Thanks for this, Isaac. It alone is worth the reasonable price of subscription. My forays into the conservative commentariat have been fraught, trying to sift through the noise to better understand how we got here. You explained it clearly and concisely, and I appreciate the links as always.
Thank you for the insightful write up. This one in particular spurred me to become a paying subscriber. One area that was skimmed over was the US involvement in the 90s. What transpired that seemed to leave the US/Afghan relationship in a worse state? Is that repeating itself again and have we created an environment that will raise the next bin Laden?
"Taliban rule prohibited women from being educated and became notorious for harsh punishments like severed hands or executions for petty crimes." The same can be said of Saudi Arabia.
"Two days later, four U.S. jetliners were hijacked, including the two that flew into the Twin Towers. The United States government immediately pinned the attack on al-Qaeda." Again, the attack was by Saudis and led by Saudis.
It is hypocritical to condemn the Taliban but trade and arm the Saudis if human rights is the issue. But of course it isn't. This is about the war economy. The money spent "training and arming" Afghan army and police was pissed away on US security contractors or in graft. Everyone new that the "training" was just a way to drain funds from US taxpayers and give it to the arms industry.
Quit trying to find any good in this debacle. It was evil from day one. The enemy was always the Saudi fundamentalists and their oil rich supporters.
Thanks for this, Isaac. It alone is worth the reasonable price of subscription. My forays into the conservative commentariat have been fraught, trying to sift through the noise to better understand how we got here. You explained it clearly and concisely, and I appreciate the links as always.
Thank you for the insightful write up. This one in particular spurred me to become a paying subscriber. One area that was skimmed over was the US involvement in the 90s. What transpired that seemed to leave the US/Afghan relationship in a worse state? Is that repeating itself again and have we created an environment that will raise the next bin Laden?
This, from Isaac, is the best synopsis you will find anywhere. As an terse afterthought, see also https://taibbi.substack.com/p/afghanistan-we-never-learn.
Having utterly failed to learn from history, we were doomed from the start to repeat it.
BTW good article on the times the Taliban tried to negotiate peace but how would that aid the "defense" industry? https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-afghanistan-taliban-peace-deal-might-have-been-had-many-years-and-thousands-of-lives-ago
"Taliban rule prohibited women from being educated and became notorious for harsh punishments like severed hands or executions for petty crimes." The same can be said of Saudi Arabia.
"Two days later, four U.S. jetliners were hijacked, including the two that flew into the Twin Towers. The United States government immediately pinned the attack on al-Qaeda." Again, the attack was by Saudis and led by Saudis.
It is hypocritical to condemn the Taliban but trade and arm the Saudis if human rights is the issue. But of course it isn't. This is about the war economy. The money spent "training and arming" Afghan army and police was pissed away on US security contractors or in graft. Everyone new that the "training" was just a way to drain funds from US taxpayers and give it to the arms industry.
Quit trying to find any good in this debacle. It was evil from day one. The enemy was always the Saudi fundamentalists and their oil rich supporters.