There’s plenty of blame to go around for Afghanistan
With America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan (mostly) complete, one might think the diplomatic and military establishments that were so deeply involved in the 20 year-long conflict would take a moment to…
Twenty years on, the war on terror has made the state larger and stronger than ever
One of the biggest changes in America during the 20 year-long fight against global terrorism has been the rapid change, and accelerated growth, of the security state. Once designed to…
Fighting the gender wars in Afghanistan
The Special Inspector General’s summary report on Afghanistan reconstruction is loaded with examples of how the U.S. wasted billions on trying to build a modern democracy on medieval foundations. But…
Worse than the fall of Saigon
The popular pushback against comparisons of the U.S. withdrawal from Kabul with that of Saigon in 1975 is that they are entirely different, and can’t be compared in any way,…
State Department drops $2,000 fee for evacuation flights
The State Department has decided it will drop the usual $2,000 fee it charges people to take evacuation flights from war-torn or disaster areas like Afghanistan: People evacuated from Afghanistan…
The litany of waste in Afghanistan
Inside the Special Inspector General’s Report on Afghanistan are examples of how the U.S, government wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on equipment, building projects, and policies. Bloomberg gathered a…
The costs of the endless wars will drag on for decades
The price tag for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were staggering – somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.2 trillion. But we should not forget that those wars were fought…
The ‘Lessons’ from 20 years in Afghanistan
Some members of Congress are calling for investigations into how America’s 20 year military presence in Afghanistan could come to such a shabby end. Any hearings or investigations should begin…
The litany of untruths, half-truths, and outright lies about Afghanistan
We may not know the full story behind why the U.S.-backed Afghan government and its armed forces collapsed in such spectacular fashion. But some things about the nation’s longest war…
The ‘humiliating coda’ to America’s longest war
One of Joe Biden’s selling points during the 2020 presidential campaign was how his decades of foreign policy experience would renew America’s standing in the world. Events of recent days…