Afghanistan

Serving The Bottomless Kool-Aid: ‘Blame Russia’ Rides Again!

July 1, 2020 Dany Sjursen, Antiwar.com. Educate! Afghanistan, Media, Russia, RussiaGate

Two decades of military stalemate teetering towards outright defeat; a highly corrupt and perceptibly illegitimate imposed "partner" Kabul-cabal that still lacks sufficient GDP to pay its own soldier-cops; an indelible adversary that won’t quit; plus 2,219 dead American troops and who knows how many – well, at least 147,000 – vanquished Afghans? Yep, apparently Putin was behind all – or, forgive me, much – of it. Forget Arendt-ian "banality” – that’s the beauty of "evil," especially the utility gift of eternal Russian evil: exceptional America is thereby never culpable, need never self-assess, nor reform its systems. Because, because…Russia. It seems there’s no limit to the almighty power of that nuclear petrostate with its Italy-sized economy.

The Russia-Afghanistan Story Is Western Propaganda At Its Most Vile

June 30, 2020 Caitlin Johnstone. Educate! Afghanistan, Media, Propaganda, Russia

All western mass media outlets are now shrieking about the story The New York Times first reported, citing zero evidence and naming zero sources, claiming intelligence says Russia paid out bounties to Taliban-linked fighters in Afghanistan for attacking the occupying forces of the US and its allies in Afghanistan. As of this writing, and probably forevermore, there have still been zero intelligence sources named and zero evidence provided for this claim. As we discussed yesterday, the only correct response to unsubstantiated claims by anonymous spooks in a post-Iraq invasion world is to assume that they are lying until you’ve been provided with a mountain of hard, independently verifiable evidence to the contrary. The fact that The New York Times instead chose to uncritically parrot these evidence-free claims made by operatives within intelligence agencies with a known track record of lying about exactly these things is nothing short of journalistic malpractice.

Empire Files: Afghanistan War Exposed

June 29, 2020 AbMartin, Empire Files. Resistance Report Afghanistan, Afghanistan War, US military, Wars and Militarism

The perpetual occupation of Afghanistan has become so normalized and mostly serves as background noise to Americans. It's even jokingly referred to as the "Forever War," accepted as just a constant reality. A soldier dies now and again. A couple of dozen civilians get killed in another bombing. It's never enough to stir the population to pressure Washington to stop it. The endless war drags on. Since 2001, almost one million US troops have been deployed to Afghanistan. Many repeatedly. Of those, 2,300 have died and the new revelation that nearly 4,000 mercenaries have also died fighting in Afghanistan, almost double the number of US troops, shows the American occupation is even bigger than were been led to believe.

Memorial Day Is Killing Us: Celebrated To Death

May 25, 2020 By Erik Edstrom, Tom Dispatch. Educate! Afghanistan, Memorial Day, US military, Wars and Militarism

For those first six months after my return from war, thudding back slaps and free beers from well-meaning civilians numbed my sense of betrayal. But over time, I realized that all of this "thank you for your service" stuff was just a culturally ingrained reflex, like saying "bless you" to someone who sneezes. When it comes to our military, the mantra of the public is: thank, don't think. To most of them, war -- the war my friends died for -- is elevator music. Perhaps Americans have generally forgotten that, almost 19 years after the Afghan War began, numbers, names, and percentages don't go in the graveyard, people do. For 18 Memorial Days, the American public has been complicit in allowing our troops to be sent into a series of wars that everyone knows to be costly and self-defeating, while simultaneously maintaining the audacious idea that, in doing so, they "support the troops." Believe me, that’s not patriotism.

Empire Files: The Forgotten Wars, Part I

May 21, 2020 AbMartin and Mike Prysner, Empire Files. Resistance Report Afghanistan, Afghanistan War, US military, Wars and Militarism

The US war on Afghanistan will soon enter its 20th year. Two decades we’ve seen an endless loop of news stories: progress then setbacks, lies then revelations, a new end, then a new beginning. But, for the most part, it has simply vanished from media and politics--no longer discussed at all. However, it has not vanished for those impacted--not for the people of Afghanistan, nor the young men and women sent to fight them. In part one of the Empire Files series on the US empire's forever war, Marine Corps infantryman turned anti-war activist John Motter tells Abby Martin the hidden reality of the Afghanistan War. From units committing war crimes to protecting opium crops, John's experience is a harrowing and sobering reminder of why the US urgently needs to leave.

US Continues Its War On The Rest Of The World

May 19, 2020 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Afghanistan, Corporate duopoly, Syria, Wars and Militarism

It isn’t clear who the next president of the United States will be but the terrible handiwork of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald Trump are creating terrible suffering for millions of people around the world. Donald Trump is making a big show of a phony peace agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban were given life by Jimmy Carter, who sought to undermine the sovereign government of that country. We were told that the Soviets had invaded when in fact the government of president Najibullah had invited them, an act he had every right to undertake. What followed was years of civil war, billions of dollars funneled to the mujahadeen, including the likes of Osama bin Laden, who subsequently turned against his sponsors and killed 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001.

Scheer Intelligence: The Afghanistan War Turned Americans Into ‘Good Germans’

March 19, 2020 Robert Scheer, KCRW.com. Educate! Afghanistan, Podcast, US Empire, Wars and Militarism

Nearly 19 years into the Afghanistan War, it seems the U.S. might be finally ready to end the longest armed conflict in its history. The Trump administration announced in late February that a peace deal was being negotiated with the Taliban and there was intention of recalling U.S. troops. Retired Maj. Danny Sjursen, an author and historian who spent half of his life in the Army, speaks with host Robert Scheer on this week’s episode of “Scheer Intelligence” to analyze how we got caught up in Afghanistan in the first place. Tracing the conflict through his personal and professional experiences, Sjursen recalls how the Sept. 11 attacks became the impetus for so many young men like himself to put their lives on the line for a country they believed would be on the right side of history. Not long into his service, however, the retired army major learned that the multiple wars he fought in had little to do with the terrorist attacks billed as the cause, as evidenced by his first deployment.

Afghanistan: ICC Appeals Chamber Authorises The Opening Of An Investigation

March 6, 2020 Staff, Icc-cpi.int Educate! Afghanistan, ICC, Middle East

Today, 5 March 2020, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court ('ICC' or 'Court') decided unanimously to authorise the Prosecutor to commence an investigation into alleged crimes under the jurisdiction of the Court in relation to the situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The Appeals Chamber's judgment amended the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber II of 12 April 2019...

U.S. Breaks Its Just Signed Agreement With The Taliban

March 5, 2020 Staff, Moonofalabama.org Educate! Afghanistan, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Middle East, US Imperialism

Today a U.S. fighter jet bombed a Taliban unit which was fighting with an Afghan government checkpoint. The air attack came just a day after U.S. President Trump had a telephone call with the Taliban leaders in Doha. The Taliban will likely see this as a breach of the recent ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban. The Russian Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov supports that view...

The Terrorism-Industrial Complex (TIC)

March 3, 2020 Jan Oberg, Transcend.org Educate! Afghanistan, History, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry

A modified image of President Ronald Reagan with Afghan mujaheddins–‘freedom fighters’ against the Soviet Union in 1983. Today, against the USA, they are called ‘terrorists.’ 25 Feb 2020 – Since George W. Bush – a friend of the bin Laden family – declared the global “War On Terror” in October 2001, it has cost the American taxpayers approximately 6.6 trillion dollars and thousands of fallen sons and daughters…

“So-Called ‪’Peace Deal’ Is Anything But”: Critics Warn US-Taliban Deal Exposes Fallacies Of Endless War Paradigm

March 2, 2020 By Jon Queally, Commondreams.org Educate! Afghanistan, Middle East, Reform

The agreement, warned Rep. Barbara Lee, "leaves thousands of troops in Afghanistan and lacks the critical investments in peacebuilding, human-centered development, or governance reform needed to rebuild Afghan society. While President Donald Trump bragged Saturday about an agreement signed by the U.S. government and the Taliban as a milestone towards ending the war in Afghanistan that has raged now for the nearly two decades—devastating the Afghan people and the wider region...

The Afghanistan ‘Peace Deal’ Riddle

March 2, 2020 Pepe Escobar, Informationclearinghouse.info Educate! Afghanistan, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Middle East, Peace Deal

Nearly two decades after the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan post-9/11, and after an interminable war costing over $ 2 trillion, there’s hardly anything “historic” about a possible peace deal that may be signed in Doha this coming Saturday between Washington and the Taliban.

US Dropped Bombs In Afghanistan At Record Level In 2019

January 30, 2020 By Phillip Walter Wellman, Stripes.com Educate! Afghanistan, Bombing, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Middle East

KABUL, Afghanistan — The United States dropped more bombs and other munitions in Afghanistan last year than any other year since documentation began in 2006, Air Force data shows. American aircraft released 7,423 munitions in the country in 2019, according to figures published Monday by U.S. Air Forces Central Command. Coalition aircraft flew nearly 8,800 sorties during the period, over a quarter of which carried out strikes.

The War In Afghanistan Is A Fraud

January 12, 2020 Lee Camp, Truthdig. Educate! Afghanistan, Media, Pentagon, Wars and Militarism

Bombs have numbers. Humans have names. Our American military boasts a skill and passion for using numbers to turn names into yet more numbers. But these numbers have grown so gargantuan and out of control that one struggles to comprehend them. In just 10 months in 2018—the latest numbers made available—our military dropped 5,982 munitions on Afghanistan, turning many thinking, living and loving names into cold, lifeless numbers. Over the span of the war, 43,000 Afghan civilians have been numberized. We, as Americans, essentially never even notice when it happens. Statistically speaking, it will happen again many times today, and no one in America will really care. (At least not while the game is on.) 64,000 Afghan security forces have been numberized since 2001.

Trump Threatens Afghan Armageddon U.S. “Plans” For The Afghan War Might Prove A Crime Against Humanity

January 7, 2020 By Nick Turse, Tomdispatch.com Educate! Afghanistan, Trump Administration, US Imperialism

On February 4, 2002, a Predator drone circled over Afghanistan’s Paktia province, near the city of Khost. Below was al-Qaeda’s founder Osama bin Laden -- or at least someone in the CIA thought so -- and he was marked for death. As Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld put it later, both awkwardly and passively: “A decision was made to fire the Hellfire missile. It was fired.” That air-to-ground, laser-guided missile -- designed to obliterate tanks, bunkers, helicopters, and people -- did exactly what it was meant to do.

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