Stop the Idiocracy: War on Terror

Showing posts with label War on Terror. Show all posts

Thursday, May 22, 2025

Two dead in Israeli embassy massacre. As the gunman screamed 'Free Palestine' during his arrest, America's moral bankruptcy has been laid bare

AFP/Getty

VIDEO VIA BBC NEWS—the moment the Washington DC Jewish Museum shooting suspect is detained

Every remaining reasonably minded individual in the former United States who continues to value Israel and the Jewish people as friends—Democrat, Republican, or otherwise, all dwindling in number—must, at this very instant, forcefully reaffirm their unwavering solidarity. Antisemitism is running rampant across the political spectrum, and it is rapidly becoming perilous for Jews to merely exist in this dying nation. The West as a whole is being consumed by the same ancient hatred that birthed the Holocaust. Europe has been gradually succumbing to its Islamised hordes for the past two decades, yet until very recently America offered a safe haven, its populace overwhelmingly in support of Israel’s right to exist. A dramatic shift has undeniably occurred: a dark energy has taken root in hearts and minds.

Increasingly, America’s useful idiots applaud as antisemitic mobs, or lone gunmen as was apparently the case in this incident, render the streets unsafe for Jews. It is 1938 replaying before our eyes. God will ensure that the former United States and its people are punished as severely as ordinary Germans were in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War; not solely for betraying the Jewish people, but for abandoning every value and tenet they ever purported to hold dear. Judgement invariably befalls nations that forsake the guardians of civilisation. —Arthur Newhook, 22 May 2025.

Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 on X-TWITTER, and at the same handle on FACEBOOK. BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. REDDIT - https://www.reddit.com/r/StopTheIdiocracy/new/. THREADS - @arthurnewhook. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

A few words for the leader of the Roman Catholic church regarding the prelate’s meetings with Israelis and their opponents

Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square. Photo: AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

AP: Pope meets relatives of Israeli hostages and Palestinians in Gaza and sets off firestorm over words - Señor Bergoglio, and all those who have need to hearken so: This war shall cease only upon the complete obliteration and dismantling of Hamas. Israel engages in battle for its very survival, it has the right to exist. As for the denizens of Gaza - much akin to adherents of #Cult45 in the 'red' states, only on a greater scale - suffer under the oppression wrought by their own kin. Cease this equivocation, bothsidesism, for it hath only contributed to the proliferation of the antisemitic rhetoric that is reaching an intolerable extent.

I do perceive Islamists and their accomplices, as well as all who form #Cult45 in #Murica, as greatly resembling each other. The Arab Muslims dwelling in Gaza and the West Bank endure hardship for the reason that many amongst them were long since indoctrinated to accuse Jews, Christians, and anyone but their actual oppressors for their wretchedness. Especially in rural domains, the diverse factions constituting the Trump alliance suffer due to their consistent voting against their own welfare. I harbor little compassion for those who lend their support to the Fascist Trump and the traitorous modern GOP, nor do I possess much pity for most 'Palestinians.' Ye have all brought these miseries upon thyselves, and, alas, upon the rest of us as well.

Pray for peace as thou wilt, Pope Francis, but relative tranquility shall only arise through the utter destruction of the agents of death - chiefly Hamas, and all the other bands of Jihadi terrorists that ply their trade in the region. Peace for Israel shall emerge from the crucible of conflict, and none have the authority to pass judgment upon Israel for it. Across centuries, Jews have waged battles for their very survival in every corner of the globe they've dwelt. The Holocaust ought to stand as the ultimate admonition, yet multitudes in this world yearn to reenact its horrors, and their unholy numbers swell. There exists no moral equivalence; Israel must prevail, whatever the cost!

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social, and @arthurnewhook on POST and THREADS.

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Why is America still funding the Taliban?

World Atlas

OUTRAGE: ‘The US government’s Afghanistan watchdog told lawmakers Wednesday that he cannot say with certainty that US aid to the country is “not currently funding the Taliban.”’ - Simple solution here: Cut off all aid to Afghanistan, once and for all. Americans and many others gave their blood for those people over a twenty-year period, and this is the thanks they get in the end? Use those funds to help fund Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression. On that note, isn’t it amazing that Ukrainians are fighting like Hell and greatly appreciate every bit of aid they receive; yet, Americans are intent on seeing Ukrainians as to blame for their plight, and Putin as a strong, steady leader who is only defending his country. Furthermore, the threat of Islamic terrorism has completely faded from the minds of Americans, and the Taliban now appears to be a role model for these populists and Christian nationalists. In 2021, led on by our sleazy media and seditious lawmakers, the American people shamefully threw a giant hissy-fit over the ‘botched’ withdrawal from Afghanistan; they pointed the finger of blame at President Biden and the U.S. Armed Forces, but not the Taliban. No more money spent, no more blood given for Afghanistan, for they had their opportunity for liberty and decided they didn’t want it. Much the same as is happening now here in #Murica. {CNN 4/19}

Saturday, April 9, 2022

Setting the record straight on Trump’s involvement in and crusade against Ukraine, and ode of sorts to Poland, and the importance of having pencil and paper on hand at all times

Alexei Alexandrov/AP

Just a quick update this Saturday afternoon. I’m tired …

Zelenskyy demands strong global response to Kramatorsk train station bombing (AP 4/09)

The truth about Trump and Ukraine - An absolute must-read, been meaning to post this for days now. Our former president has blood on his hands, re: Ukraine. (Seth Abramson 3/30)

Hats off to Poland: Poland, indeed, has been exceptional in its openness to its neighbors. There are, however, some very real concerns about their government and its commitment to democracy. I trust those issues will be worked out, and Poland is going to emerge as a global leader.

At least 16 killed in Burkina Faso army base attack by jihadists following January military coup (Reuters 4/08)

Unsolicited life advice: While writing blog articles and posting on social media, or even just in one’s everyday activities, having a pencil and notepad or notebook on hand is essential. Writing things down, by hand, improves our memories and keeps us (at least, relatively) sharp. I got away from this habit for a long time, and now I am correcting course. Truly, I have little other choice, given how scatterbrained my alcohol-addled, battle-scarred ass is.

Monday, February 14, 2022

Ungrateful, cowardly Afghanis bemoan the Biden Administration redirecting central bank funds to 9/11 victims

Kiana Hayeri/NYT

For twenty long and thankless years, Americans soldiers gave their blood for these ingrates and cowards, and American taxpayers spent unholy amount of money to assist (key word) in the rebuilding of their pathetic wasteland of a country. It is 100% the responsibility of Afghani citizens that the Taliban is ruling over them once again. The Biden Administration’s greatest accomplishment to date is getting our military out of that hellhole, for which they took nothing but grief from nearly all sides. The nerve of any of these people to say America has been ‘cruel’ and has betrayed them. In hindsight, perhaps Afghanistan should have been nuked into oblivion on September 12, 2001. Only half-kidding there. New York Times -

KABUL, Afghanistan — Many Afghans said they were outraged by the Biden administration’s decision to divert billions in frozen assets from the Afghan central bank to American families of 9/11 victims, as Afghanistan hurtles deeper into economic catastrophe.
The move, which would effectively bankrupt the country’s central bank, adds to the growing animosity that many Afghans have felt toward the United States since the troop withdrawal that paved the way for the Taliban’s takeover of the country in August.
“It is a cruel act and a betrayal of the rights of the Afghan people,” Fazl Ahmad, a shopkeeper in Kabul, the capital, said on Saturday. “It is clear that the poor economic situation right now is due to the U.S. economic constraints on Afghanistan.”
After the Taliban seized power, the Biden administration froze the roughly $7 billion in central bank assets that the now-defunct Western-backed government had on deposit at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, amid uncertainty over who — if anyone — now had the legal authority to gain access to the account.
On Friday, the Biden administration began a process aimed at letting relatives of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks who have legal claims against the Taliban pursue $3.5 billion of those assets. The Taliban sheltered Qaeda leaders who planned the Sept. 11 attacks during the Taliban’s previous rule of Afghanistan.
The White House said a roughly equal amount would be steered toward humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, which is facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes. In a statement, it said the move was “designed to provide a path for the funds to reach the people of Afghanistan, while keeping them out of the hands of the Taliban and malicious actors.”
But for many Afghans, the decision to put half of the assets into American hands amplified frustrations about the stranglehold that the United States has had on the country’s financial system since it withdrew its troops. (Read more)

Thursday, February 3, 2022

The only good Islamist is a dead Islamist: ISIS leader killed by U.S. special operations forces in Syria

AP/Ghaith Alsayed

A hearty congratulations to the U.S. special operations forces involved, and to President Biden for authorizing the attack. America needed ‘a win’ of some sorts at this moment, not that I expect the ingrates that populate this country are going to give any credit where due. Nor is it likely that the vicious MSM – who twisted reality and turned the public against the president following the (successful, and necessary) withdrawal from Afghanistan – are going to give the president and the military any credit for anything. No matter, good prevailed for once in Syria. Via AP -

ATMEH, Syria (AP) — The leader of the violent Islamic State group was killed Thursday, blowing himself up along with members of his family during an overnight raid carried out by U.S. special operations forces in northwestern Syria, President Joe Biden said.
The raid targeted Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, who took over as head of the militant group on Oct. 31, 2019, just days after leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died during a U.S. raid in the same area. Biden said al-Qurayshi died as al-Baghdadi did, by exploding a bomb that killed himself and members of his family, including women and children, as U.S. forces approached.
The operation came as IS has been trying for a resurgence, with a series of attacks in the region, including an assault late last month to seize a prison in northeast Syria holding at least 3,000 IS detainees, its boldest operation in years.
“Thanks to the bravery of our troops this horrible terrorist leader is no more,” Biden said. He said al-Qurayshi had been responsible for the prison strike, as well as genocide against the Yazidi people in Iraq in 2014.
About 50 U.S. special operations forces landed in helicopters and attacked a house in a rebel-held corner of Syria, clashing for two hours with gunmen, witnesses said. Residents described continuous gunfire and explosions that jolted the town of Atmeh near the Turkish border, an area dotted with camps for internally displaced people from Syria’s civil war.
Biden said he ordered U.S. forces to “take every precaution available to minimize civilian casualties,” the reason they did not conduct an airstrike on the home.
First responders reported that 13 people had been killed, including six children and four women.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said U.S. forces were able to evacuate 10 people from the building: a man, a woman and four children from the first floor and four children from the second floor. He said when al-Qurayshi detonated the bomb, he also killed his wife and two children. Kirby said that U.S. officials were conducting an assessment to determine whether American action resulted in any civilian deaths.
U.S. forces took fingerprints and DNA, which confirmed al-Qurayshi’s death, officials said.
Biden, along with Vice President Kamala Harris and senior national security aides monitored a live-feed of the operation from the White House Situation Room according to an official. The president was kept abreast of the commandos’ long flight out of Syria by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan overnight.
The operation marked a military success for the United States at an important time after setbacks elsewhere — including the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal — had led allies and opponents to conclude U.S. power globally was weakening. (Read more)

Sunday, January 16, 2022

FBI swat team delivers a peaceful end to hostage standoff inside a Texas synagogue, as hostages are safely freed and Islamist gunman is shot dead

Elias Valverde/The Dallas Morning News via AP

A lunatic holds Jewish congregants hostage at a Texas synagogue, demanding the release of convicted murderer and al-Qaeda sympathizer Aafia Siddiqui. After a long stand-off, four hostages are safe and the gunman has gone to meet his seventy-two virgins. As the details of this terrorist act unfolded on Saturday, nearly everyone I saw on social media was quick to immediately assume it must have been an ultra right-wing, Trump-supporting nationalist that was responsible. Which is really telling about where we are as a country. Left or right, everyone appears to have willfully forgotten the ongoing threat radical Islam poses; more to the point, Americans have decided their domestic political opponents are the real enemy and the Muslim extremists no longer are anything but some minor nuisance. This individual acted alone, but the next attack is likely to be more coordinated, and – once again - result in mass causalities. And all Americans will do afterward is engage in hand-wringing and finger-pointing at ‘the other side’ for allowing it to happen, when there is no shortage of collective responsibility to go around. The tenuous unity we (briefly) had in 2001 is no longer possible under any circumstance. Via the AP -

COLLEYVILLE, Texas (AP) — Four hostages are safe and their captor is dead after an hourslong standoff that began when the man took over services at a Texas synagogue where he could be heard ranting on a livestream and demanding the release of a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill U.S. Army officers in Afghanistan.
One hostage held Saturday at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville was released during the standoff; three others got out about 9 p.m. when an FBI SWAT team entered the building, authorities said. The hostage taker was killed and FBI Special Agent in Charge Matt DeSarno said a team would investigate “the shooting incident.”
Video from Dallas TV station WFAA shows people running out a door of the synagogue, and then a man holding a gun opening the same door just seconds later, before he turns around and closes the door. Moments later, several rounds of gunfire can be heard, followed by the sound of an explosion.
FBI and police spokeswomen declined to answer questions about who shot the man.
DeSarno said the hostage taker was specifically focused on an issue not directly connected to the Jewish community, and there was no immediate indication that the man was part of any broader plan. But DeSarno said the agency’s investigation “will have global reach.”
It wasn’t clear why the attacker chose the synagogue.
Law enforcement officials who were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity earlier said that the hostage-taker demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist suspected of having ties to al-Qaida. He also said he wanted to be able to speak with her, according to the officials. Siddiqui is in federal prison in Texas.
DeSarno said Saturday night that the man had been identified “but we are not prepared to release his identity or confirm his identity at this time.” (Read more)

Friday, November 12, 2021

DHS issues holiday alert warning of domestic terrorism threat

Alex Wong/Getty Images

In addition to the continuing threat global Jihadists pose, the Department of Homeland Security is showing increasing concern about homegrown terrorism. Considering we had a genuine homegrown terrorist attack on the United States Capitol this past January 6, it is no longer hyperbole to say our own people are now more of a threat to the homeland than foreign actors. And what a sad commentary that is -

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. faces a “heightened threat environment” from domestic extremists and people inspired by foreign terrorist groups with the approach of the holiday season, the Department of Homeland Security warned Wednesday.
While DHS said it had no credible information on a specific threat, the agency warns in its latest national terrorism advisory bulletin that mass gatherings for the upcoming religious holidays could be potential targets, including from people and organizations seeking to exploit resentment over pandemic lockdowns and recent events such as the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“The Homeland continues to face a diverse and challenging threat environment,” it said.
This is the fourth time this year the agency has issued a bulletin, highlighting the perceived danger from a volatile mix of domestic extremists, often motivated by racially or ethnically motivated hate, and homegrown extremists inspired by overseas groups. It reflects a shift from the focus on al-Qaida and other organizations following the creation of DHS after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
It also comes in an environment that has been super-charged by online propaganda and conspiracy theories as well as anger over the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic. DHS warned that extremists will pose a “significant threat” at least into 2022.
Timothy Langan, the assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, made similar points last week in an appearance before the House intelligence committee. He said the threat from domestic terrorism has “significantly increased” in the last 18 months, with the agency currently conducting about 2,700 investigations on violent domestic extremists. (Read more)

Monday, October 18, 2021

Are American diplomats and intelligence officials being targeted with a mysterious illness by a foreign adversary?

Bianca Bagnarelli

Falls under the category of conspiracy theory, as nothing has been proven outright; but it’s also entirely plausible and the bio-terrorist threat must be taken seriously. The Russians, in particular, are not above this sort of thing. And that is putting it kindly. Jerusalem Post -

A suspected case of "Havana syndrome" was detected in Colombia last week, the most recent in a series of suspicious attacks that appear to target US diplomatic and intelligence personnel. This latest incident appeared to happen just days before the visit of the US secretary of state. What this means is that these attacks may be targeted and timed – that they are not random and that a powerful adversary of the US is using them systematically.
“US embassy staff in Bogota may have been injured by the mysterious illness, which causes a painful sound in the ears, fatigue and dizziness,” the BBC reports. “First reported in Cuba in 2016, US diplomats around the world have since reported cases of the syndrome. Its origins are unknown, with some speculating it is a type of weapon.”
The Wall Street Journal reported the most recent attack, which included “unexplained health incidents,” according to an email sent by US Ambassador to Colombia Philip Goldberg. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was supposed to visit this month.
In August, US officials said “the Vietnam leg of US Vice President Kamala Harris' South Asia trip had to be delayed by a few hours due to reports of two US diplomatic personnel coming down with the mysterious combination of ailments that have come to be known as Havana Syndrome.”
The embassy said that there had been a "possible anomalous health incident in Hanoi," a phrase Washington has used to describe the syndrome. The incidents began in Cuba in 2016 but have also been identified in Germany, Austria, Russia and China, according to reports.
EARLIER THIS year it was reported that the US State Department would gather more information on the health of diplomats after complaints they were not taking this seriously. According to The Independent, “US diplomats who have suffered from the mysterious “Havana Syndrome” tore into Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a recent meeting, arguing that the government hasn’t done enough to help victims and has brushed off their concerns as vague unexplained health incidents (UHIs).”
There is some dispute within the US government and between recent administrations about what is happening. Some 200 diplomats and intelligence members have been affected. Although details are classified, there is a question over whether these are random "incidents" or targeted attacks. According to a New York Times report, more than half the victims of the syndrome are CIA officers. That report on October 1 said there are 100 CIA officer victims. According to another Times report, the CIA even recalled its Vienna station chief over the handling of the incidents. US lawmakers have backed changes to address the syndrome's victims, and the CIA is trying to increase attempts to confront the incidents. (Read more)

Friday, September 3, 2021

U.S. Navy aircraft carriers likely to remain in the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf to patrol Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern hotspots

Politico -

The American military’s involvement in Afghanistan could soon become largely the Navy’s responsibility, an ironic twist for a counterterrorism mission in a landlocked country.
Although the Navy has long privately bristled at the requirement to deploy one or even two aircraft carriers at a time to the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf to support the ground fights in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, the lack of U.S.-controlled airfields near Afghanistan could mean more planes taking off from decks at sea.
And that could set off a fresh round of requests for more funding — and more hand-wringing among those who want the U.S. military to focus more on China.
“I think a lot of that mission is going to fall on the Navy,” said a Navy official who requested to speak on the condition of anonymity because the Pentagon’s plans have yet to be finalized. “This is a great example of why we need more money to operate forward — things like this are what we’re built to do, but we need the funding and support to keep doing it, and that hasn’t always been there.” (Read more)

Saturday, August 28, 2021

President Biden warns more Afghanistan terror attacks ‘highly likely’ in next few days, vows more airstrikes against ISIS-K

AFP

There was never going to be a good or easy way out. -

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden vowed Saturday to keep up airstrikes against the Islamic extremist group whose suicide bombing at the Kabul airport killed scores of Afghans and 13 American service members. Another terror attack, he said, is “highly likely” this weekend as the U.S. winds down its evacuation.
The Pentagon said the remaining contingent of U.S. forces at the airport, now numbering fewer than 4,000, had begun their final withdrawal ahead of Biden’s deadline for ending the evacuation on Tuesday.
After getting briefed on a U.S. drone mission in eastern Afghanistan that the Pentagon said killed two members of the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate early Saturday, Biden said the extremists can expect more.
“This strike was not the last,” Biden said in a statement. “We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay.” He paid tribute to the “bravery and selflessness” of the American troops executing the hurried airlift of tens of thousands from Kabul airport, including the 13 U.S. service members who were killed in Thursday’s suicide bombing at an airport gate.
The evacuation proceeded as tensions rose over the prospect of another ISIS-K attack.
“Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours,” Biden said, adding that he has instructed them to take all possible measures to protect their troops, who are securing the airport and helping bring onto the airfield Americans and others desperate to escape Taliban rule. (Read more)

U.S. retaliates following Kabul airport attack, at least two ‘high-profile’ ISIS-K targets killed; names of dead American servicemen released

May our lost soldiers rest in peace. -

Two targets were killed and another person was injured in a drone strike against the Islamic State affiliate ISIS-K in retaliation for the Kabul airport attack, the Pentagon now says. And the Department of Defense has released the names of the U.S. troops killed in Thursday's attack.
Department officials announced Friday evening that a drone strike killed an ISIS-K target in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. On Saturday, officials updated that to say that two "high-profile" targets — described as "a planner and a facilitator" — were killed and one other person from the terrorist group was injured in the retaliatory strike.
Pentagon officials offered more information Saturday about continued operations in Afghanistan, including evacuation efforts and the drone strike.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the names of the drone strike targets would not be released. (Read more)

Thursday, August 26, 2021

United only in hatred for humanity: ISIS-K, offshoot of the world’s deadliest Islamist terror group, but also sworn enemy of the Taliban

NYT

Say, didn’t the former administration claim to have destroyed ISIS? What is ISIS-K? The terror group believed to be behind Kabul airport explosions -

Washington: Explosions outside the Kabul airport that have caused multiple casualties come as Biden administration officials have been alarmed in recent days by threats at Hamid Karzai International Airport by IS-K or ISIS-K, a terrorist group that is a sworn enemy of the Taliban.
A senior US intelligence official said while no formal attribution has been made, all signs — and recently gathered intelligence — point to IS-K, an offshoot of Islamic State, as the culprits.
US officials, including President Joe Biden, had been warning of the threat of Islamic State terror attacks at the Kabul airport, which is being guarded by the Taliban as Americans and Afghan allies seek to leave the country.
Douglas London, the CIA’s former top counterterrorism chief for the region, including Afghanistan, said the threat posed by IS-K is now higher because of the vacuum created after the Taliban toppled the Afghan government within a matter of days.
The Pentagon inspector-general, in a report released last week, noted IS-K had lashed out in the last months of the now-ousted Afghan government, seizing on its weakness.
“[IS-Khorasan] exploited the political instability and rise in violence during the quarter by attacking minority sectarian targets and infrastructure to spread fear and highlight the Afghan government’s inability to provide adequate security,” the report said. (Read more)

Kabul airport bombing; scores killed or injured, including U.S. servicemen

Getty Images

BBC - Kabul airport attack: What do we know?

Finish getting our people out of the s**thole as quickly as possible, and then Afghanistan and everyone left in it can rot for all I care. Americans, among other nations, gave these barbarians twenty years of blood and treasure, and this is the thanks we get. F**k Afghanistan and everyone living in it, they deserve what they got, and that is all there is left to be said. Not our problem anymore.

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Jennifer Rubin: President Biden gave the best possible defense of his Afghanistan withdrawal

Washington Post

Much of the news media is irresponsibly second-guessing and blaming President Biden for the debacle in Afghanistan. Just as irresponsible in doing so as the GOP. Are regular Americans capable of seeing through this garbage? Jennifer Rubin -

President Biden’s case for the fruitlessness of a continued military mission in Afghanistan got a boost as the Afghan army melted away, and its leaders fled practically overnight. During remarks from the White House on Monday, Biden made a strong point — one likely to find receptive ears among voters — that he refuses to maintain the lie to Americans that victory is around the corner.
"We gave [Afghans] every chance to determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to fight for their future,” Biden said. He argued, “If Afghanistan is unable to mount any real resistance to the Taliban now, there is no chance that . . . one more year, five more years or 20 more years of U.S. military boots on the ground would have made any difference.” Americans who are disgusted watching Afghan forces cut deals with the Taliban and flee will likely share that view.
If Biden got something wrong, it is that he gave too much credence to military leaders who had assured him that the situation in Afghanistan was improving. He wisely conceded the collapse of the Afghan forces happened faster than expected. The assumption that Afghan military forces would survive more than a week was as flawed as the assessments of the 20-year conflict.
The assumption that Afghan helpers are already lost to the butchery of the Taliban, however, smacks of defeatism. The United States must deploy sufficient troops and conduct a massive rescue of the tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghans. Indeed, Biden vowed in his address: “We’re taking over air traffic control. . . . Over the coming days, we intend to transport out thousands of American citizens who have been living and working in Afghanistan,” he vowed. “We will also continue to support the safe departure of the civilian personnel of our allies.” The president’s success in pulling this off will determine how history judges his decision.
The pronouncement from many in the media that the United States has abandoned Afghan allies is premature — the sort of snap judgment common on Twitter but utterly inappropriate in assessing a war in which virtually ever actor has been responsible for gross errors. Could the administration at least be given a chance to try to rescue Afghans, in concert with allies? Could it compensate its wrongfully rosy projections on how long Afghan security forces would last by sending additional forces to remain until we remove our Afghan partners? That’s what Biden proposes; we should pray he follows through. (Read more)

Monday, August 16, 2021

Writer Tom Nichols: The American people bear responsibility for the fall of Afghanistan

Juan Carlos /Hans Lucas /Redux

All the caterwauling going on today over Afghanistan is proof that it’s ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ with a fickle, self-centered, ungrateful, unthinking, and proudly ignorant American populace. Tom Nichols lays his case out very well: This is your fault, America ...

Kabul has fallen. Americans will now exercise their usual partisan outrage for a few weeks, and then Afghanistan, like everything else in a nation with an attention span not much longer than a fast-food commercial, will be forgotten. In the meantime, American citizens will separate into their usual camps and identify all of the obvious causes and culprits except for one: themselves.
Many Americans will bristle at the idea that this defeat overseas can be laid at their feet. When U.S. forces had to endure the misery of the retreat from North Korea back to the 38th parallel, no one made the argument that it had happened because of the voters. No one turned to the American people during the fall of Saigon and said, “This is on you.”
So why would I do that now?
Much of what happened in Korea and Vietnam—ultimately constituting a tie and a loss, if we are to be accurate—was beyond the control of the American public. Boys were drafted and sent into battle, sometimes in missions never intended to be revealed to the public.
Afghanistan was different. This was a war that was immensely popular at the outset and mostly conducted in full view of the American public. The problem was that, once the initial euphoria wore off, the public wasn’t much interested in it. Coverage in print media remained solid, but cable-news coverage of Afghanistan dropped off quickly, especially once a new adventure was launched in Iraq.
In post-2001 America, it became fashionable to speak of “war weariness,” but citizens who were not in the military or part of a military family or community did not have to endure even minor inconveniences, much less shoulder major burdens such as a draft, a war tax, or resource shortages. The soldiers who served overseas in those first years of major operations soon felt forgotten. “America’s not at war” was a common refrain among the troops. “We’re at war. America’s at the mall.”
And now those same Americans have the full withdrawal from Afghanistan they apparently want: Some 70 percent of the public supports a pullout. Not that they care that intensely about it; as the foreign-policy scholar Stephen Biddle recently observed, the war is practically an afterthought in U.S. politics. “You would need an electron microscope to detect the effect of Afghanistan on any congressional race in the last decade,” Biddle said early this year. “It’s been invisible.” But Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden all ran on getting out of the war, and now we’re out.
What the public does care about, however, is using Afghanistan as raw material for cheap patriotism and partisan attacks (some right and some wrong, but few of them in good faith) on every president since 2001. After the worst attack on U.S. soil, Americans had no real interest in adult conversation about the reality of anti-terrorist operations in so harsh an environment as Afghanistan (which might have entailed a presence there long beyond 20 years), nor did they want to think about whether “draining the swamp” and modernizing and developing Afghanistan (which would mean a lot more than a few elections) was worth the cost and effort. (Read more)

Kabul falls to the Taliban

Jim Huylebroek/NYT

Afghanistan: It is absolutely tragic. And, yet, I don't think we have anything left to give them, and President Biden has made the same calculation. Contrary to the popular narrative, I do believe we could have ‘won’ had we actually fought to win during the window of opportunity we had in the period of 2001-06-ish. For the past fifteen years it has all been futile. Politically correct warfare will never bring about victory or peace, and that is exactly why Afghanistan is right back where it started twenty years ago. End of story.

New York Times - Kabul's sudden fall to the Taliban ends U.S. era in Afghanistan

CNBC - Chaotic scenes at Kabul airport Afghans and foreign nationals flee Taliban

Washington Post - Afghan security forces’ wholesale collapse was years in the making. An except -

'(A)ccording to documents obtained for the forthcoming Washington Post book “The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War,” U.S. military officials privately harbored fundamental doubts for the duration of the war that the Afghan security forces could ever become competent or shed their dependency on U.S. money and firepower. “Thinking we could build the military that fast and that well was insane,” an unnamed former U.S. official told government interviewers in 2016.
Those fears, rarely expressed in public, were ultimately borne out by the sudden collapse this month of the Afghan security forces, whose wholesale and unconditional surrender to the Taliban will go down as perhaps the worst debacle in the history of proxy warfare. (Read more)

IANS - $88 billion spent on Afghan forces which surrendered without a fight to Taliban

Saturday, August 14, 2021

NPR: Biden set on Afghanistan withdrawal, even with Taliban gains

Getty Images

Yes, the end result of the occupation of Afghanistan would be the same had America withdrawn ten years ago, or if it were to stay for another ten years. For America and the West, this was never really a war so much as a peacekeeping mission, with predictably futile results. If the missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere in the Middle East had not been focused so much on peacekeeping, but instead on utter destruction of Islamist scum, America could walk away its head held high. Our forces could have scorched the earth over there, if their leaders had let them. Instead, America and NATO walk away in shame, another blemish on this military empire’s reputation. For the Afghani people, their death warrant has been signed. Leaders have to make hard decisions, and the one President Biden had to make on Afghanistan will rank among the most consequential decisions any president has had to make in modern times. I do not envy him for having to do this. Via NPR -

President Biden promised that the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan would not be a hasty rush to the exits.
It would be responsible, deliberate and safe.
But clearly he and his administration misjudged the speed with which the Afghan forces would collapse and the Taliban would take control.
"The jury is still out. But the likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely," Biden said on July 8, but just a month later that appears to be exactly what's happening.
As fears rise of the Kabul government collapsing, Biden now has to send 3,000 troops back to Afghanistan on a temporary mission to help evacuate most of the American embassy in Kabul and Afghan civilians who supported the U.S.
The move has led to more questions about whether the United States was mistaken by withdrawing so quickly, but Biden said this week Afghans "must fight for themselves" as the U.S. military remains on track for a full withdrawal by the end of August. (Read more)