IMAGES OF AFGHANS TRYING TO LEAVE Afghanistan before the Taliban assumes full control. Afghanistan’s former president earlier abandoned his country to avoid “transition issues.” Something unique in U.S. foreign policy history? Hardly.
Is it any wonder the U.S.’ “allies” are suspicious of Washington’s promises? Rhetorical question.
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AFGHANISTAN SEEMS TO BE VIETNAM all over again.
Aside from the fact that the U.S. never had a policy to win a war in Afghanistan — or Vietnam, or Korea, or Iraq, or Cuba, or — there are many similarities with earlier excursions on behalf of “democracy and the American way.”
The U.S. president who got American troops out of the Vietnam quagmire was a Republican (Richard M. Nixon). The president who ended the U.S.’ 20-year involvement in Afghanistan is a Democrat (Jos. Biden), although to give credit where it is due, under a deal signed last year between the militants and then-President Donald Trump, foreign forces were to have left by 1 May. (http://tinyurl.com/27muz8yn)
In both cases, when the troops came home — from a politically unpopular war in the Far East and when they returned from what appeared to be a never-ending conflict in Afghanistan, — the military people returned sans war materiel, left behind for the victors.
When the troops returned to the States, they abandoned locals who supported the war effort.
In Vietnam, some managed to get a flight out — primarily those who worked directly for the U.S. government.
For many of those left behind, the victorious Communists had a place for them: re-education camps. (Such “camps” are popular with the Vietnamese’ masters, Communist China.)
Will the Taliban have “re-education” camps a la Vietnam?
U.S. fails to learn from others
The U.S. failed to learn the lesson the Vietnamese taught the French.
They warred against the French until the French tired of the fighting and left Vietnam.
President (ex-5-star general) Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in a limited number of U.S. troops as “Military Advisory Groups” (MAGs). His successors, Democrats JFK and LBJ massively increased the U.S. presence in Vietnam on a piecemeal basis — as troops were wounded or killed, they were replaced by green personnel.
Vietnam was NOT the first war in which Americans refused to fight. That “honor” goes back to the War for Southern Independence (a/k/a U.S. Civil War) when people could, and did, “buy their way out” by paying for stand-ins.
- The Enrollment Act of 1863 provided that a draftee could pay a “substitute” enrollee the sum of $300 (about $5,000 in today’s terms) in order to enlist in his place. Such famous Americans as Grover Cleveland and John D. Rockefeller took advantage of this provision, in effect buying their way out of service. (https://tinyurl.com/9thvtsaw)
Actually, after the first skirmishes of the Revolutionary War many new Americans had other things to do rather than engage the English.
In Afghanistan, the U.S. started supporting the Afghans in their effort to oust the Soviets.
It was very much the CIA’s covert war with a program to arm and finance the mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan prior to and during the military intervention by the Soviet Union. (https://tinyurl.com/2t355rsy)
After 9-11-2001 — the day Muslim terrorists flew four U.S. airliners into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and into a field in Pennsylvania; in the the latter high jackers, were overcome by the flight’s passengers and crew — the CIA directed its efforts in Afghanistan to attacking the Taliban and its leader, Osama bin Laden. (https://tinyurl.com/2wbyes84)
According to a New York Times article (https://tinyurl.com/5b9ya9bk), the FBI knew well in advance of 9-11 that Muslims were buying flight training. Anecdotal stories claim that the “students” were not interested in landing the commercial airliners.
They won’t fight
According to Biden, the Afghans lack the will to defend their nation, despite the fact that — with substantial U.S. CIA aid — some Afghanis did take up arms against the former Soviet Union.
Afghan borders Taliban ally Pakistan and the western world’s nemesis, Iran. (See map, below).
All are Muslim countries and while they often disagree, the enemy of my friend is my enemy. In this case, since the western world is deemed by Iran’s despots to be an enemy, Afghanistan is, by default, Iran’s friend (as is Pakistan).
The Taliban, Afghanistan’s rulers-du-jour, are infamous for being misogynistic.
They demanded women to be covered from head to toe according to their ideas of sharia law.
They banned education for females.
The “new” Taliban
According to reports making the media, the “new” Taliban will treat females with respect and they will allow females to be educated, unlike the “old” Taliban. (https://tinyurl.com/ye8jzawt)
The “new” Taliban promised to respect others religions, unlike the “old” Taliban of 2001 that blew up two statues of Buddah in the Bamyan valley of central Afghanistan. (https://tinyurl.com/qjuwbed)
The Taliban claimed the Buddhas violated Islam's prohibition on idolatry.
According to The Indian Express (https://tinyurl.com/yfbq8w24), “The Taliban have promised a new era of peace and security, saying they will forgive those who fought against them and grant women full rights under Islamic law, without elaborating. But many Afghans are deeply skeptical of the group, especially those who remember its previous rule, when it imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law. “
Still, the “new” Taliban apparently retains elements of the “old” Taliban.
The Indian Express (ibid.) reports that “The Taliban have blown up the statue of a Shiite militia leader who had fought against them during Afghanistan’s civil war in the 1990s, according to photos circulating on social media Wednesday.
“The statue depicted Abdul Ali Mazari, a militia leader killed by the Taliban in 1996, when the Islamic militants seized power from rival warlords. Mazari was a champion of Afghanistan’s ethnic Hazara minority, Shiites who were persecuted under the Sunni Taliban’s earlier rule.”
So much for forgiving those who fought against them.
Some of the “old” Taliban’s actions remain to haunt them.
A video now being circulated of a woman being murdered, apparently by the Taliban on an Afghan street, actually dates from 2015, according to the India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) (https://tinyurl.com/yenpt6yx)
On the other hand, the England’s ITV (https://tinyurl.com/rn2v4ar8) reported on 17 August 2021 that “Abdul Qadir Jalil, an Afghan-born Manchester (England) resident, traveled to Afghanistan around three weeks ago to get married.
“Mr Jalil says the Taliban has ransacked his home in Kabul, and executed people in his street.
"Last night, the Taliban was trying to attack and search every house in the street," he told ITV News. They are searching for smart phones because they are trying to wipe social media evidence.“
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