Professor Juan Cole explains the rise of the Taliban and the rapid fall of the American supported Afghanistan government in this conversation with Professor Adnan Husain. Professor Cole is the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan as well as the editor of Informed Comment (juancole.com). Professor Adnan Husain is […]
Archives for August 2021
The Endless Shadow of the War on Terror: Living With It Forever and a Day
( Tomdispatch.com) – It ended in chaos and disaster. Kabul has fallen and Joe Biden is being blamed (by congressional Republicans in particular) for America’s now almost-20-year disaster in Afghanistan. But is the war on terror itself over? Apparently not. It seems like centuries ago, but do you remember when, in May 2003, President George […]
Top 6 Ways Trump forced Abrupt US Departure from Afghanistan; and that Time Trump said Taliban would take over War on Terror
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – 1. in December, 2018, Trump ordered that half of the then 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan be brought out. The decision so angered then Secretary of Defense James Mattis that he abruptly resigned his position. Then Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Joseph Dunford said he had not recommended […]
The Republican Big Lie about 2020 is Old News, but the Stakes are Still High
( Otherwords.org ) – Unless we debunk the lies about 2020, the next election may be a lot less fair. By Jill Richardson | August 18, 2021 Right now our nation still has two competing narratives about the 2020 election. One is that Joe Biden legitimately won and that Donald Trump encouraged a false narrative, […]
An Afghan American scholar describes his fear-filled journey from the chaos at Kabul airport to a plane bound for home in the US
By Hanif Sufizada | – Editor’s note: Afghan scholar Hanif Sufizada, who works at the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha, got caught in Kabul during the chaos of the U.S. military pullout, when thousands of Afghans fled to the airport, seeking a way out of the country. Editor Catesby Holmes […]
Why Palestinian children under Israeli occupation do not Enjoy a Safe and Secure Life
By Motasem A Dalloul | – More than 1.2 million Palestinian children in the occupied territories returned to their schools for the new academic year on 15 August. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), most of them have been counting down the days and looking forward to schools […]
Biden: After Trump-Taliban Treaty, Draw-down, Staying in Afghanistan would have Required a New War
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden on Friday gave some further insight into his decision to leave Afghanistan, and refuted some of his critics’ talking points concisely and convincingly. Let me back up and explain that the Military-Industrial Complex spokespersons, like Gen. (ret’d) David Petraeus, criticized Biden for being unwilling to stay in […]
Why Biden Is Right to End the War in Afghanistan
Now our obligation is to those Afghans living with the consequences of our four decades of intervention
Afghan troops sought safety in numbers – igniting a cascade of surrender
By Todd Lehmann | – The swift collapse of the Afghan military in recent days caught many in the U.S. by surprise, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the months after President Joe Biden’s April 2021 announcement of the troop withdrawal, intelligence reports warned that the Afghan military might not fight […]
© 2025 All Rights Reserved