What in God's Green Goodness Are We Up To In Afghanistan?

fuck you, you worthless motherfucker!! I says to the barkeep

Let me take you to the place
Where membership's a smiling face
Brush shoulders with the arseholes
Where wankers take you by the hand
And welcome you to a wonderful ilx thread
And they spit in your face and call you a melt-cunt

The Taliban takeover has restored order to the conservative countryside while plunging the comparatively liberal streets of Kabul into fear and hopelessness. This reversal of fates brings to light the unspoken premise of the past two decades: if U.S. troops kept battling the Taliban in the countryside, then life in the cities could blossom. This may have been a sustainable project—the Taliban were unable to capture cities in the face of U.S. airpower. But was it just? Can the rights of one community depend, in perpetuity, on the deprivation of rights in another? In Sangin, whenever I brought up the question of gender, village women reacted with derision. “They are giving rights to Kabul women, and they are killing women here,” Pazaro said. “Is this justice?” Marzia, from Pan Killay, told me, “This is not ‘women’s rights’ when you are killing us, killing our brothers, killing our fathers.” Khalida, from a nearby village, said, “The Americans did not bring us any rights. They just came, fought, killed, and left.”

In this week's @NewYorker I write about the Afghan women who wanted US troops to leave https://t.co/nQGzqKPFZu

— Anand Gopal (@Anand_Gopal_) September 6, 2021

pretty sure I’m taliban after reading that

Here's the Times-published op-ed from the general whose atrocities are detailed near the end
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/opinion/afghanistan-taliban-army.html

This was a good light-ish critique of that piece

Some of this is a bit too novelistic in presentation to inspire complete confidence imho, but the core claim that the occupation of Afghanistan was a parade of crimes and horrors is very clearly going to be completely correct. https://t.co/ziiyZCv9Tp

— Lafargue (@Lafargue) September 7, 2021

NYT: The drone strike that the military said took out a potential ISIS car bomber right before we departed Afghanistan likely hit a a longtime worker for a U.S. aid group who was bringing people to and from work. https://t.co/eh5C18FTAg

— Sam Stein (@samstein) September 10, 2021

ah! nevertheless

BREAKING: Gen. McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, to announce no ISIS-K fighters killed in U.S. drone strike in Kabul Aug 29. 10 civilians killed, including 7 children in Toyota. No disciplinary action expected, officials say. US military stands by intel leading to strike.

— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) September 17, 2021

No disciplinary action expected, officials say. US military stands by intel leading to strike.

I can only think of a few possibilities of how this went down, but none of them fit with both of these sentences. Either the intel was inaccurate. Or it was inadequate. Or it was accurate and actionable, and the operator made a grievous error and struck the wrong target. Or the operator was ordered by a superior to strike although the target was incorrect.

Asked by a reporter to explain how the "complete and utter failure" could have occurred, McKenzie said, "While I agree that this strike certainly did not come up to our standards and I profoundly regret it, I would not qualify the entire operation in those terms."

Fucking piece of shit

The Taliban takeover has restored order to the conservative countryside while plunging the comparatively liberal streets of Kabul into fear and hopelessness. This reversal of fates brings to light the unspoken premise of the past two decades: if U.S. troops kept battling the Taliban in the countryside, then life in the cities could blossom. This may have been a sustainable project—the Taliban were unable to capture cities in the face of U.S. airpower. But was it just? Can the rights of one community depend, in perpetuity, on the deprivation of rights in another? In Sangin, whenever I brought up the question of gender, village women reacted with derision. “They are giving rights to Kabul women, and they are killing women here,” Pazaro said. “Is this justice?” Marzia, from Pan Killay, told me, “This is not ‘women’s rights’ when you are killing us, killing our brothers, killing our fathers.” Khalida, from a nearby village, said, “The Americans did not bring us any rights. They just came, fought, killed, and left.”

In this week's @NewYorker I write about the Afghan women who wanted US troops to leave https://t.co/nQGzqKPFZu
— Anand Gopal (@Anand_Gopal_) September 6, 2021
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 6 September 2021 17:25 (one week ago) link

*strokes chin thoughtfully*

I've been listening to like 6 different podcasts with Spencer Ackerman bc of his new book being out and I am finding all of them incredibly informative & sensible. His description of how the war wasn't really happening *in* Kabul and it was safe to be a drunk Westerner walking through the streets to your hotel, there was no security, etc, versus how heavily rural areas were droned, mined, and so on...was something I hadn't realized at all.

I put a hold on his book at the library, but I'm 11th in line for a shot at one of the 4 copies in the system.

No disciplinary action expected, officials say. US military stands by intel leading to strike.

I can only think of a few possibilities of how this went down, but none of them fit with both of these sentences. Either the intel was inaccurate. Or it was inadequate. Or it was accurate and actionable, and the operator made a grievous error and struck the wrong target. Or the operator was ordered by a superior to strike although the target was incorrect.

― it is to laugh, like so, ha! (Aimless), Friday, September 17, 2021 5:31 PM (two hours ago)

I read this anand gopal essay essay earlier this week and I think it illuminates the perverted ethics of this sort of thing

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/21/americas-war-on-syrian-civilians/amp

The Ackerman book is great

incredible pic.twitter.com/8bFf5vVLH5

— rice🌐 (@412ricefarmer) October 25, 2021

otm

they tried so hard to manufacture consent

extremely grim report: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/08/afghanistan-winter-crisis/

The country’s new rulers, cut off from most international aid as well as Afghan government assets held in U.S. accounts, have scant resources to protect millions of vulnerable people against another harsh winter. Aid groups estimate that nearly 23 million Afghans, out of a total population of 39 million, already do not have enough to eat. Many also lack solid shelter and money to heat their homes at night, forcing them to choose between food and fuel, and creating additional potential for a full-fledged humanitarian disaster, aid officials said.