Before I go into the “Afghanistan Papers”……news has come out that the US bombed a hospital….and the most pathetic of excuses…..
Pentagon officials are trying to spin the aftermath of Wednesday’s Bagram attack, in which US airstrikes did major damage to an under renovation hospital near the air base. They are now saying they had no choice but to bomb the hospital to get the Taliban.
The attack saw the Taliban use a suicide car bomb to force their way onto the site, and they dug in defensively for a 10 hour battle. Airstrikes were clearly the most convenient way for the US to kill those Taliban, but given the damage inflicted, it may not have been the most ideal for the construction project.
That’s why the Pentagon is now so eager to blame the Taliban for what happened, which is a go-to reaction, but very much beside the point. The Afghanistan Papers reports about failures in US reconstruction in Afghanistan, after all, wasn’t just lacking a scapegoat. The inability to construct sites without getting the unbearable urge to airstrike them is part and parcel to why nothing ever gets built in US-occupied Afghanistan.
Moreover, the problems don’t stop at the destruction of the site. The Pentagon emphasized how valuable to hospital would’ve eventually been to locals, but it was built right on the outskirts of a US military base, which probably wasn’t the most convenient for the locals, and also made the site a particular target for the Taliban to occupy, and one for US forces to airstrike.(antiwar.com)
The first US response was to further delay the peace process by pausing the Doha talks to protest the attack, and the second response is to blame the Taliban for the damage done. Neither of these is a solution to a problem, and rather reflect why the Afghan War has gone on so long with no progress.
Now fast forward to the “Afghanistan Papers”……
For 15 years now us antiwar people have been questioning our involvement in Afghanistan beyond the crushing of AQ and the Taleban and now we “peace-niks” have been vindicated…
A new release of “Papers” like the now famous Pentagon Papers points to all the lies and deception the government would sink to to propagate a war.
As I said us antiwar protesters were right in our opposition….while about 80% of the American people feel under the lying spell of the Pentagon…..we protesters would not be swayed…..
The 80 percent of Americans who supported the war in Afghanistan back in 2001 were wrong. And the tiny anti-war faction that opposed the conflict was correct in warning that an invasion and occupation would turn into a bloody quagmire.
That was my thought as I read the long-suppressed war documents that the Washington Post published Monday after a three-year fight to make them public. Officials under Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump “failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign,” the Post showed, “making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.”
One of the things that I wrote against was the supposed building projects that would make Afghanistan move into the 21st century….I thought then it was crap and it is proven to be just that……
Since 2001, Washington has spent more on nation-building in Afghanistan than in any country ever, allocating $133 billion for reconstruction, aid programs and the Afghan security forces.
Adjusted for inflation, that is more than the United States spent in Western Europe with the Marshall Plan after World War II.
Unlike the Marshall Plan, however, the exorbitant nation-building project for Afghanistan went awry from the start and grew worse as the war dragged on, according to a trove of confidential government interviews with diplomats, military officials and aid workers who played a direct role in the conflict.
Instead of bringing stability and peace, they said, the United States inadvertently built a corrupt, dysfunctional Afghan government that remains dependent on U.S. military power for its survival. Assuming it does not collapse, U.S. officials have said it will need billions more dollars in aid annually, for decades.
To illustrate just how arrogant the Pentagon is when lying to the American people…..
Washington Post reporter Craig Whitlock first brought to light that several top officials acknowledged to the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction that the war was going badly despite their optimistic public statements. The report, based on extensive interviews and internal government data, also found that U.S. officials manipulated statistics to create the public perception that the U.S. military was making progress in Afghanistan.
But on Thursday, Chief Pentagon Spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said he “would quibble with the idea” that the U.S. military had provided inaccurate information about Afghanistan in the past.
https://taskandpurpose.com/pentagon-downplays-afghanistan-papers
Finally, why are we still in Afghanistan?
Good question when most Afghans want the US out.
Foreign military occupations are known to increase resentment among the local population. After 18years of war, Afghans experience similar levels of fear when encountering American-led international forces as they do Taliban forces. At the same time, they are increasingly optimistic about the prospects for peace but don’t see the foreign forces as important to that process, according to the latest iteration of the Asia Foundation’s Survey of the Afghan People. For the United States, this raises serious questions about the utility of its continued military presence in Afghanistan.
The intent of the survey is to gauge the opinions of the Afghan people over time and provide useful data for policymakers and stakeholders. This year’s survey conducted in-person interviews with over 17,000 Afghans in all 34 provinces from July 11 to August 7 of 2019. Significantly, this year’s survey included, for the first time, questions related to the ongoing negotiations with the Taliban. An overwhelming majority of the Afghan people support the negotiations (89.0 percent
Survey Finds Afghans Want U.S. Troops to Leave
Time to pack up our kit bags and come home…..if we are no longer wanted then why push agony and hatred?
I Read, I Wrote, You Know
“Lego Ergo Scribo”
We need to cease all our foreign occupations. They are too expensive and they do nothing to protect the American Homeland. I cannot believe we still have troops in Germany, for example. What the hell is that all about? The Nazis have long since left the area.
Nazis gone….Soviets gone and yet we will add more troops in 2020….what’s that about indeed…..chuq
Politicians lie. That’s the qualification for the job, the only one needed.
Best wishes, Pete.
Pentagon is better at it than politicians….chuq
Troops are still in Europe because of lingering fears of Russia.
And in Japan and Korea to protect against North Korea or maybe China. In the Middle East we are protecting Israel and oil supplies, and trying to install western values and religion to replace Islam.
At least that is the way I see things from here. My vision may be obscured by fog or lack of knowledge. No warranties included.
Why does Israel need protecting? They spend billions on weapons and yet the US needs to hold their hand…..we do not need a physical presence these days re only hours away from any trouble that pops up. chuq