Asia

By David Bacon | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – Many in the U.S. media continue to credit the good intentions of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, while belaboring its failure over 20 years to achieve any of them. But to say that the United States wanted a progressive, liberal democratic, and secular government […]

Afghanistan

Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan: Did the Mighty, Cutting-Edge US Military Machine founder on Guerrillas’ humble Improvised Explosive Devices?

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Victory always seems to be just around the corner or at the end of the tunnel, until it isn’t. With the humiliation of defeat compounded by the difficulties extricating US personnel, second guessing is well underway and will likely last for years. The corruption of the government […]

Afghanistan

Calculating the costs of the Afghanistan War in lives, dollars and years

The Conversation

By Neta C. Crawford | – The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to destroy al-Qaida, remove the Taliban from power and remake the nation. On Aug. 30, 2021, the U.S. completed a pullout of troops from Afghanistan, providing an uncertain punctuation mark to two decades of conflict. For the past 11 years I have […]

Afghanistan

Biden: Afghanistan Withdrawal is “about ending an era of major military operations to remake other countries”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced the end of the war in Afghanistan. I saw the Neoconservative Bill Kristol on CNN deploring Biden’s speech for not assessing the sweep of the war. Kristol was the biggest warmonger of all the pundits in the early zeroes, arguing for invading and occupying […]

Afghanistan

Out of Afghanistan: Joe Biden and the future of America’s foreign policy

The Conversation

By Andrew Mumford | – As the last US forces leave Afghanistan, President Joe Biden’s decision to press ahead with the American withdrawal has prompted the first major foreign policy crisis of his presidency. The harrowing pictures after the bombing attack at Kabul airport were the result of a desire on behalf of Biden to […]

Afghanistan

What a truly Humanitarian Response in Afghanistan would Look Like

Waging Nonviolence

By Eli S. McCarthy | – ( Waging Nonviolence ) – As we reflect on what has transpired in Afghanistan with the Taliban returning to power, we have a vital opportunity for a more authentic, coherent humanitarian response. Toward this end, we must engage some critical analysis and questions. We might ask why the Afghanistan […]

Afghanistan

So Long, Afghanistan War: Top 6 Things we Won’t miss about our Longest Military Engagement

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Tom Bowman and Audie Cornish at NPR report that all U.S. troops are out of Afghanistan, ending America’s longest war. I teach that war every year, so I’ll still be living with it the rest of my career. But for most Americans, its end should be something to celebrate. Here […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan should be Last U.S. War of Empire, Corruption and Poverty

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink) – Americans have been shocked by videos of thousands of Afghans risking their lives to flee the Taliban’s return to power in their country – and then by an Islamic State suicide bombing and ensuing massacre by U.S. forces that together killed at least 170 people, including 13 U.S. troops. Even as […]

Afghanistan

The Taliban reportedly have control of US biometric devices – a lesson in life-and-death consequences of data privacy

The Conversation

By Margaret Hu | In the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul and the ouster of the Afghan national government, alarming reports indicate that the insurgents could potentially access biometric data collected by the U.S. to track Afghans, including people who worked for U.S. and coalition forces. Afghans who once supported the U.S. have […]