I guess in some ways this says more than this whole thread combined (to the critical observer/thinker.
US withdrawal from Afghanistan - your thoughts?
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Interesting.
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Why would the Soviets need to overrun Europe if the US was in Europe? The above quote kind of contradicts itself so I don't think I understand.
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Wow, evacuations (attempted) continue. Poor people.
From Reuters:
Germany has left at least 5,000 former staff and their families behind in Afghanistan, a support network founded by German troops said on Friday, vowing to keep pressing for them to leave the country after an Aug. 31 deadline runs out. Around 300 German citizens remain in the country, according to the foreign office in Berlin - besides an unknown number of former Afghan staff and their families.
From the Independent:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed Tuesday to offer German residence to up to 40,000 local Afghan staff working for development organizations if they feel their lives will be in danger. The German Chancellor said those workers have the right to be evacuated.
From Reuters:
Germany has left at least 5,000 former staff and their families behind in Afghanistan, a support network founded by German troops said on Friday, vowing to keep pressing for them to leave the country after an Aug. 31 deadline runs out. Around 300 German citizens remain in the country, according to the foreign office in Berlin - besides an unknown number of former Afghan staff and their families.
From the Independent:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed Tuesday to offer German residence to up to 40,000 local Afghan staff working for development organizations if they feel their lives will be in danger. The German Chancellor said those workers have the right to be evacuated.
I'm pretty sure they will feel their lives are in danger.
C
ChuckDyke
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Shariah is for some people their definition of freedom. The moment Osama bin Laden was executed it should have been 'Mission Accomplished' and get out.
Freedom from having to be free...
The Taliban’s secretive war against IS
Jalalabad is the frontline in murky and bloody battle between two groups, and the death toll is rising.
www.bbc.com
I find it somewhat ironic that after waging insurgency for 20 years against the Afghan government, winning, and becoming the Afghan government themselves, the Taliban are now under attack from Islamic State.
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Yep, suck on that Taliban!
I feel very badly for the Afghan people though - the suffering continues.
K
KGBoy
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From the very beginning, the problem with the US involvement in Afghanistan lay essentially in the deficits in American democracy. A well-functioning republic makes decisions—especially those as serious as starting a war—by an open process of rational deliberation. It asks the obvious questions: What are we doing? Why are we doing it? What is the human and financial cost? What are the benefits? How and when does it end? The original sin of the Afghan war—one that would never be expiated—was the failure of American political institutions to meet these most basic standards of scrutiny.
Fintan O'Toole
Fintan O'Toole
Yes, it does seem to me like the USA is being run more like an empire than a democracy. And like all empires, it waxes and wanes with the quality of its emperors.
Thing is. Pakistani secret service was a major fundraiser for Al Quaida. At the beginning of the war alot of Al Quiada operatives just skipped across to Pakistan unchecked. US army was ordered to stand down and watched helplessly while an entire convoy drove of into Pakistan. In that convoy allegedly was the " man himself "
Also important to note: Mohammed Atta and the highjackers were funded by the pakistani secret service whom in turn were funded by the CIA!
Atta himself had close ties to the pakistani and even the CIA. For instance he overstayed his visa and was even caught in a DUI, yet was allowed to overstay. He was untouchable.
I´d recomend to read a book called mounting evidence.
While I read this book I kept thinking to myself that the USA invaded the wrong country. Must have been a Pentagon misprint.
Also important to note: Mohammed Atta and the highjackers were funded by the pakistani secret service whom in turn were funded by the CIA!
Atta himself had close ties to the pakistani and even the CIA. For instance he overstayed his visa and was even caught in a DUI, yet was allowed to overstay. He was untouchable.
I´d recomend to read a book called mounting evidence.
While I read this book I kept thinking to myself that the USA invaded the wrong country. Must have been a Pentagon misprint.
Yeah and it took them 20 years for them to hire a proof-reader to catch the misprint...
But then again ...if perchance you were on the cheque cashing end of the deal, who was going to raise their hand to complain, right?
"According to the US Department of Defense, the total military expenditure in Afghanistan (from October 2001 until December 2020) was $825bn, with about another $130bn spent on reconstruction projects." - Source BBC News, 3rd September 2021
"Nearly 20 years after the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan, the cost of its global war on terror stands at $8 trillion and 900,000 deaths, according to a new report from the Costs of War project at Brown University." - Source Brown University, 1st September 2021
C'est la vie.
Cheers!
Why would the CIA fund the Pakistani Secret Service?
Pakistan's Influence in Afghanistan War Outcomes
Examine Pakistan’s role in shaping the outcomes of the Afghanistan war, including CIA operations in the 1980s.
www.brookings.edu
The C.I.A.’s Maddening Relationship with Pakistan
For the past fifteen years, Pakistan’s intelligence service has simultaneously been one of the agency’s best—and worst—partners in fighting terrorism.
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Thanks. Interesting. I must admit that I thought the US had not supported Pakistan directly in that way for several decades. Strange that this duplicit relationship would continue that long. I think it's pretty obvious that Pakistan always had an interest in keeping friendly with the Taliban.Pakistan's Influence in Afghanistan War Outcomes
Examine Pakistan’s role in shaping the outcomes of the Afghanistan war, including CIA operations in the 1980s.
The C.I.A.’s Maddening Relationship with Pakistan
For the past fifteen years, Pakistan’s intelligence service has simultaneously been one of the agency’s best—and worst—partners in fighting terrorism.www.newyorker.com
There's a lot going on behind the scenes that's not reported. Never was a fan of nation building or any US involvement in the region, unless absolutely necessary. Back in the late 70's our family moved to the Middle East as expats. Lots of Americans, Brits, Germans and others quietly living in the region working on major projects like infrastructure, building military installations, enlarging ports and of course oil projects.
IMO the issues of Iraq, Afghanistan can be traced to the 1991 Gulf War and the fall of the USSR as well as a number of other factors. The 1991 Gulf War gave the impression the US military power was dominant and could be used for purposes that were deemed appropriate and for the "common good" You had ultra-conservative, think tanks pushing for a more aggressive US foreign policy. Washington DC is a swamp run by lobbyists and think tanks. The PNAC (Project for a New American Century) took hold in 1997 a good number of the original signatories were part of the cabal that started the Afghanistan war and regime change in Iraq. Many were also talking heads on US media. All they needed was a catalyst to put their theory into practice. 9/11 was that catalyst.
The 1991 Gulf War also shook off the post Viet-Nam caution with regard to use of the US military.
Once the war in Afghanistan was started its was difficult to stop. As the old saying goes, wars are easy to start, but difficult to end.
At this time China was a third rate power. In time US business interests, hungry to access the vast potential of China, started pushing a policy with the thesis of "as China becomes more capitalistic, they will become more democratic....
Its also hard to ignore the role of money, the vast industrial-military complex that exists in America. A lot of people have become very well-off with the profiteering from the drawn out war in Afghanistan.
In the early 70's Nixon took the US off the gold standard. The US-Saudi petrol dollar agreement was instituted. Oil would be priced in US dollars and the Saudis would use their new found vast wealth to invest in the US. US arms sales to the region as well as the world is astronomical.
Like the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan was never paid for. It was put on the credit card. While waging 2 enormously expensive wars the US instituted tax cuts. The current US deficit is calling into question the use of the USD as the global reserve currency. 2 major bailouts via stimulus packages only adds to the fire.
My belief is if you are wise and prudent you begin planning on how you will navigate a world where the USD is not the once all powerful dominant force in the world. With it also goes the military power that has been funded by America abusing the power of the US dollar as the global reserve.
Some believe gold/silver is the solution, other say crypto is. One thing is for sure....change is coming.
IMO the issues of Iraq, Afghanistan can be traced to the 1991 Gulf War and the fall of the USSR as well as a number of other factors. The 1991 Gulf War gave the impression the US military power was dominant and could be used for purposes that were deemed appropriate and for the "common good" You had ultra-conservative, think tanks pushing for a more aggressive US foreign policy. Washington DC is a swamp run by lobbyists and think tanks. The PNAC (Project for a New American Century) took hold in 1997 a good number of the original signatories were part of the cabal that started the Afghanistan war and regime change in Iraq. Many were also talking heads on US media. All they needed was a catalyst to put their theory into practice. 9/11 was that catalyst.
The 1991 Gulf War also shook off the post Viet-Nam caution with regard to use of the US military.
Once the war in Afghanistan was started its was difficult to stop. As the old saying goes, wars are easy to start, but difficult to end.
At this time China was a third rate power. In time US business interests, hungry to access the vast potential of China, started pushing a policy with the thesis of "as China becomes more capitalistic, they will become more democratic....
Its also hard to ignore the role of money, the vast industrial-military complex that exists in America. A lot of people have become very well-off with the profiteering from the drawn out war in Afghanistan.
In the early 70's Nixon took the US off the gold standard. The US-Saudi petrol dollar agreement was instituted. Oil would be priced in US dollars and the Saudis would use their new found vast wealth to invest in the US. US arms sales to the region as well as the world is astronomical.
Like the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan was never paid for. It was put on the credit card. While waging 2 enormously expensive wars the US instituted tax cuts. The current US deficit is calling into question the use of the USD as the global reserve currency. 2 major bailouts via stimulus packages only adds to the fire.
My belief is if you are wise and prudent you begin planning on how you will navigate a world where the USD is not the once all powerful dominant force in the world. With it also goes the military power that has been funded by America abusing the power of the US dollar as the global reserve.
Some believe gold/silver is the solution, other say crypto is. One thing is for sure....change is coming.
It was FDR in March of 1933 who took the United States off the gold standard. Then on June 5, 1933, Congress enacted a joint resolution nullifying the right of creditors to demand payment in gold.
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I do agree with the change is coming sentiment. Not likely soon but one day. Gold and silver is a maybe after all it has been around a long time. The trouble is it is not (easily) portable. Crypto is a mess - there is no way it will become a standard any time soon. The issue there is that the crypto currencies are being treated as stock market investments at the moment - that's not a currency - that is speculation that resembles a bubble.
It is far more likely that the the next dominant currency will be the currancy of the most powerful economic entiy on the planet. Some say the Euro but now that we know the well to do countries have been papering over the weaknesses of the not so well of countries I don't see that inspiring confidence. That leaves China's Yuan. That type of switch will be very disruptive. I don't see how it will be done. I don't see how to hedge against such a thing. Perhaps that brings us back to gold an silver...