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  1. Afghanistan  “Afghan Standoff Solution”  7-12-14
  2. Afghans Get Busy Helping Themselves.  By Waleed  Ziad et. al. […vibrant civil society…] 9-3-14
  3. Afghan Resolution. [A shaky power-sharing deal in Kabul is better than the alternatives.] 9-23-14
  4. Afghanistan. “New Afghan Government? Check. Now Get the Economy Going.” [A long-delayed pipeline to ship gas from Turkmenistan to India could produce $400 million a year for the country.]  10-1-2014
  5. Afghanistan. “Tide of War, Unreceding.” [A necessary rethink of the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan in 2015.] 11-24-14
  6. Afghanistan. “Replacing Afghan Poppies With Pomegranates.” By Wayne Arden. [Nine crops outscore opium for net income per hectare. Getting them to market is the problem.]  12-8-14
  7. Afghanistan. “Dueling Mosques and an American Beacon in Afghanistan.” By Frederick Starr. [The Saudis and Iranians are building outposts in Kabul. Meanwhile, a U.S. university there needs bolstering.]  1-17-15
  8. Afghanistan. “How Not to Squander Hard-Won Gains in Afghanistan.” By Michael O’Hanlon. [The woes are well-known, the strengths too often forgotten. Major cities and roads, for example, are increasingly safe.]  2-5-15
  9. Afghanistan. “Operation Lost in Translation.” [“The Weekend Interview” with Matt Zeller, by William McGurn.] [What do we owe the Iraqi and Afghan ‘terps’ who fought with us in Iraq and Afghanistan? This Army vet is trying to save their lives.]  5-23-15
  10. Afghanistan. “Women and the Future of Afghanistan.” By Bethany Lerch. [They’ve made great progress, but violence and subjugation are still far too common.]  7-9-15
  11. Afganistan. “The Taliban Escalate as Obama Edges Out of Afghanistan.” By Nader Nadery. [Hundreds of civilians have been killed this month, but it isn’t too late for Kabul’s allies to avert disaster.] 8-21-15
  12. Afghanistan. “The Taliban Take Kunduz.” [Obama should rethink his U.S. withdrawal or risk an Iraq-like rout.] 9-30-15
  13. Afghanistan. “An Afghan Against American Retreat.” [The Weekend Interniew with Abdullah Abdullah, by Bret Stephens.] [Afghanistan’s chief executive says it was clear Kunduz would fall, for lack of military resources.] 10-3-15
  14. Afghanistan. “The Taliban and the Hospital.” [The U.S. military is trying to save Afghans from the jihadists.] 10-5-15
  15. Afghanistan. “My Meeting With a Taliban Judge.” By Michael F. Gunther. [As a Marine, I had worked to stop police corruption. Now I was back in Kabul, seeing why the Islamists are gaining ground.] 10-24-15
  16. Afghanistan. “Afghanistan Is a Better Place – and the Taliban Hate It.” By Saad Mohseni. [Now the militants are targeting the Afghan media that helped modernize attitudes.] 11-13-15
  17. Afghanistan.  “Obama Courts Chaos With His Taliban Fantasy.” By Husain Haqqani. [U.S. policy increasingly looks like a replay of the 1990s, complete with the mirage of Pakistani help.] 2-24-16
  18. Afghanistan. “Take the Gloves Off Against the Taliban.” By David Petraeus and Michael O’Hanlon. [Incredibly, even though much U.S. blood and treasure was sacrificed in Afghanistan, we won’t bomb the militants trying to take over the country.] 5-21-16
  19. Afghanistan. “Hit the Taliban Harder.” [The Mansour strike will be wasted without more U.S. help from the air.] 5-24-16
  20. Afghanistan. “Why Terrorists Find a Kabul University So Threatening.” [The American University gives young Afghans a modern education, exposing them to U.S. values and culture.]  9-16-16
  21. Afghanistan. “Where Are the Visas for the Afghans Who Helped American GIs?”  by Juliana Goldrosen and Art Hoffman.  [Thousands who risked their lives for U.S. forces are now hunted by insurgents and can’t escape Afghanistan.]  11-12-16
  22. Afghanistan. “The Assault on Kabul.”  [An attack timed to influence Trump’s decision on U.S. troops.]  6-1-17
  23. Afghanistan. “The MacArthur Model for Afghanistan.”  By Erik D. Prince.  [Consolidate authority into one person:  an American viceroy who’d lead all coalition efforts.]  6-1-17
  24. Afghanistan. “Getting an Edge in the Long Afghan Struggle.”  By David Petraeus and Michael O’Hanion.  [Trump’s early approach holds promise if backed with a sustained, and sustainable, commitment.]  6-23-17
  25. Afghanistan. “Trump’s Afghan Choice.”  [He may repeat Obama’s Iraq blunder by overruling his generals.]  8-4-17
  26. Afghanistan. “Trump’s Afghan Commitment.” [His critics lack an alternative other than retreat and defeat.] 8-23-17
  27. Afghanistan. “Trump Learns From America’s Failures in Afghanistan.” By Vance Serchuk. [By focusing on getting out of the country, Bush and Obama fostered conditions that forced us to stay.] 8-23-17
  28. Afghanistan. “President Trump Needs a Special Envoy in Afghanistan.” By Saad Mohseni and Mitchell Shivers. [Without a diplomatic strategy to complement the military surge, his policy reset could fail.] 8-24-17
  29. Afghanistan. “Help Afghans Exploit Their Mineral Riches.”  By Michael Silver.  [China controls the supply of rare-earth and critical metals.]  8-31-17
  30. Afghanistan. LTE.  “U.S. Afghanistan Policy Faces Many Variables.”  9-7-17
  31. Afghanistan. “Why Afghans Are Hopeful About Trump’s New Strategy.”  By Parwiz Kawa and Shafi Sharifi.  [Our country’s future as a peaceful democracy is not guaranteed, but America won’t abandon us.]  9-22-17
  32. Afghanistan. “Trump’s Afghan Policy goes Wrong.”  By Hy Rothstein and John Arquilla.  [Governing from Kabul has never been successful.  The U.S. should look to local institutions. ]  11-17-17
  33. Afghanistan. “The Mafia that Threatens Afghanistan.”  By Javid Ahmad.  [Armed factions have overrun civil society, but coming elections offer a chance to root them out.]  9-20-18
  34. Afghanistan.  “Trump’ Cracked Afghan History.”  [His falsehoods about allies and the Soviets reach a new low.]  1-4-19
  35. Afghanistan.  “The Afghan Taliban Stage a Comeback.”  By Fawzia Koofi.  [A political settlement won’t obviate the need for resolve against terror and extremism.] 1-29-19
  36. Afghanistan.  “Don’t Rush Into Afghan Peace.” By James Dobbins.  [A premature pullout makes an enduring agreement unlikely.]  1-31-19
  37. Afghanistan.  “A Taliban Precedent?  Mao That Your Mention It…”  by Richard Bernstein.  [Afghan peace talks look like the 1945 negotiations that led to communist victory in China.]  2-21-19
  38. Afghanistan. “Afghanistan’s Post-9/11 Generation.”  By Suleiman Amanzad.  [I was 4 when the Taliban took over my town in 1998.  I think how far we have come and dread going back.]  3-7-19
  39. Afghanistan.  “The Afghan Endgame Has Become Surreal.” By Hy Rothstein and John Arquilla.  5-2-19
  40. Afghanistan. “The Taliban Smell Blood.” By Hussain Haqqani. [The terror group launches attack after attack, but the U.S. still hasn’t suspended Afghan peace talks.] 7-17-19
  41. Afghanistan. “The U.S. Abandoned Iraq. Don’t Repeat History in Afghanistan.” By David Petraeus and Vance Serchuk. [The Taliban have left no doubt that they’ll try to overthrow the government if American forces leave] 8-10-19
  42. Afghanistan. “Trumping the Taliban.” [The peace talks have looked increasingly like a surrender plan.] 9-9-19
  43. Afghanistan. “Brave Voting in Afghanistan.” 10-1-2019
  44. Afghanistan. “The Afghan Withdrawal Deal.” [Trump agrees to a 14-month timeline if the Taliban honor their security commitments.] 3-2-20
  45. Afghanistan. “Hopeful News in Afghanistan.” 5-18-20
  46. Afghanistan. “Trump’s Withdrawal Temptation.” [Zero troops by October in Afghanistan would repeat Obama’s mistake.] 5-26-20
  47. Afghanistan.  “Rush for the Afghan Exits?”   11-16-20
  48. Afghanistan.  “How to Save Kabul From Saigon’s Fate.”  By Bing West. [Biden would be wise to leave a small force to disrupt terrorists.]   11-17-20
  49. Afghanistan.   “Trump’s Afghan Sign Off.”   [He slashes troop levels for a political deadline but no military rationale.]   11-17-20
  50. Afghanistan.  “The Myth of ‘War Weary’ Americans.”  By Peter D. Feaver and Jim Golby.  [Our poll finds the public ambivalent about the war in Afghanistan, not in a hurry for withdrawal.]   12-2-20
  51. Afghanistan.  “Now Is as Good A time as Any for the U.S. to Quit Afghanistan.]   by Gil Barndollar and Sam Long.  [Whether American forces stay or leave, the fighting is guaranteed to continue.  Why not cut our losses?]   12-11-20
  52. Afghanistan.  “Will Biden Stop Trump’s Afghan Retreat?”  by Vance Serchuk.  [The Taliban has given every sign that it will harbor terrorists again after April.] 2-9-21
  53. Afghanistan.  “The Way Forward in Afghanistan.”  [Meeting Trump’s May 1 withdrawal deadline could lead to a rout.]   3-16-21
  54. Afghanistan.  “Afghanistan Pullout Isn’t As Popular As It Seems.”  By Richard Fontaine.  [Support is broad but shallow.  And sentiment could change quickly if withdrawal proves messy.]   3-29-21
  55. Afghanistan. “Afghanistan: The U.S. Can Always Go Back.”  By Gil Barndollar.  [Harsh but limited strikes can deter and punish terrorism.  Nation building is an expensive diversion.]   4-21-21
  56. Afghanistan.  “Afghanistan’s Terror Future.”  5-11-21
  57. Afghanistan. “An Alternative to the Afghan Pullout.”  By James Inhofe.   6-14-21
  58. Afghanistan.  “Leaving Afghan Allies Behind.”  6-15-21
  59. Afghanistan.  “Save Afghanistan’s Sikhs and Hindus.”   by Henna Hundal and Sai Rafagopal.  [This small community has outsize cultural influence and historical importance.]  6-25-21
  60. Afghanistan.  “Disaster Looms in Afghanistan.”  [Biden and Trump will own the bloody result of America’s withdrawal.]   6-25-21
  61. Afghanistan.  “The Debt the U.S. Owes to My Afghan Interpreter – and Others.”  By Matt Watters.  [‘We know you worked for the Americans,’ extremists shout outside his home.  ‘We are going to kill you.’]   6-26-21
  62. Afghanistan.  “The Taliban’s March to Kabul.”  [Security in Afghanistan is deteriorating faster than the U.S. admits.]   6-30-21
  63. Afghanistan.  “Biden Says Kabul Is No Saigon.”   7-9-21
  64. Afghanistan.  “To Avert Disaster in Afghanistan, Look to Central Asia.”  By Frederick Starr and Michael Doran.   7-12-21
  65. Afghanistan.  “Biden’s Vietnam, Then and Now.”  By Wm. McGurn.  [George W. Bush is right.  Leaving Afghanistan like this is a mistake.]   7-20-21
  66. Afghanistan. “Afghanistan on the Brink.”  [The U.S. resumes bombing, but Biden needs to do more.]  7-27-21
  67. Afghanistan.  “How to Avert Disaster in Afghanistan.”  By H.R. McMaster and Bradley Bowman.  [The least the U.S. can do is offer air support, intel and ensure proper logistics and maintenance contracting.]   7-27-21
  68. Afghanistan.  “’Deeply Troubling in Afghanistan.”   7-30-21
  69. Afghanistan.  “The U.S. Won Afghanistan Before Losing It.”  By Toby Harnden.  [Victory came quickly to the CIA and special forces in October 2001.  Then the self-defeating invasion.]   8-4-21
  70. Afghanistan.  “Have No Illusions About the U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan.”  By Sadanand Dhume.  [The Taliban doesn’t care about human rights any more than they did in 2001 and likely will take power.]  8-6-21
  71. Afghanistan.  “The Taliban Advance Escalates.”  [Biden’s precipitous withdrawal is quickly becoming a debacle.]  8-9-21
  72. Afghanistan.  “What Will Happen to the Women of Afghanistan?   By Bartle Bull Sr.  [The teachers and students I met in 2010 will suffer the most under the return of Taliban rule.]   8-12-21
  73. Afghanistan.  “The Debacle in Afghanistan.”  [Biden and Trump share responsibility for the looming defeat.]   8-13-21
  74. Afghanistan.  “A Rescue Plan for Afghanistan.”  [It’s not too late to prevent a bloodbath and total Taliban victory. ]   8-14-21
  75. Afghanistan.  “Biden’s Afghanistan Surrender.”  [He tries to duck responsibility for a calamitous withdrawal.]   8-16-21
  76. Afghanistan.    “Pelosi on Afghan Women.”   8-16-21
  77. Afghanistan.    “The Afghan Allies Left Behind.”  [Fear and chaos in Kabul as the U.S. fails to get loyal friends out.]   8-16-21
  78. Afghanistan.  “In Afghanistan, the Tragic Toll of Delusion.”  By R.E. McMaster and Bradley Bowman.  [Pundits repeat the mantra that there was ‘no military solution.’  The Taliban seem to have come up with one.]   8-16-21
  79. Afghanistan.  “All the President’s Weaknesses.”  By Wm. McGurn.  [Biden says Kabul isn’t another Saigon.  It may be more similar to Tehran in 1979.]   8-17-21
  80. Afghanistan.  “Afghans Need an ‘Underground Railroad.”  By Paul Wolfowitz.  [As in Vietnam, the priority should be rescuing as many allies as possible.]   8-17-21
  81. Afghanistan.  “Biden to Afghanistan:  Drop Dead.”  [Biden is defiant in blaming others for his Afghan debacle.]   8-17-21
  82. Afghanistan.  “A Reckoning for Pakistan.”  [The Taliban’s protector cheers the group’s Afghanistan takeover.]   8-17-21
  83. Afghanistan.  “Biden’s Chamberlain Moment.”  By Walter Russell Mead.  [The fall of Kabul has been heard around the world, to the dismay of our allies and delight of our enemies.]   8-17-21
  84. Afghanistan.  “Biden’s Eyes-Open Debacle.”  By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.  [For better or worse, the gaffe-prone president’s Afghan choice was no gaffe.]   8-18-21
  85. Afghanistan.  “The Nightmare Resumes for Afghan Women.”  By Charity Wallace.  [America rescued them 20 years ago.  How can we abandon them to the Taliban again?]  8-18-21
  86. Afghanistan.  “The Translators Biden Left Behind.”  By Adam O’Neal.  [Nonprofits and lawmakers have sounded warnings for months, but the administration dithered.]   8-18-21
  87. Afghanistan.  “The Endless Wars Fallacy.”  By Dan Crenshaw.  [There are many options between nation building and giving up, and we had found one in Afghanistan.]   8-18-21
  88. Afghanistan.  “The U.S. is Hostage to the Taliban.”  [The Kabul evacuation is hampered by too few U.S. troops and Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline.]   8-19-21
  89. Afghanistan.  “The IMF Acts Against the Taliban.”  By Josh Lipsky and Wm. F. Wechsler.  [Afghanistan was in line to receive more than $400 million in Special Drawing Rights next week.]  8-19-21
  90. Afghanistan.  “The Return of ‘America Held Hostage.’  By Walter Russell Mead.  [Some 15,000 U.S. citizens and residents are behind Taliban lines.  There’s no easy way to get them out.]   8-19-21
  91. Afghanistan.  “Democrats Run From Afghanistan.”  By Kimberley A. Strassel.  [Unlike Republicans last year, few are willing to challenge the president.]   8-20-21
  92. Afghanistan.  “How Biden Broke NATO.”  [The chaotic Afghan withdrawal has shocked and angered U.S. allies.]  8-20-21
  93. Afghanistan.  “So Much for Easy Counterterror Ops.”  [The President is coming up empty in his search to replace Afghan bases.]   8-20-21
  94. Afghanistan.  “The Right and Our Afghan Allies.”  [It isn’t conservative to betray a promise to those who fought with us.]   8-20-21
  95. Afghanistan.  “How to Contain the Taliban.”  By Lindsey Graham and Jack Keane.  [Afghanistan will surely provide a haven to an al Qaeda contingent – but the U.S. can still take action.]  8-20-21
  96. Afghanistan.  “A Commander Reflects on the Afghan Debacle.”  (The Weekend Interview with David Petraeus by Tunku Varadarajan.)  [He offers unsparing words about Trump and Biden, a defense of nation-building , and says U.S. soldiers may have to re-enter Kabul to rescue Americans.]  8-21-21
  97. Afghanistan.   “A ‘Pitiful, Helpless Giant’ in Afghanistan.”  [Time for a NATO military operation to rescue those trapped behind Taliban lines.]  8-21-21
  98. Afghanistan.  “Oklahoma Woman to the Kabul Rescue.”  [Allyson Reneau took it upon herself to rescue 10 Afghan girls.]  8-21-21
  99. Afghanistan.  “What Biden Can Still Save in Afghanistan.”  By Peggy Noonan.  [His careless withdrawal stranded thousands of U.S. citizens and an untold number of local allies.]  8-21-21
  100. Afghanistan.  “’Our Troops’ Are Supposed to Protect Us.”  by Benny Avni.  [Biden’s Afghanistan bug-out got the priority backward.”  8-23-21
  101. Afghanistan.  Cleaning Up After Biden on al Qaeda.  8-23-21
  102. Afghanistan.  “Dancing to the Taliban Timetable.”  [Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline for evacuation may leave many Afghans behind.]   8-23-21
  103. Afghanistan.  “The Basic Flaw in U.S. Afghan Strategy.”  By Hy Rothstein.  [Regimes that tried to rule from Kabul have always generated insurgencies in the countryside.]  8-23-21
  104. Afghanistan.  “A Taliban 9/11.”  By Wm. McGurn.  [Joe Biden rushed the Afghanistan pullout for a political speech he wanted to give.]   8-24-21
  105. Afghanistan.   “The Deeper Crisis Behind the Afghan Rout.”  By Walter Russell Mead.  [Observers abroad see the culmination of decades of American incompetence.]  8-24-21
  106. Afghanistan.  “The Taliban’s Aug. 31 ‘Red Line.’”  [Now we know why Biden wants all U.S. troops out of Kabul in a week.]   8-24-21
  107. Afghanistan.  “The Afghan Who Won’t Surrender to the Taliban.”  By Bernard-Henri Levy.  [Ahmad Massoud leads th resistance in the province of Panjshir.  Can he and his fighters hold out?]   8-24-21
  108. Afghanistan.  “IMF Funding for the Taliban?”  [Yellen’s expanded SDRs could become cash for the jihadists.]  8-26-21
  109. Afghanistan.  “A Way Out of Biden’s Afghan Trap.”  By Paula J. Dobriansky and Paul Saunders.  [The U.N. Security Council could authorize the U.S. and allies to enforce a safe zone for evacuations.]  8-26-21
  110. Afghanistan.  “Economists Explain the Taliban.”  By Anthony Gill.  [Strict behavioral rituals make religious groups effective at organizing collective action.]  8-26-21
  111. Afghanistan.  “The Kabul Airport Massacre.”  [Jihadists kill 13 Americans, more than died in all of 2020.]   8-27-21
  112. Afghanistan.  “Afghans Developed A Taste For Freedom.”  By Nolan Peterson.  [Even Taliban fighters have been seen gleefully riding bumper cars and working out in a Kabul gym.]   8-27-21
  113. Afghanistan.  “The ‘Forever War’ Hasn’t Ended.”  By Paul Wolfowitz.  [Thursday’s attacks were a reminder that ‘the enemy always gets a vote.’  After the pullout, the long war against jihadists has become more daunting.]  8-29-21
  114. Afghanistan.  “Who Abandoned Bagram Air Base?”  [Biden says the military, but the military says he gave them little choice.]   8-29-21
  115. Afghanistan.  “What Might Have Been at Tora Bora.”  By Peggy Noonan.  [A missed opportunity to get bin Laden set the stage for 20 years of frustrating, painful war in Afghanistan.]   8-29-21
  116. Afghanistan.  “Threatened by ISIS, the Afghan Taliban May Crack Up.”  By Kamran Bokhari.  [Without ideological purity, the group won’t be able to hold together.  With it, they won’t be able to govern.]   8-29-21
  117. Afghanistan.  “Keep the ‘Pineapple Express’ rolling.”  By Bing West and Paul Wolfowitz.  [How to rescue more Afghans after Biden’s deadline expires.]  8-30-21
  118. Afghanistan.  “The Best of America.”  [The 13 men and women who died in Kabul were on a rescue mission.]   8-30-21
  119. Afghanistan.  “Beefed-Up Sanctions Could Limit the Damage in Afghanistan.”  By Matthew Zweig and Richard Goldberg.  [The Taliban’s control of he government will significantly increase their wealth and influence.]   8-30-21
  120. Afghanistan.  “Biden’s Afghan Best-Case Scenario.”  By Walter Russell Mead.  [The president’s party may squeak through 2022, but America’s enemies won’t let him go so easily.]   8-31-21
  121. Afghanistan.  “Last Flight From Kabul.”  [A day that will live in infamy as thousands are left behind.]   8-31-21
  122. Afghanistan.  “Biden’s Vainglory Brings Abject Humiliation in Afghanistan. ]  By Gerard Baker.  [‘America is back,’ the president said in February, promising to ‘live…by the power of our example.’]   8-31-21
  123. Afghanistan.  “A Dishonest Afghan Accounting.”  [Biden spins a tragedy for U.S. interests into an antiwar victory.]   9-1-21
  124. Afghanistan.  “Afghan Journalists Need U.S. Help.”  By Joel Simon.  [Joe Biden pledged to support press freedom, but so far hasn’t followed through on his promises.]   9-1-21
  125. Afghanistan.  “No Trump Didn’t Force Biden’s Withdrawal.”  By S. Paul Kapur.  [The Taliban violated the Doha agreement, so the U.S. could have stayed.]  9-1-21
  126. Afghanistan.  “Biden’s Ugly Defense of His Afghan Failure.” [His lie-loaded speech caps off a debacle that could sink his party in 2022 and 2024.]   9-2-21
  127. Afghanistan.    “U.S. Spies Didn’t Cause Kabul to Fall.”  By Michael Allen.   [The Biden administration apparently wants to make a scapegoat out of the intelligence community.]  9-2-21
  128. Afghanistan.  “The Afghan Fiasco Will Stick to Biden.”  By Peggy Noonan.  [It hit at his reputational core.  He no longer comes across as empathetic, much less serious.]   9-4-21
  129. Afghanistan.  “Our Friends the Taliban.”  [Biden is relying on the group with ties to al Qaeda  Good Luck.]   9-7-21
  130. Afghanistan.  LTE.  “Dissembling Won’t Fix Biden’s Afghan Mess.”  9-7-21
  131. Afghanistan.  “Our Friends the Haqqanis.”  [The new interior minister of Afghanistan is a wanted terrorist.]   9-8-21
  132. Afghanistan.  “Meet the New Taliban, Same as the Old.”  By Seth G. Jones.  [The cabinet appointment of a terrorist wanted by the FBI is a slap in the face to the U.S. and its allies.]  9-8-21
  133. Afghanistan.  “The Army Needs to Understand the Afghanistan Disaster.”  By Frank Sobchak and Matthew Zais.  [The service can’t review its own performance.  An independent civilian commission is necessary.]   9-9-21
  134. Afghanistan.  “Those Still Left Behind in Afghanistan.”  [The U.S. isn’t doing nearly enough to free those who are trapped.]   9-13-21
  135. Afghanistan.  “A Mistaken Pentagon Drone Attack?”  [Evidence builds that the U.S. killed 10 innocents on Aug. 29 in Kabul.]   9-13-21
  136. Afghanistan.  “Biden’s Afghan Blunder  Hurts India and Helps China.”  By Sadanand Dhume.  [The U.S. military withdrawal undercuts the Quad’s ability to put pressure on Beijing.]   9-17-21
  137. Afghanistan.  “The Deadly Kabul Mistake.”  9-18-21
  138. Afghanistan.  “Biden Is Now Flying Blind in Afghanistan.”  By Kevin Carroll.  [It isn’t the boots on the ground that the American military will miss – It’s the eyes and ears.]  9-20-21
  139. Afghanistan.  “Afghanistan Was Lost in the Halls of Harvard.”  By Ruth R. Wisse.  [The 40-year ROTC ban sent a deeper message:  that American civilization isn’t worth defending.]   9-21-21
  140. Afghanistan.  “Don’t Recognize the Same Old Taliban.”  By Hans-Jakob Schindler.  [The new government in Kabul isn’t Version 2 and doesn’t belong in the United Nations.]  9-24-21
  141. Afghanistan.  “The Brass Faces the Afghan Music.”  [The generals contradict Biden on their advice on withdrawal and troops.]   9-29-21
  142. Afghanistan.  “Abandoning Bagram May Have Cost 13 U.S. Lives.”  By Ken Calvert.  [The Taliban released 5,000 terrorists, and one is allegedly the suicide bomber at Abbey gate.]   10-4-21
  143. Afghanistan.  “How Pakistan Won in Afghanistan.”  By Javid Ahmad.  [For decades Islamabad played a double game, hosting the Taliban while posing as a U.S. partner.]   10-27-21
  144. Afghanistan.  “The Afghan Terror Threat.”  [Americans are still left behind, and ISIS is growing in strength.]   10-30-21
  145. Afghanistan.   “America Repeated Vietnam’s Mistakes in Afghanistan.”  [Lessons from both conflicts should become part of the military’s education requirements.]   11-24-21
  146. Afghanistan.  “The Americans Stuck in Afghanistan.”  [Months after its retreat, The White House admits some are still left behind.]  12-20-21
  147. Afghanistan.  “Checking in on the Taliban.”  [The terror group is reverting to 1990’s form on women and more.]   3-31-22
  148. Afghanistan.  “The Afghan Debacle Didn’t Have to Happen.”  By Karl Rove.  [A new report shows military commanders and allies disagreed with Biden’s full exit.]  8-18-22
  149. Afghanistan.  “Afghan Allies Still Need America’s Help.”  [Thousands who escaped to the U.S. are stuck in immigration limbo.]   12-13-22
  150. Afghanistan.  “Congress Lets Down Afghan Allies.”  [The omnibus adds 4,000 special visas, but that isn’t nearly enough.]   12-27-22
  151. Afghanistan.  “Joe Biden Isn’t Sorry About Afghanistan.”  [A while House report on the withdrawal spins disaster as triumph.]   4-7-23
  152. Afghanistan.  “No Beauty Salons in Afghanistan.”  By Malaina Kapoor.  [The Taliban strip the country’s women of everything, even their femininity.]   7-11-23
  153. Afghanistan.  “They Gave All for America.  Why Can’t They Get Green Cards?”  by Sierra Dawn McClain.  [The Afghan Adjustment Act offers a way out of immigration limbo, but it languishes in Congress.]   9-30-23
  154. Afghanistan.  “The Immigrants We Shouldn’t Forget.”  By Jerry Moran.  [Afghans who helped America deserve a path to permanent legal residency.]   1-29-24
  155. Afghanistan.  “Meet the New Taliban, Same as the Old Taliban.”  By Sadanand Dhume.  [They’re stoning Afghan women for adultery and threatening the security of neighboring states.]   4-11-24

 

Issue Headlines

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17658/afghanistan-double-cross

Biden’s Clueless Afghan Double-Cross

by Lawrence Kadish
August 18, 2021 at 12:30 pm

 

 

8-18-21 Afghanistan  Drudgereport.com

Gen. Milley Says ‘There Was Nothing That I or Anyone Else Saw’ in Intel Indicating Afghanistan Would Collapse in 11 Days

GEN. MILLEY: ‘Nothing I Saw’ Indicating Collapse in 11 Days…

8-18-21

Frantic rescue is underway in Kabul, but White House can’t say how long it will last

https://news.yahoo.com/frantic-rescue-underway-kabul-white-215943087.html

 

8-18-21 Afghanistan  Drudgereport.com

USA cannot ensure safe passage to airport…

Militants Block Routes, Hampering Evacuations…

 

 

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17658/afghanistan-double-cross

Biden’s Clueless Afghan Double-Cross

by Lawrence Kadish
August 18, 2021 at 12:30 pm

 

  • Globally, there is not a friend or foe who doesn’t see that America’s reliability as an ally has been demolished. Great Britain, which has troops in Afghanistan, was not even consulted.
  • Thousands of Americans awaiting instructions and with no way to get to an airport whose access is now controlled by the Taliban are still trapped inside Afghanistan. Pathetically, they are being told to “shelter in place.” Interpreters and their families, who were promised that in the event of crisis they would be rescued, are not just trapped; reports are that members of the Taliban with “lists of names” are going door to door looking for allies of the U.S. military.
  • A strong argument was made for not pulling out at all. The objective was to ensure that America was never again attacked by a 9/11 type of terrorist group. To that end, the U.S. had a modest military footprint, like a small insurance premium, in Afghanistan…. The U.S. has, after all, had troops in Germany and South Korea for decades, and no one has been calling for their removal.
  • What must allies such as Taiwan or Israel be thinking now after watching poorly armed tribesman sweep aside an American ally we resolutely vowed to assist? Worse, what must America’s adversaries, such as China, Russia, Iran or North Korea be thinking now? That such cut-and-run behavior signals the perfect opportunity to strike the Ukraine or Taiwan?
  • Communist China can see what America and the West did in response to its seizure of Hong Kong, its deceitful build-up of fake islands as military bases in the South China Sea, its attacks on northern India, its threats of a nuclear attack on Japan, its threats to attack Australia and its lies about the human-to-human transmissibility of its Covid-19 virus that have so far caused the deaths of more than 4,000,000 people worldwide and the devastation of countless economies — exactly nothing.
 

Thousands of Americans awaiting instructions and with no way to get to an airport whose access is now controlled by the Taliban are still trapped inside Afghanistan. Pathetically, they are being told to “shelter in place.” Pictured: Taliban fighters near Zanbaq Square in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 16, 2021. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images)

The horror of President Joseph Biden’s deliberate retreat from Afghanistan is so immense and its geopolitical impact so severe, we have to fully comprehend the extent of the disaster.

In insisting on an immediate withdrawal Biden apparently rejected the advice of Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to the New York Times:

“Even as the number of American forces in Afghanistan steadily decreased to the 2,500 who still remained, Defense Department leaders still cobbled together a military effort that managed to protect the United States from terrorist attacks….”

Director of Central Intelligence William Burns also warned the U.S. Senate that a withdrawal would forfeit the ability to have human intelligence in the area to pick up what the Taliban, Al-Qaeda or Isis might be planning in their ongoing assault on the West.

Globally, there is not a friend or foe who doesn’t see that America’s reliability as an ally has been demolished. Great Britain, which has troops in Afghanistan, was not even consulted.

Thousands of Americans awaiting instructions and with no way to get to an airport whose access is now controlled by the Taliban are still trapped inside Afghanistan. Pathetically, they are being told to “shelter in place.” Interpreters and their families, who were promised that in the event of crisis they would be rescued, are not just trapped; reports are that members of the Taliban with “lists of names” are going door to door looking for allies of the U.S. military.

According to the Washington Post:

“‘I gave everything I had to the Americans, but once they are gone, I will be killed,’ Abdul Rashid Shirzad told the journalists. The 35-year-old husband and father mastered English and risked his life to serve two years as a battlefield interpreter for Navy SEALs. Shirzad said his identity and those of other U.S. employees are well known to Taliban extremists: ‘They keep track of us, and they don’t shoot us like they do Afghan soldiers. If they catch me, they will behead me.'”

Other reports tell of the Taliban also going door to door and dragging out girls, some as young as 12, to make them “fighters’ sex slaves” or for forced marriages.

Some military experts suggest that if a troop withdrawal had been planned for the winter when the Taliban return to Pakistan to escape the cold, rather than in the middle if the summer, evidently the fighting season, much of this calamitous outcome could have been avoided. Biden was hearing none of it.

A strong argument was made for not pulling out at all. The objective was to ensure that America was never again attacked by a 9/11 type of terrorist group. To that end, the U.S. had a modest military footprint, like a small insurance premium, in Afghanistan of 2,500 troops, six airbases including the largest, Bagram; and from its runways the ability to reach adversaries such as China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and other points in or near Central Asia. Those airbases are now in the hands of the Taliban.

To reach much of Eastern or Central Asia now, the U.S. would first have to fly around eight hours from the Gulf States, or perhaps from Pakistan – not the most practical approach, although the US has reportedly been looking for other airbases in Central Asia. The U.S. has, after all, had troops in Germany and South Korea for decades, and no one has been calling for their removal.

There are fears as well that after the Americans have gone, the treatment of women and girls will be beyond description. MSNBC reports:

“[A]ccording to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban have been summarily executing Afghan civilians linked to the government — a development Secretary of State Antony Blinken meekly said was ‘troubling.’ Already, the Afghans who put their lives on the line to assist the U.S. Army over the last decades are reported to have been beheaded, a grotesque dereliction of our duty to the Afghans who foolishly believed in the U.S.”

What must allies such as Taiwan or Israel be thinking now after watching poorly armed tribesman sweep aside an American ally we resolutely vowed to assist? Worse, what must America’s adversaries, such as China, Russia, Iran or North Korea be thinking now? That such cut-and-run behavior signals the perfect opportunity to strike the Ukraine or Taiwan?

Communist China can see what America and the West did in response to its seizure of Hong Kong, its deceitful build-up of fake islands as military bases in the South China Sea, its attacks on northern India, its threats of a nuclear attack on Japan, its threats to attack Australia and its lies about the human-to-human transmissibility of its Covid-19 virus that have so far caused the deaths of more than 4,000,000 people worldwide and the devastation of countless economies — exactly nothing.

The new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will now be the center for a resurgent terrorism, a Mecca for terrorists. Terrorists in Europe, now emboldened, will have a command-and-control headquarters to draw on. Moreover, what is to stop them, and the thousands of terrorists, including senior Al-Qaeda operatives, released from Afghan prisons this week, from crossing into the U.S. through its newly open, non-existent southern border?

In June, President Biden announced that the Afghan army, 300,000 strong, was armed with “all the tools… and equipment of any modern military. We provided advanced weaponry.” Much of this weaponry — “massive amounts of US-supplied firepower” — is now in the possession of the Taliban, potentially to be used against the U.S. and our allies throughout Europe.

Historians have the advantage of looking back at seminal events that occurred decades, generations, even centuries ago and, with hindsight, point to how the fate of nations were changed by decisions, indecisions, mistakes, or a failure of leadership. In this case, they won’t need to wait to assign the verdict of history. It is now clear that the Biden Administration has profoundly and dangerously miscalculated, and the free world will pay the price. As we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the bitter irony won’t be lost on many an American.

Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/taliban-seize-u-s-weapons-in-afghanistan-stockpiling-helicopters-guns-and-trucks-11629470916?mod=hp_lead_pos8

Taliban Seize, Stockpile U.S. Weapons in Afghanistan

The Taliban have seized airplanes, tanks and artillery from Afghan outposts and from evacuating U.S. personnel, revealing one of the heavier costs of the U.S. troop withdrawal.

8-20-21

 

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-went-wrong-in-afghanistan-11629472600?mod=hp_lead_pos10

 

THE SATURDAY ESSAY

What Went Wrong in Afghanistan?

As America’s longest war draws to an end, sharp disagreements remain about its aims, direction and success.

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-forces-use-tear-gas-to-control-crowds-at-kabul-airport-11629459610?mod=hp_lead_pos7

Tear Gas Used to Control Crowds at Kabul Airport

Thousands of Afghans are still pushing to reach evacuation flights following the Taliban takeover of the capital on Sunday.36 min ago6 min read

·         Lawmakers Press Biden on Getting Afghan Allies on Flights Out

·         Internal State Department Cable Warned of Kabul Collapse

·         Latest Updates: Biden to Speak on Evacuations

·         Afghan Women Struggle to Flee Amid Uncertainty

 

 

8-20-21

https://www.aol.com/news/fleeing-afghanistan-photos-week-chaos-161400326.html

 

 

 

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