Many Americans were tired of the long war in Afghanistan that had prevented the place from regenerating the ability to attack us as home as al Qaeda did from there on September 11, 2001. The cost of appeasing the Taliban victors has been high since we retreated in 2021.
The war in Afghanistan had been largely won with Afghani security forces fighting and dying in large numbers to defeat the Taliban and related jihadis. By the time we skedaddled, I think no American had died in combat for 18 months. But we left. And American troops died holding the perimeter while we shoveled random--and unscreened--Afghanis into our planes to pretend we had achieved a victory of some sort.
We abandoned a lot of weapons, ammunition, and equipment to the Taliban. But if you think at least America stopped spending money on Afghanistan after refusing to hold our tenuous but real gain there, guess again:
Since withdrawing, the United States has pumped in more than $20 billion in aid. Separately, tens of millions of dollars are delivered monthly in cash, ostensibly for humanitarian organizations, though much is pilfered by the Taliban.
The vacuum left by the United States and Nato has been filled by China, Iran and Russia.
Ah, enemies rush in but we still subsidize the Taliban government rather than at least force China, Iran, and Russia to bear the financial cost of exploiting our defeat. Also:
Long-term Taliban collaborators Al Qaeda are back in the business of running militant training camps that despatch gunmen across the world’s terrorist hotspots, from Syria to Somalia.
No! Way! We were told Taliban 2.0 was reformed! And nuanced!
It sure looks like America is paying either reparations to the Taliban or that America is paying the Taliban not to support terrorism against us. For a a while, anyway.
No doubt the Taliban portray our aid as tribute paid to the conquerors. And they're right. I don't expect the Taliban or their allies will be content with conquering Afghanistan for long.
Have a super sparkly new year.
UPDATE: Why Western feminists aren't the most hardcore anti-jihadis is beyond me:
The Taliban say they will close all national and foreign nongovernmental groups in Afghanistan employing women, the latest crackdown on women’s rights since they took power in August 2021.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War, including the revived Syria multi-war, in this post.
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