US politics

Juan Cole Explains How The #Taliban Returned To Power In #Afghanistan So Quickly (David Feldman Video)

Professor Juan Cole explains the rise of the Taliban and the rapid fall of the American supported Afghanistan government in this conversation with Professor Adnan Husain. Professor Cole is the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan as well as the editor of Informed Comment (juancole.com). Professor Adnan Husain is […]

Afghanistan

Top 6 Ways Trump forced Abrupt US Departure from Afghanistan; and that Time Trump said Taliban would take over War on Terror

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – 1. in December, 2018, Trump ordered that half of the then 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan be brought out. The decision so angered then Secretary of Defense James Mattis that he abruptly resigned his position. Then Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Joseph Dunford said he had not recommended […]

Democratic Party

The Republican Big Lie about 2020 is Old News, but the Stakes are Still High

Jill Richardson

( Otherwords.org ) – Unless we debunk the lies about 2020, the next election may be a lot less fair. By Jill Richardson | August 18, 2021 Right now our nation still has two competing narratives about the 2020 election. One is that Joe Biden legitimately won and that Donald Trump encouraged a false narrative, […]

Afghanistan

An Afghan American scholar describes his fear-filled journey from the chaos at Kabul airport to a plane bound for home in the US

The Conversation

By Hanif Sufizada | – Editor’s note: Afghan scholar Hanif Sufizada, who works at the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha, got caught in Kabul during the chaos of the U.S. military pullout, when thousands of Afghans fled to the airport, seeking a way out of the country. Editor Catesby Holmes […]

Afghanistan

Biden: After Trump-Taliban Treaty, Draw-down, Staying in Afghanistan would have Required a New War

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden on Friday gave some further insight into his decision to leave Afghanistan, and refuted some of his critics’ talking points concisely and convincingly. Let me back up and explain that the Military-Industrial Complex spokespersons, like Gen. (ret’d) David Petraeus, criticized Biden for being unwilling to stay in […]

Afghanistan

Why Biden Is Right to End the War in Afghanistan

Peter Certo

Now our obligation is to those Afghans living with the consequences of our four decades of intervention

Afghanistan

Afghan troops sought safety in numbers – igniting a cascade of surrender

The Conversation

By Todd Lehmann | – The swift collapse of the Afghan military in recent days caught many in the U.S. by surprise, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the months after President Joe Biden’s April 2021 announcement of the troop withdrawal, intelligence reports warned that the Afghan military might not fight […]

National Security State

Despite Departure from Afghanistan, America still Has an Archipelago of 750 Military Bases around the World

Tomdispatch

By Patterson Deppen | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – It was the spring of 2003 during the American-led invasion of Iraq. I was in second grade, living on a U.S. military base in Germany, attending one of the Pentagon’s many schools for families of servicemen stationed abroad. One Friday morning, my class was on the […]

Afghanistan

Public Opinion largely Supportive of Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal, despite Angst over Chaotic Process

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The abrupt collapse of the government of President Ashraf Ghani and his supposed 300,000 security forces in the past two weeks clearly caught the Biden administration by surprise. It is the most serious crisis yet for the new administration, and has shaken public confidence in the president, giving him the […]