Tag: Afghanistan

The CIA’s Drug Trade

It seems the CIA just canno0t keep its fingers out of the drug trade….now they are involved in the opium production…..

The US is deploying aggressive—and very public—methods these days in its war on international drugs. It’s a sharp contrast to a secret tactic used years ago in Afghanistan that the Washington Post is revealing for the first time. It seems the CIA secretly dropped modified seeds on poppy fields between 2004 and 2015, with the goal of making the resulting heroin less potent. The covert operation, run by the CIA’s Crime and Narcotics Center, was so secretive that many senior officials in the Pentagon and State Department were unaware it existed.

And did it work? The best answer seems to be, kind of. “There was a sense that it worked, but maybe over time, it worked less well,” one former US official familiar with the program tells the newspaper. It was also expensive to run, a big factor in why it ended—”the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze,” is how the official puts it. Still, he calls it “an example of creative, out-of-the-box thinking by the agency. … It was dealing with a problem in a non-kinetic, nonmilitary way.”

Throughout the broader US-led counter-narcotics campaign, American agencies disagreed on the best strategy, with proposals ranging from aerial herbicide spraying to buying up the Afghan crop for pharmaceutical use. The CIA’s secret seed operation took place amid these debates, but official assessments ultimately concluded that no US or allied effort led to lasting reductions in Afghan poppy cultivation or opium production. Read the full story, which notes that the seeds were not believed to have been modified genetically. Instead, they were selectively bred to be less heroin-friendly.

Is this one of their famous ‘cover stories’?

The agency’s history tells a different story…..they have not always been part of the War on Drugs…..they actually were involved in the distribution to help pay for their covert operations.

I am not convinced that they are not part of the opium trade.

How about you?  Does this give one confidence that the CIA is acting in a way that will help the war on drugs?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Another ‘Brilliant’ Idea

Over the past months there has been a wealth of ‘brilliant’ ideas floated by His Lord High Dipstick and now we have one of his best…..

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced plans to station U.S. troops back in Afghanistan. The president, who campaigned on minimizing U.S. involvement in foreign entanglements, said he is in talks with the Taliban to regain control of Bagram air base.

The announcement came as Trump criticized the Biden administration’s 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, which ended America’s longest war, during a press conference. Trump, arguing that he would have pulled out while retaining Bagram, described his efforts “to get it back,” without providing much detail.

“That could be a little breaking news,” Trump said. “We’re trying to get it back, because they need things from us. We want that base back.”

The president suggested that the Afghan air base, originally constructed by the Soviet Union in the 1950s, would serve a strategic purpose for Washington against China.

Without evidence, Trump alleged that “it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons.” In recent months, he has repeatedly mused about the air base—claiming falsely that it is occupied or “controlled” by Beijing, and baselessly asserting its close proximity to Chinese nuclear weapons plants.

(newrepublic.com)

It’s unclear how the Taliban will respond to Trump’s proposal to reoccupy part of Afghanistan. Last week, Washington made a prisoner exchange deal with the Taliban that is part of a larger effort to normalize US-Afghan relations.

Seriously?

Is this really a good idea?

How long will it be before fresh attacks on Americans commences?

Anyone else see the folly in this thoughtless plan?

The biggest question is….WHY?

That war lasted 20+ years do we really want to chance another 20 for some vague bullshit?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–28Sep21

I read a lot and in that time I read some really crazy theories and stories…..and this is just one of those…..

Could the Afghans be the lost tribe of Israel?

Periodically over the past two decades, newspaper headlines have raised the tantalizing question of whether the Pashtun tribes who make up most of the Taliban are in fact our long-lost relatives, descendants of the Israelites who were cast into exile by the Assyrian empire more than 2,700 years ago.
 
While the possibility of such a connection may strike some as fanciful, a cursory look at the evidence suggests that it cannot and should not be dismissed out of hand.
The Pashtuns, or Pathans, are said to number in the tens of millions, with the bulk living in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. They consist of several hundred clans and tribes that have fiercely preserved their heritage amid waves of foreign conquest and occupation.
 
Prior to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the region, many of the Pashtuns declared themselves to be what they referred to as Bani Israel (Sons of Israel), an oral tradition that their ancestors passed down through the generations.
 
Whatcha think?
 
Me?
 
Could care less.
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”

Another Drone Strike

The US has had another drone strike against terrorists in Afghanistan….and it was a large mistake on the Pentagon’s part……and the Pentagon held a presser to explain the monumental screw-up…..

The Pentagon retreated from its defense of a drone strike that killed multiple civilians in Afghanistan last month, announcing Friday that an internal review revealed that only civilians were killed in the attack, not an Islamic State extremist as first believed. “The strike was a tragic mistake,” Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, told a Pentagon news conference, per the AP. McKenzie said the vehicle was struck “in the earnest belief” that the targeted vehicle posed an imminent threat. “I am now convinced that as many as 10 civilians, including up to seven children, were tragically killed in that strike,” he said.

“Moreover, we now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K, or a direct threat to US forces,” he added, referring to the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate. For days after the Aug. 29 strike, Pentagon officials asserted that it had been conducted correctly, despite numerous civilians being killed, including children. News organizations later raised doubts about that version of events, reporting that the driver of the targeted vehicle was a longtime employee at an American humanitarian organization and citing an absence of evidence to support the Pentagon’s assertion that the vehicle contained explosives.

The drone did what drones do best…..kill civilians.

The media and the Pentagon always give the benefits for the use of drones…..like saves lives (debatable)…..it is precision bombing…..and it is ethical…..

Let’s take a look at all the myths you have heard about drone warfare…..

Drones have become the signature tool of 21st-century warfare, particularly by US forces in the “war on terror”. The fundamental rationale for drone use relies on their “surgical precision”, supposedly saving civilian lives.

But headlines show us this isn’t true. A recent US drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan mistakenly killed 43-year-old aid worker Zemari Ahmadi, along with nine members of his family, including seven children. This idea of precision is just one of many pervasive myths about drones that I’ve set out to dispel in my research.

Military technology aims to inflict maximum damage to the enemy while minimising our own losses of manpower and material. Drones have advantages compared to piloted aircraft, primarily that they protect the lives of those conducting strikes. This has lulled us into a false sense of security about the nature of war, suggesting that conflicts can be won from a distance, with minimum harm to civilians, in wars that are ethical and respect international law.

https://theconversation.com/five-myths-about-drone-warfare-busted-133660

Sorry war should not be made easier to carry out…..I do not see this as a step forward…..just a step into the larger mud hole…a hole that keeps expanding….

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Coming To A State Near You

We have heard about the Afghans that the US helped escape from Afghanistan….and the question is where will they go?

Some of these refugees will be coming to the US….but where?

This article explains where the refugees will settle once they arrive in the US…..

The Biden administration notified governors and mayors on Wednesday of the number of Afghan evacuees their state is expected to receive in the coming weeks, two senior administration officials told Axios.

Why it matters: Although their exact immigration pathway is still unclear, an initial group of 37,000 Afghans will soon be headed to states across the country after many faced harrowing journeys from Afghanistan.

  • Former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D), who President Biden appointed on Friday to oversee Afghan resettlement, made calls to state and local leaders notifying them on the number of Afghans to expect.
  • In conversations with nearly every state on Wednesday, not one official declined to take in Afghans, one senior administration official told Axios. “I have to say it was a very warm conversation with state and local leaders.”

https://www.axios.com/afghan-refugees-each-state-data-bea47ca4-0212-4a41-98bd-a2ea9f15a5bc.html

Check out the map included in the article to see how many refugees your state will accept….

How will this play out?

I do not expect these poor people will be welcome with open arms…..I think back to the late 70s and the Vietnamese refugees…that was not always a pretty picture.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

And The Fight Goes On

In less that two weeks the Taleban has controlled the country of Afghanistan…..well most but not all…..

The Northern Alliance has always been a thorn in the butts of the Taleban and today that situation has not changed…..

A band of Afghan resistance fighters holed up in Afghanistan’s rugged Panjshir province northeast of Kabul has repelled repeated attacks by Taliban fighters in recent days, a representative for the group tells NPR.

Speaking with NPR’s All Things Considered on Friday, Ali Nazary, the National Resistance Front’s head of foreign relations, who is currently in the U.S., also denied reports that the Taliban have taken control of the province — the last major territory standing between the Islamist militia and total control over Afghanistan — calling the rumors “propaganda.”

The Panjshir Valley “has not been breached,” he told host Audie Cornish. “The Taliban are facing fierce resistance.”

“The Taliban propaganda machine is trying to divert attention, is trying to spread propaganda, to weaken morale in Kabul and elsewhere,” said Nazary, who says he has been in close contact with NRF officials in Panjshir.

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/03/1033966153/afghanistan-taliban-panjshir-resistance

Two days of fighting between the Taliban and the remnant resistance in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley continues to rage, with the Taliban pushing back into Baghlan districts, and civilians fleeing the area.

Both sides are claiming heavy casualties inflicted on the other. The Taliban did not provide numbers, but the resistance said they’d killed 40 Taliban and wounded another 35 since fighting began Monday night.

Both sides are also disputing who started this latest round of fighting, each claiming the other side attacked first. The Taliban added that talks have failed so far, but that they still want to resolve this peacefully. Other Taliban, however, suggested that the negotiations are over and were a failure.

The Panjshir Valley resistance is the remnants of the Afghan military and allied militias from the Ghani government, which fell last month. The group has promised to resist, and have even reclaimed some sparsely populated districts in the area.

The news trickles out of this region and the latest report is that the Taleban may have met is match….at least for now…..

Taliban and opposition forces continue to battle to control the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul with resistance fighters saying they captured hundreds of Taliban troops.

The National Resistance Front (NRF) of Afghanistan, grouping forces loyal to local leader Ahmad Massoud, said on Sunday it surrounded “thousands of terrorists” in Khawak Pass and the Taliban abandoned vehicles and equipment in the Dashte Rewak area.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/5/afghanistan-panjshir-forces-claim-hundreds-of-taliban-captured

This situation is very fluid…..

Days of heavy fighting in Panjshir Valley, the home of the last major holdout forces in Afghanistan, seem to be wrapping up, with the Taliban claiming complete control of Panjshir Province, and releasing photos of their fighters at the governor’s compound.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid declared the war over, saying this amounted to a complete victory. The Panjshir remnant forces were what was left of the Ghani government that continued fighting after the fall of Kabul.

The remnants have denied that this is the case. Leader Ahmed Massoud has gone missing, but says he is safe and that his fighters are still fighting in several areas around the valley. This comes just a day after Massoud claimed that there were deals for a ceasefire and talks with the Taliban.

(antiwar.com)

Like I said…..fluid.

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Now What?

First let me say…..I think we are did a marvelous thing helping Afghans and their exodus from the Taleban and the plight to come.

Roughly 88,000 people who worked for the US government during the war, as well as their family members, are in the application pipeline for special immigrant visas (SIVs). Some are being sent to other countries to wait; others who are further along in the process are being sent to the US directly for resettlement.

There are also many thousands more who aren’t eligible for those visas but who might try to apply for refugee status through a recently created US priority program. But they will have to stay in third countries — where they will need financial support, among other kinds of aid — for months while they are being processed. US vetting requirements, capacity limitations at refugee resettlement agencies, and a finite number of slots available under the current refugee admissions cap could all contribute to delays in bringing them to American soil.

https://www.vox.com/22636742/afghan-siv-refugee-resettlement-biden

Just me thinking out loud.

The exodus from Afghanistan has been a humanitarian crisis in warp speed….the refugees are being relocated to Qatar, Germany, Mexico, the US and several other counties….we have seen all this before.

Think 1970s….Think Vietnamese ‘Boat People’…..

Now that we are relocating these people….what we saved them from will create more misery for them in the long run…..I fear.

What will their lives become?

I will use my region as an example….I have no indication of other areas to compare my thoughts with…..

When the Boat People started arriving some were given confiscated fishing and shrimp boats that had been ceased by the Coast Guard….since my region at one time was dependent on seafood as a way of life…this way the new arrivals could earn a living and become a functioning member of society.

This irritated the locals that were already struggling with a diminishing source of income.

The new arrivals caused many violent skirmishes with the locals….the biggest bitch they had was that the Vietnamese trolled the bottom and did not throw back anything that was not the harvest they searched for…..

The new arrivals were not accepted into Gulf Coast society and they set up areas that have become known as “Little Saigon”…..they became a society unto themselves…..it took a generation or more for that to change and yet not much has changed within the area unknown as “Little Saigon”.

Is this the new norm for the entering Afghan refugees?

Refugees are being accepted by poorer countries that are struggling to assist their indigenous people….so how will this improve the lives of people fleeing Afghanistan?

From what are we saving these people?

Some reports state that the US will take around 50,000 refugees….

Up to 50,000 Afghans could be arriving in the U.S. under a rarely used humanitarian program that allows people to enter the country without visas.

Refugee resettlement agencies were told to prepare to receive as many as 50,000 Afghans arriving on “humanitarian parole” in a meeting with government officials last week, Jenny Yang, a senior vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief, told Newsweek.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/50-000-afghans-could-be-allowed-into-u-s-on-humanitarian-parole/ar-AANJKG0

In today’s America how will this play with the Right and their hatred of refugees and especially Muslims?

Could this generate more violence against minorities…especially the new arrivals?

Questions that NO one is asking or even contemplating for the news is laser focused on the sensationalism of the ‘exit’.

The ‘exit’ helps generate ratings boons….then the next phase will do the same.

We are entering a dangerous time for the new arrivals…..and the news will trot out new ‘experts’ once the generals and other pundits have grown hoarse from bitch and analyzing the ‘exit’.

The question remains……But what now?

As I was writing this draft my question was answered…..

One Republican lawmaker on Tuesday ratcheted up the rhetoric of fear about Afghan refugees and said that accepting them into the United States will endanger Americans.

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) was asked by Greta Van Susteren on her “Full Court Press” show why he voted against the ALLIES Act, which was a bipartisan effort to help get Afghan military partners and their families to safety in the United States.

“Because I don’t think it’s appropriate to bring poorly vetted people from an Islamic state to the United States of America,” he said. “I represent the United States of America and American citizens, and it’s my job and I think it’s this Congress’s job to ensure their safety.”

https://www.rawstory.com/scott-perry-afghan-refutees/

This should set up the next election rhetoric nicely….scare the shit out of the voter .

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The War Is Over!

It is official….the Afghanistan War is over and our troops have departed.

In the early hours of 3 August (Afghan tine) the last plane flew out of Kabul airport….

n Washington, the US confirmed the withdrawal of its last troops, which faced a self-imposed Tuesday deadline. In announcing the completion of the evacuation and war effort. Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said the last planes took off from Kabul airport at 3:29pm Washington time, or one minute before midnight in Kabul. The evacuation effort, set to end Aug 31, was wrapped up a full day early, with military equipment loaded onto transport planes before the last US service members flew out, reports the New York Times.

“Tonight’s withdrawal signifies both the end of the military component of the evacuation, but also the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in Afghanistan shortly after September 11 2001,” McKenzie said, per the Guardian. “It is a mission that brought Osama bin Laden to justice along with many of his al-Qaeda co-conspirators. The cost, he said, was “2,461 US service members and civilians killed and more than 20,000 who were injured.”

Then with all the criticism fro  the idiot Right the president wen on-air to explain and thank the troops….

Addressing the nation, a defensive President Biden on Tuesday called the US military airlift to extract more than 120,000 Afghans, Americans, and other allies to end a 20-year war an “extraordinary success,” though more than 100 Americans and thousands of Afghans looking to leave remain in the country. Twenty-four hours after the departure of the last American C-17 cargo plane from Kabul, Biden vigorously defended his decision to end America’s longest war and withdraw all US troops ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline, the AP reports. “I was not going to extend this forever war,” Biden said in an address from the White House State Dining Room. “And I was not going to extend a forever exit.”

Biden said the US government had reached out 19 times since March—prior to his public announcement that he was going to end the US war—to encourage all American citizens in Afghanistan to leave. He acknowledged that 100 to 200 were unable to get out when the airlift ended Monday. Biden asserted that his administration was ready when the US -backed government in Kabul collapsed in mid-August and the Taliban took over. The last Air Force transport plane departed Kabul one minute before midnight Monday, raising questions about why Biden didn’t continue the airlift for at least another day. He had set Tuesday as a deadline for ending the evacuation and withdrawing the last US troops.

 

 

Biden has faced tough questions about the way the US went about leaving Afghanistan—a chaotic evacuation and spasms of violence including a suicide bomb that killed 13 American service members and 169 Afghans. But he said it was inevitable that the final departure from two decades of war would be difficult with likely violence, no matter when it was planned and conducted. “To those asking for a third decade of war in Afghanistan I ask, ‘What is the vital national interest?’” Biden said. He added, “I simply do not believe that the safety and security of America is enhanced by continuing to deploy thousands of American troops and spending billions of dollars in Afghanistan.”

Nice try prez but this will not silence the morons on the Right…’the Chickenhawks’…..for me this was spin and political speech setting up the issue for the 2024 campaigns.

Personally I am glad yo see this abortion of a foreign policy come to an end…..

But if you thought this would save the country some cash to be used elsewhere then you will be mistaken.

The last plane was barely airborne before a statement was issued…..

Defending his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan on Tuesday, President Biden said the “world is changing” and that the US is now “engaged in a serious competition with China.”

Since coming into office, President Biden has frequently framed China as an ideological competitor, and his Pentagon has identified Beijing as the top “pacing threat” facing the US military.

(antiwar.com)

And then the real bomb (no pun intended) was dropped….

As the US military is focused on China, Pentagon officials are inflating the threat of Beijing to justify more spending and expansion in Asia. Last week, the deputy commander of US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) claimed China will soon surpass Russia as Washington’s top nuclear threat.

“There’s going to be a point, a crossover point, where the number of threats presented by China will exceed the number of threats that currently Russia presents,” Lt. Gen. Thomas Bussiere told an online forum on Friday.

China’s nuclear arsenal is estimated to be somewhere between 300 and 350 warheads, while the US and Russia each possess around 6,000, give or take a few hundred. But Bussiere insists it is not the size of China’s arsenal that makes them a threat, but how they’re “operationally fielded.” He said he believes China will overtake Russia as a nuclear threat “in the next few years.”

(antiwar.com)

And that sports fans is how you keep the cash flowing into the Pentagon by the buckets…..find the new enemy that needs confronting.

We may be out of Afghanistan….but we will find a new way to find an enemy to use those unused weapons so they can be replaced at a higher price range.

All this just a new beginning for the waste of much needed funds.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–31Aug21

We all have seen the chaos at the Kabul airport with Afghans rushing and pushing to get the Hell out of the country to avoid any Taleban retaliation….so this report makes the situation even more bizarre…..

US gave Taliban lists of names. Some lawmakers and military officials have been outraged by reports that American officials gave the Taliban lists of names of Americans and Afghan allies so they could get past the group’s checkpoints, Politico reports. With the Taliban’s history of killing collaborators with foreign forces, one defense official describes the move as putting the Afghans on a “kill list.” National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne acknowledged that the US has “shared information with the Taliban that has successfully facilitated evacuations from Kabul.”

Seriously?

The US gave the names of people trying to avoid the Taleban….what part of that makes sense?

I question the wisdom of this move…..

And now the last soldier is out and has turned off the lights…..

Taliban guards at Kabul’s airport and officials at the Pentagon have confirmed that the last US planes have flown out. Celebratory gunfire erupted across the Afghan capital marking the symbolic end of 20 years of war, with the Taliban back in power, the AP reports. In Washington, the US confirmed the withdrawal of its last troops, which faced a self-imposed Tuesday deadline. In announcing the completion of the evacuation and war effort. Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, said the last planes took off from Kabul airport at 3:29pm Washington time, or one minute before midnight in Kabul. The evacuation effort, set to end Aug 31, was wrapped up a full day early, with military equipment loaded onto transport planes before the last US service members flew out, reports the New York Times.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–27Aug21

Douche Bag Of The Week

It is absolutely NO secret that I have a serious dislike for Erik Prince of Blackwater Fame….as low as this d/bg sinks he has reached a new low as a profiteer of human suffering….

Michigan-born military contractor and former Navy SEAL Erik Prince is offering chartered flights out of Afghanistan at $6,500 a seat, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Prince, who is the brother of former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and grew up in west Michigan, told the Journal it would cost more if people needed his aid in getting out of their homes and to the airport with the Taliban in control of the country.

The article, which described the scramble underway by both American forces and private rescue operations to evacuate Afghans, U.S. citizens and others ahead of an Aug. 31 withdrawal of U.S. troops from that country, said it was unclear whether Prince — who founded the military security firm formerly known as Blackwater — was capable of carrying out such rescue missions and flights.

…

The White House criticized any attempts for private actors to make money off the evacuations, with Press Secretary Jen Psaki noting Wednesday the Biden administration is evacuating tens of thousands of people free of charge.

“We wouldn’t be supportive of profiting off of people who are desperate to get out of the country,” she said.

Prince has been involved in controversies before, including during the Iraq War when Blackwater security forces killed more than a dozen Iraqi citizens in Baghdad. Four years ago, President Donald Trump’s advisers brought Prince in to look at ways of using contractors to conduct military operations in Afghanistan rather than using additional troops.

(Detriot Free Press)

WH not supportive?

How about doing something about this douche bag who is trying to profit off human suffering.

He is a disgusting DOUCHE BAG!

More on this…..https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/08/25/monstrous-human-erik-prince-reportedly-charging-6500-seats-out-kabul

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”