BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY AUG. 25, 2021) — On Afghanistan, THE PLANET thought of T.S. Eliot’s lines: We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.

Twenty years of time wasted, money thrown away, and lives spent, and the United States finds itself “arriving where we started.” The Taliban was in power in 2001. A score of years later, the Taliban are still in power. President George W. Bush’s horrendous decision to impose capitalist democracy on a tribal land governed by the ignorance of religious law could do NOTHING BUT FAIL. There was no other outcome. The only question was “when?”

THE PLANET shares these further thoughts:

• Quagmire — President Syracuse Joe made the right call. Disaster would have unfolded no matter how or when he went about it. Some have said: Get the people out first, then the soldiers. Yes, that’s how it works within the crisp realm of reason and logic. In Afghanistan, not so much. If the U.S. started retreating in that manner, not only would civilians be at risk but also an overwhelmed American military. Half measures cannot compete against fanaticism.
• The Poison of Religion — When religion takes over as a temporal power, disaster results. Check your memory banks, as Capt. Kirk might say, and brush up on the history of the Roman Catholic Church during the era of the “fun popes” or Puritan America under Protestanism. It will take the Taliban some time to re-establish their new government, but they’ve called a “grand council” (loya jirga) led by religious leaders. The mullahs will decide how to apply Islamic law to education, finance, and all other aspects of society.

• Mickey’s Butt — Blame the present disaster not on President Biden but on the Afghan Army (AfA) that we supported and trained all these years. Field intelligence claimed the AfA could stand on its own. They had 308,000 troops to the Taliban’s 100,000. So what did the AfA do with its 3-to-1 edge in manpower and 10-to-1 edge in materiel? It turned chicken, refusing to fight for their country. When then should America give Mickey Mouse’s rump?
• Preparation H — Since the end of July, 42,000 people have been evacuated. It’s not like we were not prepared. We were as prepared as 20 years of crud would possibly allow.

• Useless — Biden’s competence can be legitimately questioned, but look at his support team: a useless piece of cosmetics known as VP Kamala Harris, an incompetent defense secretary, and a secretary of state in the deep end of the pool without knowing how to swim.
• Money Made the Easy Way — How does the Taliban make its money? Crime, baby. The U.S. took the symbolic step of freezing Afghani’s capital reserves and installing new embargoes, but those actions are symbolic. The Taliban operate outside the global financial system. They get their moolah not from the mullahs but from drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, and taking the vig from “legitimate” mining, timber, and real estate deals. Moreover, they now own billions of dollars of U.S. equipment.

• “Red Line” — The Taliban are so confident that they’re dictating terms, telling Biden there’s a “red line” on his Aug. 31 deadline for completing the exit. After that, they say, all bets are off. What does America do at that point? Send in more troops? Accede to the dictate?
• Wondering — Where is the United Nations in all this? Oh yeah, THE PLANET forgot. The UN leads the league in ineffectiveness. U Thant might have made a difference, but not U Can’t. Does anyone have Dag Hammarsskjold on speed dial?

The last word about Afghanistan won’t be written for awhile yet, but anyone giving a moment’s reflection knows that it will not end well. It never does over there.

———————————————————-

“Unless there is a spiritual renaissance, the world will know no peace” — Dag Hammarskjold

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

(c) 2021 By PLANET VALENTI & EUROPOLIS MANAGEMENT. The views and opinions expressed in the comment section or in the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not necessarily endorsed by the operators of this website. PLANET VALENTI assumes no responsibility for such views and opinions, and it reserves the right to remove or edit any comment, including but not limited to those that violate the website’s Rules of Conduct and its editorial policies. PLANET VALENTI shall not be held responsible for the consequences that may result from any posted comment or outside opinion or commentary as provided in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and this website’s terms of service. All users of this website — including readers, commentators, contributors, or anyone else making use of its information — hereby agree to these conditions by virtue of this notice. When PLANET VALENTI ends with the words “The Usual Disclaimer,” that phrase shall be understood to refer to the full text of this disclaimer.