Happy Afghan War surrender day, fellas! So began my flippant group text yesterday — which was actually regarding a whole other topic — with the nine lieutenants who worked “for” me when I commanded a cavalry troop in Southern Afghanistan. Now these guys, some still in the army, most long out, run the political gamut…
The manner in which US President Donald Trump’s administration is ramming a peace settlement down Afghanistan’s throat is disconcerting. New Delhi’s silence is more so. One shudders to think that comprador elements in the Indian establishment could be silently collaborating with the US project, in the shadow of Trump’s recent trip to visit India (an…
Nineteen years after September 11, 2001 and 17 years after launching its war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, the U.S. seems ready to cut a deal with the Taliban in order to freeze out its Eurasian rivals. The central government in Kabul has in recent years granted a leading role to Moscow and Beijing in…
US President Donald Trump confirmed his intention to end nearly two decades of war in Afghanistan and reduce the number of US troops in the country in his State of Union address to Congress on February 4. About 14,000 members of the US military are currently deployed in Afghanistan, as well as 17,000 troops from…
The Afghanistan papers revealed that for three administrations in a row (Bush, Obama, and Trump), the American public has been lied to and deceived by generals, intelligence officers, and security officials overseeing the war effort. *** Bombings and Downed AircraftIn 2019, according to figures released by Air Force Central Command (AFCENT), the United States “dropped…
“Trump might well come to view staying the course in Afghanistan as the least bad option from a political standpoint—at least when compared to a peace deal with the Taliban. It would be a tragedy, of course, but one that Americans are well used to living through by now.” *** Ten years ago, Barack Obama…
