Cultivating Dependent Clients Is a Recipe for Failure
August 19, 2021
Anatol Lieven explains how the failure to anticipate the collapse of Afghan government forces illustrates how little the US understands Afghanistan even after twenty years: I remembered this episode three years later, when the Communist state eventually fell to the mujahedeen; six years later, as the Taliban swept across much of Afghanistan; and again this […]
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Scott Horton: U.S. Should Have Pulled Out of Afghanistan Years Ago
August 18, 2021
From Reason Magazine: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/reasontv-video.s3.amazonaws.com/reasontv_audio_8127490.mp3 Nick Gillespie of Reason Magazine talks with Scott Horton about Biden’s defense of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, why U.S. foreign policy has been a bipartisan disaster for all of the 21st century, and how a libertarian approach to both domestic and foreign affairs would make people better off all over the […]
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Conflicts of Interest: Scott Horton on the End of a Fool’s Errand
August 18, 2021
On COI #150 the great Scott Horton returns to the show to discuss the collapse of America’s sockpuppet government in Kabul. Scott explains how he seemed to be one of the only Afghan War analysts to correctly predict how quickly – and mostly bloodlessly – the Afghan government would collapse. He talks about the Taliban’s […]
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Afghanistan Aftermath: No Firings? No Resignations?
August 18, 2021
Joe Biden, who says the buck regarding Afghanistan stops with him in the White House, claims that the Taliban’s final takeover of the capital, Kabul, provoking mass panic reminiscent of Saigon, 1975, happened more quickly “than anticipated.” If that’s true – spoiler alert: it ain’t – then we taxpayers should demand the mass firings and […]
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Crunch Time in Congress for Selective Service
August 17, 2021
In the most significant Congressional debate about compulsory military service in the U.S. in decades, Congress is now actively considering multiple proposals related to draft registration and Selective Service. Ending draft registration would be one of the most profound victories for the peace movement in decades, made possible by nonviolent mass direct action in the […]
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Ray McGovern: What Have Our Generals Been Up To?
August 17, 2021
In a half-hour interview on Afghanistan Tuesday I mused about how Washington’s generals and Pentagon-subservient policymakers thought the U.S. might be able to be the first outside nation to prevail in Afghanistan. And, prevail or not, what the MICIMATT saw to gain in waging this "endless war." Generally, it was hard to put it better […]
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Daniel Larison: Drawing Lessons From Afghanistan
August 16, 2021
Bret Stephens is in full fearmongering mode: Now, in the aftermath of Saigon redux, every enemy will draw the lesson that the United States is a feckless power, with no lasting appetite for defending the Pax Americana that is still the basis for world order. And every ally – Taiwan, Ukraine, the Baltic States, Israel, […]
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Should We Blame Biden for Afghan War Loss?
August 16, 2021
The race is on to blame Biden for the dramatic fall of Saigon…er…Kabul over the weekend. Politicos who’ve been most responsible for the 20 year disaster continuing are now pointing fingers elsewhere. The truth is there is plenty of blame to go around…but will we finally learn the lessons? Also today, new threats according to […]
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Conflicts of Interest: Taliban Overruns Kabul, Dealing Fatal Blow to the US-Built Government
August 16, 2021
On COI COI #149, Kyle Anzalone and Will Porter break down the fall of Kabul and the complete collapse of the Afghan government under a Taliban offensive. Major territorial gains that began in provincial centers earlier this month came to a head on August 15, with the militant group waltzing into the national capital and […]
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Conflicts of Interest: After 2 Decades of War & Nation Building, the Afghan State Is Crumbling
August 13, 2021
On COI #148, Kyle breaks down some of the latest developments in Afghanistan. The Taliban continue their offensive, seizing major Afghan cities like Kandahar, Ghazni, and Harat. In response, the US is planning to reduce the staff at its embassy and possibly abandon it entirely. The State Department is calling on all Americans to leave […]
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