Rep. Adam Schiff on why Israel looked worse than Afghanistan in 2019: “It looked like Israel was heading into a terrible cul de sac and it was incapable of getting off the path that it was  on.”

The U.S. foreign policy elite and some of the mainstream press are already trying to rewrite the history of Afghanistan War. But U.S. forces could never have defeated the resistance. Just consider the significance of IEDs, which killed and maimed more US and allied soldiers than any other weapon during the long war.

The West had 20 years to advance the cause of social development in Afghanistan. Its failure opened the door for the return of the Taliban.

“How long would the Afghan people accept the presence of armed foreigners in their country? Even a message of help can be humiliating, more so when it is backed by a gun. The Americans underestimated the importance of dignity and the extent to which their very presence in Afghanistan was deeply offensive.” –Nir Rosen’s analysis in 2010 was prescient about the Taliban’s nationalist appeal.

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.

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.