Developing
Dispatches
Afghanistan is Falling
See,
1) Akhtar Mohammad Makoii in Herat, Peter Beaumont and Julian Borger (in Washington), “Afghan government could fall to Taliban in 90 days, say US officials; Sarposa prison in Kandahar is latest site overrun by militants, with almost 1,000 prisoners released,” August 11, 2021 (19:36 BST);
2) Yaroslav Trofimov and Ehsanullah Amiri,”Afghanistan Replaces Army Chief as Taliban Advances Continue; President Ghani, leading warlords, fly to Mazar-e-Sharif to rally besieged northern city’s defenses,” Wakk Street Journal, August. 11, 2021 (11:58 am ET);
3) Dan Lamothe, John Hudson, Shane Harris, and Anne Gearan,
U.S. officials warn collapse of Afghan capital could come sooner than expected,” Washington Post, August 10, 2021 (10:27 p.m. EDT);4) Max Boot, “The Biden administration’s response to the Taliban offensive is delusional,” Washington Post, August 11, 2021 (12:35 p.m. EDT).
5) Christina Goldbaum, “Could the Taliban Take Over Afghanistan? Here’s What We Know; The Taliban seized nine cities over six days in a major escalation of their military offensive; Here’s what you need to know,” New York Times, August 11, 2021 (Updated 2:49 p.m. ET);
6) Le Monde avec AFP, “Afghanistan : près de Kunduz, des membres des forces de security se rendent aux talibans, le président veut coordonner la riposte; Les talibans contrôlent, désormais, neuf des 34 capitales provinciales du pays, dont sept situées dans le Nord, une région qui leur avait, pourtant, toujours résisté,” Le Monde, le 11 Aiût 2021 (Publié à 11h16, mis à jour à 19h57).
Goldbaum’s article contains an excellent map, which drives home the dire situation in which the government of Ashraf Ghani finds itsel. The article in Le Monde also contains an excellent map.
Abandoning Afghanistan and the Summit of Democracies: Connecting the Dots
As the democratically elected government of Afghanistan teeters on the brink in the face of a Taliban onslaught which is the result of President Joe Biden’s disastrous decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from the country, Biden and his foreign policy team are disconnected from reality. In his op-ed in the Washington Post, Max Boot highlights the “delusional” thinking in the Biden administration. This thinking could find no more cogent illustration than the fact that Biden is proceeding with plans to hold a Summit of Democracies in December.
See,
Anne Gearan, “Biden to convene a summit of democracies in December,” Washington Post, August 11, 2021 (10:03 a.m. EDT).
Biden and his team are apparently unable to connect the dots, reflecting the addled thinking of the President and the fact that he is surrounded by sycophants unable or unwilling to pierce his delusions and bring him back to reality.
The United States is demonstrating the nature of its real support for democracy by walking away from a 20-year commitment to the democratic project in Afghanistan, as if abandoning those who believed in American exhortations to build democracy were of no consequence.
One consequence of Biden’s betrayal of American values and promises to support democracy in Afghanistan should be that all advocates of democracy and the rule of law, and all democracies, will boycott his planned Summit of Democracies.
By doing so, they might demonstrate to the world that support for democracies is above all an endeavor that requires resolute actions, and not mere words such as those which the Americans pronounced for 20 years regarding Afghanistan, and now find it very easy to forget.
As Afghanistan teeters on the brink, Biden dithers, passively watching the widespread commission of war crimes by the Taliban without doing anything in response, just as he and Barack Obama did in Syria after 2012.
As the democratically elected government of Afghanistan teeters on the brink in the face of a Taliban onslaught which is the result of President Joe Biden’s disastrous decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from the country, Biden and his foreign policy team are disconnected from reality. In his op-ed in the Washington Post, Max Boot highlights the “delusional” thinking in the Biden administration. This thinking could find no more cogent illustration than the fact that Biden is proceeding with plans to hold a Summit of Democracies in December.
The Silence of the Generals
One question permeates a deafening silence: Where are the retired American generals and defense officials who should be screaming from the rooftops about Biden’s surrender to the Taliban, and his passive acceptance of Taliban war crimes on a growing scale?
These generals and officials fought the Taliban, and watched over 2,500 American soldiers die fighting the Taliban.
Where is their patriotism now? Why don’t they speak out and shout out about what is going on?
If they remain silent, they will take the shame of their silence to their graves.
The Trenchant Observer
The Trenchant Observer has been following Afghanistan closely since 2005, when he worked in Kabul as the Team Leader of group of six lawyers charged with advising the government on modernizing its criminal justice process to better meet international human rights standards.
