The Taliban defeat of the United States is a turning point in world history. Not only will the power of the American empire be weakened, but the War on Terror has also been politically defeated in within the United States. This is the beginning of the end of the American century.
You would think that the Afghanistan debacle is another blow to neoconservatives: That the school of foreign policy experts inside the Beltway who gave us the Iraq war would be further discredited by the fall of Afghanistan. And you would be wrong.
Biden’s speech defending withdrawal was a terrible exercise in imperial hubris.
A month after Osama bin Laden was killed Barack Obama declared that the United States was reaching its goals in Afghanistan and that he’d begin withdrawing troops. By 2016 he went back on that promise. Joe Biden’s speech defending the U.S. withdrawal was a terrible exercise in imperial hubris, but it reflected an attitude that has been consistent across the U.S. political class since 9/11.
The Taliban’s leadership has tried to reassure the public of a “peaceful transition,” but has not yet articulated a plan for Afghanistan. What comes next is unknown.
Journalists get fired for sharing political opinions, except when that opinion is in support for U.S. foreign policy and endless war. This is playing out vividly now as the mainstream press effectively spins its coverage on the U.S. withdraw from Afghanistan into an argument for continued military occupation.
As the tragedy in Afghanistan continues, there is at least one positive consequence. The warmongers in Israel and their allies in the neoconservative Washington, D.C. war party will find it even harder to convince the American public to support an invasion and “regime change” in Iran.
Last week negotiations over an Iran nuclear deal began again and an enrichment site in Iran was promptly attacked. A planned explosion caused a blackout. The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said the country had been the victim of “nuclear terrorism.” Anyone with a cursory understanding of world affairs knew who was responsible as soon as they heard the news.
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The United States’ war in Afghanistan has lasted so long that some of the troops who first invaded the country are now watching their children deploy to the same war.