By Steve Otto
There are a lot of lesson for people to learn from nearly 20 years of US rule in Afghanistan. While I am glad that President Joe Biden chose to take US troops out of Afghanistan, he clearly did not expect the US puppet regime to collapse so soon. There were a lot of translators and other Afghan support crews who are now in danger of getting killed or punished by the Taliban.
In the aftermath I would have warned people not to get too attached to US troops and other US representatives. My first advice is to never invade a country and try to establish a puppet regime under the idea that it will eventually lead to a sovereign popular government that will garnish the support of Afghanistan’s people. I can remember people who told me that the US will be the first invaders to create a popular government that actually wanted this country to come in and help them. Me and my friends warned that this was not likely to happen. For the most part Afghanistan had many imperialist powers trying to control it and no foreign government was likely to succeed in such an endeavor.
Me and my friends expected the US puppet to fall, but not so fast. I think we have all been fooled by the unexpected fall of the US puppet. If fell and it fell quickly. Surely Biden did not expect these outcomes. He may be standing his ground, but he is paying a high political price for doing that.
The mainstream press has been relentlessly attacking Biden for his resolute desire to take US troops out of Afghanistan.
An example of the bad press is from ABC News:
“WASHINGTON -- Two months ago, the leaders of the world’s seven major industrialized democracies met at the height of summer on England’s southwest coast. It was a happy occasion: the first in-person summit of the Group of Seven nations in two years due to the coronavirus pandemic and the welcomed appearance of President Joe Biden and his “America is back” message on matters ranging from comity to COVID-19 to climate change.
The smiles and sunshine seem distant as G-7 leaders meet again Tuesday, in virtual format, for crisis talks on Afghanistan. The country’s burgeoning refugee crisis, the collapse of its government and fears of a resurgence in Afghan-based terrorism have left the G-7 allies scrambling and threaten the unity of the bloc.”
So for now, all we can say is “we told you so.” And we can continue to support Biden in his resolution to pull US troops out of Afghanistan.
Pix from Aljazeera.