After 20 Years, The Establishment Is Still In Denial About Afghanistan

The American Conservative ^ | Feb 10 | Andrew J. Bacevich

[RandFan]

With the 20th anniversary of the Afghanistan war now just around the corner, Americans might reasonably wonder whether the nation’s longest war is ever going to end. After carefully considering the question, two retired four-star generals, two former U.S. senators, three ambassadors, a former national security adviser, and several other august personages have weighed in with an opinion: not if they can help it.

Policy wonks who have been waiting with bated breath can now exhale: the congressionally mandated Afghanistan Study Group (ASG) has published its findings. The panel of grandees comprising the ASG has produced a most handsome document. Just days after its appearance, however, their handiwork already appears likely to disappear without making any serious impact. Given the temper of the moment, with Washington preoccupied with Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial and the early doings of the Biden presidency, this hardly rates as a surprise. In the larger constellation of American politics, Afghanistan just does not rate as a pressing matter.

Yet before this report vanishes altogether, let’s pause to examine its principal findings. Doing so offers insights into the collective mindset of a foreign policy establishment clinging desperately to the residue of American global primacy even as evidence showing that the unipolar order is gone for good continues to accumulate.

Interested in knowing what members of that establishment learned from the serial disappointments of recent decades? The ASG offers an answer: not much. In Afghanistan, the study’s authors write, “The United States and its international allies have made mistakes that are well documented,” yet they never bother to identify any of those mistakes or explore their significance. The ASG passes over in silence any lessons policymakers might have learned from past errors in judgment or from initiatives that went awry. They wipe the slate clean.

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[nickcarraway]

I guess this war will never end. Which is bad.

[chuckee]

Afghanistan is testimony to having a new paradigm for Middle East wars that affect our national interest. It can be expressed in three words. “Bomb and leave.” Rinse and repeat until they get the point.

[Vigilanteman]

We still have troops in Germany which surrendered in May 1945 and the wall fell some 44 years after that.

[redfreedom]

“After 20 Years, The Establishment Is Still In Denial About Afghanistan”

That’s got to be the stupidest title yet. There is no denial. The name of the game is getting rich off of the military industrial complex. The Deep State is back in full charge and there is nothing to deny.

[Rashputin]

The "Establishment" isn't in denial. The US is staying in Afghanistan to protect opium & China's Belt & Road assets. A slice of the heroin trade cash & payback to China for the under the table money that flows to the "Establishment" & keeps China from having to defend its own assets.

Taxpayer money accomplishes both things while untraceable cash flows to "all the right people". Casualties among the troops are just a fringe benefit since they're mostly deplorables anyway

[stuckinloozeeana]

20 years and counting, just because Bush got his feelins’ hurt cause Hussain threatened his daddy.

[The Truth Will Make You Free]

I lived and worked in Afghanistan for 6 years following 9/11 (non-military). The Afghans said they’d always need outsiders or they’ll start killing each other, even worse than they already do. Look at the civil war that broke out after the Russians were kicked out, that led to the people accepting the Taliban just to have peace.

The big problem is Afghanistan should not be one country, but at least three. For example, the British deliberately split the Pashtuns between Pakistan and Afghanistan instead of creating a more ethnically aligned Pashtunistan. I couldn’t tell the difference between ethnic groups and paid no attention to it, but the Afghans all knew what everyone was: Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, etc. (There’s actually 50 ethnicities in Afghanistan.)

[Cronos]

you are correct

[Magnatron]

There’s a lot of suffering in the world...

Not our circus.

Not our monkeys.

[eyeamok]

There is NO WAY IN HELL our Gubmint is going to leave this Country with so much money being made.

https://undark.org/2020/05/20/afghanistan-meth-ephedra/

“it is quite possible for the ephedra and meth industry to equal that of the opium and heroin economy.” The opium and heroin trade in Afghanistan is worth as much as $6.6 billion per year, according to a 2018 report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Seeds of Terror
How heroin is bankrolling the Taliban and al Qaeda.
http://failuremag.com/feature/article/seeds_of_terror/#ixzz35QhbgQ8K

Drug shipments off of Africa have “significantly increased since 2009”
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/international/2014/June/international_June26.xml&section=international

Drug trafficking, kidnapping fund al Qaeda
By Rachel Ehrenfeld, Special to CNN -May 4, 2011
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/05/03/ehrenfeld.al.qaeda.funding/

Qatar used as transit point by drug traffickers: Expert 2013
http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/qatar/253421/qatar-used-as-transit-point-by-drug-traffickers-expert-

Obama secretly released high risk Taliban terrorists to the care of Qatar. (Qatar is where the US established for Taliban headquarters in 2011.)
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-offers-the-taliban-a-new-mideast-headquarters-2011-9

Islamic Revolutionaries under any name you google are tied to the Heroin trade along with most other drugs, as well as human trafficking.
http://www.newsweek.com/2013/06/12/talibans-new-role-afghanistans-drug-mafia-237524.html

Heroin production hits record levels in Afghanistan - study
http://rt.com/news/156128-afghanistan-drugs-usa-heroin/

Drug War? American Troops Are Protecting Afghan Opium. U.S. Occupation Leads to All-Time High Heroin Production
http://www.globalresearch.ca/drug-war-american-troops-are-protecting-afghan-opium-u-s-occupation-leads-to-all-time-high-heroin-production/5358053

Terrorists in “Americas Back Yard”

State Department Reports Hezbollah Increasing Drug and Terrorism in South America 2013
http://interamericansecuritywatch.com/exporting-terror-in-americas-backyard/
“There has indeed been a “marked resurgence” of Iranian state sponsorship of terrorism over the past 18 months. But as the new Nisman report drives home, here’s an even more disturbing fact — Iran has run intelligence networks in the United States’ backyard to “sponsor, foster and execute terrorist attacks” for decades.”

“Criminal plans” by Iran could be under way in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, the report said.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/world/americas/iran-latin-america/

Mexican Cartels Buying Afghan Heroin
http://www.banderasnews.com/1101/nr-afghanheroin.htm

Obama’s America:

“The horrific toll of America’s heroin ‘epidemic”
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26672422
America’s Heroin Epidemic -BBC 2014

The SEC sees no evil while Wall Street banks launder $BILLIONS in cartel
money. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs

Hedge Fund Manager, Banker, and the largest Individual donor to Obama’s coiffeurs, continues to pour $Millions into thenDrug Legalization Campaign, made to look like citizen activism. George Soros 2/2014
http://www.hightimes.com/read/how-one-percent-will-legalize-marijuana

As “medical marijuana” legalization spreads across the country, police and other industry warnings about the dangers of legalizing marijuana ignored by media
http://www.flsheriffs.org/newsroom/entry/florida-sheriffs-pass-resolution-to-oppose-the-legalization-of-marijuana

DEA has been caught laundering money as well, “Agency officials declined to publicly discuss details of their work, citing concerns about compromising their investigations.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/world/americas/us-drug-agents-launder-profits-of-mexican-cartels.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&;;

Mexican Diplomat Says America Pretty Much Invited The Sinaloa Drug Cartel Across The Border
http://www.businessinsider.com/stratfor-the-us-works-with-cartels-2012-9#ixzz36vAJbBpS

Obama shut down the NDIC in 2012, the itelligence agency dedicated to tracking terrorism funded by drug trafficking.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/tag/national-drug-intelligence-center/
“Mexican cartel violence is at an all-time high along the increasingly porous southern border yet the Obama Administration has shut down a critical intelligence agency dedicated to identifying, tracking and severing the nexus between drug trafficking and terrorism.”

CONFIRMED: The DEA Struck A Deal With SINALOA Mexico’s Most Notorious Drug Cartel (They claimed feds agreed they could traffic into Chicago) JAN. 13, 2014
more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-government-and-the-sinaloa-cartel-2014-1#ixzz30wXEcHSl

U.S. Government and Top Mexican Drug Cartel Exposed as Partners
Written by Alex Newman Jan. 2014
http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/north-america/item/17396-u-s-government-and-top-mexican-drug-cartel-exposed-as-partners

The link between drugs and crime, including violent crime, would be hard to overstate in Chicago. Eighty-six percent of adult males arrested in Chicago last year tested positive for drug use. Chicago, with a population of 2.7 million, had 506 murders in 2012, the highest per capita among the four most populous U.S. cities.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-17/heroin-pushed-on-chicago-by-cartel-fueling-gang-murders.html

The Truth About Chicago’s Crime Rates (cooking the books)
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/May-2014/Chicago-crime-rates/

Dirty doctors, Russian mafia fueling prescription drug and heroin abuse in N.J., investigation finds
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/07/nj_state_commission_of_investigation_prescription_drug_heroin_abuse.html

Opiates are now the leading cause of accidental deaths, surpassing car crashes and alcohol. http://elitedaily.com/news/world/prescription-painkillers-overtake-car-crashes-leading-accidental-death-us/

Banks Laundering Cartel Drug Money -Rampant
http://www.globalresearch.ca/money-laundering-and-the-drug-trade-the-role-of-the-banks/5334205

BORDER CRISIS: CONGRESSMAN SAYS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ‘CAUSING HUMAN TRAFFICKING’
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/07/05/Congressman-Illegls-Aliens-Rise-Obama-Advertises-If%20you-Come-You-Can-Stay

Cartels Exploit Immigration Crisis To Smuggle More Drugs Across Border
By Frank Diez July 03, 2014
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2014/07/03/cartels-exploit-immigration-crisis-to-smuggle-more-drugs-across-border/

Mexican Cartels are Behind Border Crisis -2014
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/23/how-mexico-s-cartels-are-behind-the-border-kid-crisis.html

Drug dealing, informant get border pass -2014
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/informant-gets-free-border-pass-675432

EXCLUSIVE: Photos Show Drugs Pouring Over Southern Arizona Border as Agent Resources are Overwhelmed Jul 08, 2014
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2014/07/08/exclusive-photos-show-drugs-pouring-over-southern-arizona-border-n1859982

The Obama Administration’s Human Trafficking
July 11, 2014 by Arnold
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/arnold-ahlert/the-obama-administrations-human-trafficking/

[Basket_of_Deplorables]

War, inc. makes big bucks there.

[hanamizu]

“I lived and worked in Afghanistan for 6 years following 9/11 (non-military). “

---

I’ve never been there, but I was supposed to go there in 1969 with the Peace Corps. They taught us Persian/Farsi/Dari. But they placed nearly everyone in Pashtu-speaking areas. Pashtuns don’t appreciate Farsi speakers. Everyone came back after one month in country. As you say Afghans know who everyone is—they are tribal by their nature.

They may say they need outsiders to keep them from killing one another, but they are able to unite to get rid of outsiders. In my opinion, “nation building” in Afghanistan is a fool’s errand.

All of the Afghans I got to know during Peace Corps training were nice, outgoing people. They did have a hard time following the humor on ‘Laugh-In’ though.

[Vermont Lt]

$13 Trillion in Rare Earth Minerals.

No one will allow the Afghans to get rich.

[The Truth Will Make You Free]

In my opinion, “nation building” in Afghanistan is a fool’s errand.

Well put.