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August 19th, 2021
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America's Afghan project, to create a modern, democratic, centralized nation state in Central Asia, is over. What took 20 years, thousands of lives, and trillions of dollars to construct disappeared in little more than a week. Only a few days ago administration strategists were debating whether Kabul had three or six months left and imagining an orderly evacuation of thousands of Americans and Afghan friends. Then over a weekend the Taliban occupied the capital and paraded through the offices of President Ashraf Ghani, who abandoned his people and hopped on a plane out of the country.
The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is not likely to be long remembered. It was essentially a sham state, with a corrupt and incompetent government, which deployed a faux military, most of whose members felt no loyalty the institutions they swore to defend. Central Asia is as far from the U.S., and as distant from its interests, as could be imagined. Certainly Americans will quickly forget the geopolitical wreck that so briefly passed as a nation and ally.
By Doug Bandow
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This weekend's momentous events cry-out for a reformulation of Earnest Hemingway's famous five word quip in "The Sun Also Rises".
Per his description of the route to bankruptcy: How did the dismal Afghan outpost of Washington's Potemkin Empire collapse?
"Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly."
Less than three months ago, Afghanistan's puppet President, Ashraf Ghani, inadvertently crystalized 20-years worth of lies, delusions, misdirection and malfeasance by Imperial Washington's policy-makers and proconsuls in response to a question from the press:
Q: How long can your government last without US support?
A: Forever.
By David Stockman
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The US government watchdog for Afghanistan released its final lessons learned report on Tuesday that said a victorious US withdrawal was impossible due to unrealistic and shortsighted goals set by Washington.
Since its inception in 2008, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has documented the corruption and waste involved in Washingtons failed nation-building project in Afghanistan. The report released Tuesday says that US officials never took seriously what it would take to establish a sustainable government in Afghanistan.
By Dave DeCamp
Former President Trump, President Biden and their partisans are rushing to blame each other for the debacle unfolding now in Afghanistan. The "National Unity Government" and its military and police forces have completely evaporated in the face of the Taliban's rapid takeover of the entire country in the last few weeks. This culminated in President Ashraf Ghani's fleeing the capital of Kabul on Sunday as the Taliban walked right in and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar seemed to have assumed power.
But Trump and Biden shouldn't blame one another. It was George W. Bush who refused to negotiate al Qaeda's extradition. Bush then let Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri escape to Pakistan while he chose instead to focus on regime change in Kabul and later Baghdad. It was Bush who decided on the strategy of building and training up an Afghan National Army to secure the new regime in power and take the fight to its rivals. American officers, with no one to fight, found and made enemies where there were none before.
By Scott Horton
Researching and developing new weapons technologies is a key part of the Pentagon's strategy to counter China. In an interview with Defense News, President Biden's new Air Force secretary said hed like to see the US military field the type of new technologies that "scare China."
Frank Kendall, who was sworn in as Air Force secretary on July 28th, made it clear in the interview that he is focused on China. "Ive been obsessed, if you will, with China for quite a long time now - and its military modernization, what that implies for the US and for security," he said.
By Dave DeCamp
In the midst of the chaos at the Kabul airport, President Biden delivered a speech defending his decision to end the almost 20-year war in Afghanistan, saying he stands "squarely behind his decision.
"I stand squarely behind my decision. After 20 years, Ive learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces," he said.
Biden explained how he inherited the US-Taliban peace deal signed in February 2020. Under the agreement, the Taliban agreed not to attack foreign troops in exchange for all foreign forces to leave the country by May 1st. Since the deal was signed, no US troops have died in combat in Afghanistan.
By Dave DeCamp
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