems to be an outgrowth of Operation Enduring Freedom
Better names for them:
More Bombs (Syria)
and
Never-ending Farce (Afghanistan)
at least it's more truthful
The number of fallen capitals keeps growing.