Surrender in One Day
The Afghan government that the US expected would hold for a month fell in a day. So much for another misanalysis by the US as the Taliban Take Over Kabul.
Taliban fighters on Sunday took over the Afghan capital as President Ashraf Ghani fled abroad, triggering a massive effort to airlift Western diplomats, civilians and Afghans likely to be targeted by the country’s new rulers.
Demoralized Afghan security forces offered no resistance as the insurgents, who seized most of the country in just over a week, appeared Sunday morning on Kabul’s outskirts. While the Taliban initially said they wouldn’t enter the capital while a transitional government is being formed, they reversed their stance by nightfall, saying that someone needed to maintain public order after Afghan police deserted their posts.
“To prevent chaos and looting, the Islamic Emirate has ordered the mujahedeen to get control of the abandoned areas,” a Taliban statement said. The Taliban fighters, it added, won’t bother any civilian or military officials of the former regime.
On Saturday, Mr. Ghani pledged to defend the city. By the morning of Sunday, a working day in Afghanistan, his administration told all employees to go home. Soon after, sporadic gunfire erupted and some checkpoints were abandoned as panicked residents clogged the streets. By early afternoon, the Taliban took over Kabul’s main Pul-e-Charkhi prison, freeing thousands of inmates.
Just before the Taliban takeover, long lines formed outside banks and at Kabul’s few functioning ATMs as residents rushed to withdraw their cash before it was too late. Few succeeded.
Warmongering Op-Ed Idiocy
Consider a WSJ op-ed by by H.R. McMaster and Bradley Bowman: In Afghanistan, the Tragic Toll of Washington Delusion.
Take a gander at the insane subtitle “Pundits repeat the mantra that there was ‘no military solution.’ The Taliban seem to have come up with one.“
How the Taliban Overran the Afghan Army, Built by the U.S. Over 20 Years
The WSJ also comments How the Taliban Overran the Afghan Army, Built by the U.S. Over 20 Years
Got that? We have been training Afghan troops for 20 years. When the attack came, they laid down their weapons.
What a training job we did. It seems they needed perpetual training and forever money.
How to Stay in Afghanistan Forever
Last evening I wrote Here’s How to Stay in Afghanistan Forever: Listen to the WSJ Editorial Board
Here’s are the most pertinent clips.
- Afghanistan is not of strategic interest to the US. We never had a clear objective nor a plan to leave, Then the mission morphed into national building.
- Expect Right wing media to blame Biden for this defeat. But this outcome was inevitable all along because as with Vietnam, support for the war in the US vanished.
- The US had no legitimate business in Vietnam and other than the capture of Bin Laden had no legitimate business in Afghanistan either.
- At the peak, the US had 549,000 troops in Vietnam with 2.7 million serving. Yet, the US lost the war.
- Occupations always fail as the opponent cares more about the outcome, has the luxury of time to wait it out, is willing to pay a greater price and plays on its home court.
- Saigon fell on April 30, 1975. The WSJ seems to wish we were still there. F that. I congratulate Biden on leaving.
Flashback Position and Question
By “not give a damn” I mean I would not risk one US soldier defending any place where US troops do not belong in the first place.
The US cannot afford to be the world’s policeman.
— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) April 14, 2021
Will Biden Bring Home All the Troops by Sep 11, 2021?
— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) April 14, 2021
I was in the minority. My vote was yes.
Those Tweets were from my post Biden Has a No-Win Position in Afghanistan No Matter What He does
The tragedy is interventionalists cannot think. They want the US to stay in.
“Wars don’t end when one side abandons the fight,” said Liz Cheney.
Excuse me for pointing out the War in Vietnam is over. No matter what happens I will not regret leaving just as I did not regret leaving Vietnam.
If we stay in, the interventionists will seek more troops for as long as it takes, undoubtedly at least another 100 years.
It remains to be seen if Biden actually succeeds where the others fail. If he does, here is my response:
Hooray!
I am tired of all this war mongering insanity. Get the troops out.
In Support of Perpetual Stupidity
Yes, they died in vain. It was a guaranteed outcome people should have thought about before enlisting.
The war was never winnable.
How stupid is it to suggest more people die in vain to support of others who stupidly died in vain?
Vietnam: “We can’t leave now”. Then we did.
— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) August 15, 2021
What the Fuck did you do?
Yes, I tweeted consistently how stupid it was. I constantly wrote articles about it. That’s something.
I have no idea what you did, but it’s clear you support stupid actions now.
I am proud to be against this from the beginning and rightfully so. pic.twitter.com/p1hC9H7cGs
— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) August 15, 2021
Warmongering Media
The WSJ editorial board warmongers were at it again today with this warmongering editorial: Biden’s Afghanistan Exit Raises Questions About His Foreign-Policy Record
“Americans may have supported a withdrawal from Afghanistan, but views could change if we start to see the Taliban beating women in the streets, preventing girls from going to school, and otherwise dealing brutally with the population as they did in the 1990s, or if we see the re-emergence of a terrorist hotbed, including the arrival of foreign terrorist fighters,” said Lisa Curtis, who served as the top National Security Council official for South and Central Asia during the Trump administration.
Expect Images
Ah yes, by all means expect images.
And who will be right there with all the images from Afghanistan while not posting a thing about what the US did to Yemen, Syria, or Libya, not to mention dozens of nations in Africa and elsewhere where mainly bad things happen?
The WSJ will be right there and so will CNN, Fox News, and the Washington Post.
Left and Right will post images of this tragedy.
Meanwhile, across the board, we ignore Yemen, Syria, a Libyan catastrophe the US created, a catastrophe in Iraq of US making, US drone mistakes that have killed thousands of innocent people, etc.. etc., etc.
Such images are not convenient for the war mongers, so we don’t see them.
And after 20 years, the moron war mongers still believe there was a military solution by the US. There wasn’t because this was not our battle.
Brilliant comment by @EricRWeinstein.
Those who support this war were the original problem.
They now seek to stay to prevent dying in vain.
But foolishly staying in can’t bring back the dead it can only lead to more needless deaths.
https://t.co/deX2TxO1Yd https://t.co/2badV4LuDu— Mike “Mish” Shedlock (@MishGEA) August 15, 2021
Subscribe!
Like these reports? I hope so, and if you do, please Subscribe to MishTalk Email Alerts.
Subscribers get an email alert of each post as they happen. Read the ones you like and you can unsubscribe at any time.
If you have subscribed and do not get email alerts, please check your spam folder.
Mish
Afghanistan continues to be a graveyard of armies. Any country that has tried to occupy it has failed. For some reason, Americans think they are exceptional and that exceptionalism includes the duty of kicking butt around the world. Clearly, our government isn’t even good at that.Numerous Trump tweets and quotes note we should never have been in Afghanistan. He began this process, but didn’t have the courage to follow through with it before the election knowing this was going to be the outcome. Like all politicians he put it off knowing it would hurt his reelection chances. We know Biden is a one-term president due to his age…At least we are now ending a pointless 20 year war. Meanwhile the Saudis got away with their involvement in 9/11.
link to nytimes.com
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
—James Madison, Political Observations, Apr. 20, 1795 in: Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, vol. 4, p. 491 (1865)
Of course Trump sold the Saudis weapons, defied Congress who under the leadership of Rand Paul attempted to stop the arms deal, and continued to cover for their invovlement in 9/11.
How is arming the people you said fund terrorism keeping us safe?
I believe that number has gone up looking at what Trump signed into law last year as he attacked Thomas Massie for pointing out the socialist nature of the COVID relief bills Trump demanded. Trump said Massie should be kicked out of the GOP for standing in the way of those massive welfare packages from becoming reality. When those programs expired, Trump got his Obama pen out and extended them by executive fiat like he did the unemployment benefit extension.
Much of the US debt skyrocketed in the last 20 years thanks to endless wars. James Madison did try to warn us. Of course both parties love military spending, especially if they have contractors and bases in their districts.
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
—James Madison, Political Observations, Apr. 20, 1795 in: Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, vol. 4, p. 491 (1865)
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
—James Madison, Political Observations, Apr. 20, 1795 in: Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, vol. 4, p. 491 (1865)
takeover. Thailand was just plain lucky. The Philippines were right
around the corner.
What truly defines America and an American?
Sincerely, Alexander S.