The Failure of Woke Soft Power in Afghanistan

American Thinker ^ | 23 Sep, 2021 | Fay Voshell

[MtnClimber]

For decades, American foreign policy has been committed to a failed political and military philosophy.

In Afghanistan, America is experiencing its own Dunkirk, but without rescue boats or a Churchill on the horizon.

While pundits, pooh-bahs, and political prophets presently are in finger-pointing mode over the debacle, one lesson is apparent. For decades, American foreign policy has been committed to a failed political and military philosophy. Afghanistan is the symbolic and real indicator of the total collapse of the liberal/left Weltanschauung.

During America's twenty years' war and occupation of Afghanistan and well before that enterprise, somewhere along the way, the definition and goals of war radically changed. The idea of military objectives surgically carried out and missions accomplished was tossed in the trash bin in favor of a transition to what euphemistically has been termed "soft power."

As Kevin Ofchus, an associate fellow of the think-tank Narrative Strategies notes in his book Delegation of Blame: Insurgent Violent Extremism, after the failure of intelligence brought on by the Snowden revelations and the institution of the drawdown, soft power became the chosen policy in Afghanistan. He writes:

The paternalistic soft power mantra ... went something like, "Look people, we can bomb the hell out of the insurgency but the whack a mole strategy hasn't defeated the enemy's ideology which outlives those we kill, our best bet is to try and provide resources and stabilization inspiring ideological change from within instead of forcing a solution by threat or mandate from the outside."

[MtnClimber]

Our intel agencies believe there are 57 genders. What kind of results should we expect?

[timza]

We have not won anywhere since the War Department became the Department of Defense. 1947 IIRC

[Travis McGee]

In Biden's short speech yesterday, two times he said, "The women and men of the military."

He never said "the men and women." Men make up about 85% of the military, and 99.9% of the actual combatants.

You don't repeat that "women and men of the military" inversion until you have been totally brainwashed by the woke left. Biden is a teleprompter-reading zombie, repeating the woke fantasy bullshit of his woke cabinet and advisors.

That's why I call our military the WAMM: The Woke American Marxist Military.

No wonder our forces are now trapped inside Kabul Alamo Airport, literally at the mercy of the Taliban. Their "war plan" is to HOPE that the Taliban lets our citizens out of the trap we flew into.

.

[Kozak]

Ok it’s not Dunkirk.

It’s a disaster but it’s not even close to Dunkirk.

[BobL]

“... in favor of a transition to what euphemistically has been termed “soft power.”

I’ll bet my house that this ‘soft power’ crap is straight out of the Kennedy School of Government, at Harvard.