Afghanistan

There are moments when it feels like I never left

Afghanistan: America’s Longest Forgotten War Turns a grim 17

(Tomdispatch.com) | – We’re already two years past the crystal anniversary and eight years short of the silver one, or at least we would be, had it been a wedding — and, after a fashion, perhaps it was. On October 7, 2001, George W. Bush launched the invasion — “liberation” was the word often used […]

Afghanistan

When US Allies Murder US Soldiers: Blowback From U.S. Policy in the Greater Middle East

Danny Sjursen

(Tomdispatch.com) – He was shot in the back, the ultimate act of treachery. On September 3rd, a U.S Army sergeant major was killed by two Afghan police officers — the very people his unit, the new Security Force Assistance Brigade, was there to train. It was the second fatal “insider attack,” as such incidents are […]

Afghanistan

Parade! How Trump Redefined Victory in Afghanistan as “Attacking our Enemies”

Nick Turse

New York (Tomdispatch.com) – 4,000,000,029,057. Remember that number. It’s going to come up again later. But let’s begin with another number entirely: 145,000 — as in, 145,000 uniformed soldiers striding down Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue. That’s the number of troops who marched down that very street in May 1865 after the United States defeated the Confederate […]

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Taliban Advances Cast Doubt on Trump’s Double-Down Policy

AFP

By Thomas WATKINS | – Washington (AFP) – A year since President Donald Trump unveiled his strategy for Afghanistan, a fresh wave of violence and bloodshed has assailed the war-torn nation and overshadowed some small glimmers of progress. Each successful attack represents a massive setback not just for the Afghanistan government, which is pushing for […]

Afghanistan

Our Thirty Years War of the 21st Century

Tom Engelhardt

New York (Tomdispatch.com) – Fair warning. Stop reading right now if you want, because I’m going to repeat myself. What choice do I have, since my subject is the Afghan War (America’s second Afghan War, no less)? I began writing about that war in October 2001, almost 17 years ago, just after the U.S. invasion […]

Afghanistan

As Trump Expands Failed War in Afghanistan, he Stops Boasting about It

Reese Erlich

(San Francisco ( 48hills.org) – President Donald Trump is back on the stump, trumpeting his alleged triumphs since the 2016 elections. Somehow, he never mentions Afghanistan. For years, Trump has denounced endless foreign wars, including Afghanistan. He tweeted in 2012, for example, that Afghanistan is “a complete waste….Time to come home!” Once in power, however, […]

Afghanistan

Farmers in War-Torn Afghanistan Hit by Worst Drought in Decades

AFP

With Emal Haidary | – Mazar-i-Sharif (Afghanistan) (AFP) – After his wheat crop failed and wells dried up, Ghulam Abbas sold his animals and joined thousands of other farmers migrating to cities as Afghanistan’s worst drought in living memory ravages the war-torn country. A huge shortfall in snow and rain across much of the country […]

Afghanistan

If US Special Ops are Winning War on Terror, why have they lost 1/2 of Afghanistan?

Nick Turse

New York (Tomdispatch.com) – A U.S. drone strike in Yemen. (I could be talking about 2002 or 2018.) Missions by Green Berets in Iraq. (I could be talking about 2003 or 2018.) While so much about the War on Terror turned Global War on Terrorism turned World War IV turned the Long War turned “generational […]