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Paul Bryant's Reviews > Losing Afghanistan: The Fall of Kabul and the End of Western Intervention
Losing Afghanistan: The Fall of Kabul and the End of Western Intervention
by
by
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE KIND OF OBVIOUS
OR
I’D DO ANYTHING FOR DEMOCRACY (BUT I WON’T DO THAT)
Here we have 21 essays by various expert persons musing on what the hell happened last August – how come nobody saw THAT coming? And was it all for nothing?
I have to report that a lot of these essay writers should be rounded up and sent to Afghanistan where they would succeed where the military failed by blathering the Taliban to death. On every other page we encounter such ringing phrases as “multiple governance models”, “a clear centre of strategic gravity”, “a new paradigm of engagement” and suchlike. The last essay is called “The Post-Afghan Reset And The Case For Rebuilding EU-UK Security Co-Operation”. Then again, there are five Afghan “witness statements”, the last one of which is called “A Mother Turns to Sex Work”. No obfuscation there.
All due respect, I don’t think you are going to come away from this book with much you didn’t already know. For example - in spite of its global dominance, the collective brains of the West persistently fail to understand non-Western countries – ex-USSR countries, Iraq, Afghanistan….
In 2001 there was an assumption that Afghans were sick of the Taliban and would therefore welcome its opposite. The first part was probably true, the second was hopelessly naïve.
There’s a very obvious point to be made right away : British and NATO officials never spoke Afghan languages or knew any Afghan history or anything about clan and tribal structures. Also, there was a fast turnover of diplomatic staff because nobody wanted to stay there longer than 18 months.
We did not work with the grain of Afghanistan because we did not know what the grain was and did not make the time or space to find out.
One big problem was the drugs trade. I am informed that 95% of Western heroin was supplied by Afghanistan. What an opportunity for Western forces to eradicate a great social evil. But “many key powerbrokers themselves profited from the trade” and blocked any attempt to destroy the poppies. Well, pardon me, not so surprising. Another big BIG maybe the BIGGEST problem was corruption. This bad word is sprinkled around on every other page, but most annoyingly, all the writers assume we know exactly what they mean. I mean, yes, we have a rough idea, but I would have liked some light shone on this murkiest aspect to the whole Afghan catastrophe. Do the Western authorities shrug and turn a blind eye when all the aid is stolen over and over?
A CASE OF REAL BAD TIMING
Lord Purvis of Tweed, the Liberal Democrat Party’s bigshot in the House of Lords, writes in his essay :
The world is – contrary to what the daily news may make us think – more stable, democratic, free and tolerant than in any time in recent history.
As I read that Mr Putin’s tanks were about to start rolling into eastern Ukraine.
SERIOUSLY??????? WTF??????
One time I was told something that shocked me – on page 243 :
Bagram Airbase…had been abandoned by the US in early July, leaving behind some $85 billion worth of military equipment.
$85 billion? Do you think that's a misprint?
UPDATE on this : Venus (below) pointed me to articles on fee and politifact which seriously dispute this crazy figure. Undoubtedly there was a whole lotta hardware left behind but not quite that much. Google "No proof Biden left Taliban $80B" for details.
A CONTROVERSIAL OPINION
The best, most forthright essay for me was by Professor Paul Dixon. He sticks it to the military elite, and I think about time too
…Senior British military officers, like their US counterparts, have resented and evaded democratic control. Their growing power represents a threat to democracy but…. criticism of the military elite, whether from the left or the right, is considered largely beyond the bounds of legitimate debate… Scrutiny and criticism are portrayed not only as an insult to those who have served and sacrificed but also as potentially treacherous for undermining the propaganda required to defeat the enemy.
Strong words indeed.
There are many other aspects to the whole thing which I would love to discuss but I have tried your patience enough I think.
2.5 stars.
OR
I’D DO ANYTHING FOR DEMOCRACY (BUT I WON’T DO THAT)
Here we have 21 essays by various expert persons musing on what the hell happened last August – how come nobody saw THAT coming? And was it all for nothing?
I have to report that a lot of these essay writers should be rounded up and sent to Afghanistan where they would succeed where the military failed by blathering the Taliban to death. On every other page we encounter such ringing phrases as “multiple governance models”, “a clear centre of strategic gravity”, “a new paradigm of engagement” and suchlike. The last essay is called “The Post-Afghan Reset And The Case For Rebuilding EU-UK Security Co-Operation”. Then again, there are five Afghan “witness statements”, the last one of which is called “A Mother Turns to Sex Work”. No obfuscation there.
All due respect, I don’t think you are going to come away from this book with much you didn’t already know. For example - in spite of its global dominance, the collective brains of the West persistently fail to understand non-Western countries – ex-USSR countries, Iraq, Afghanistan….
In 2001 there was an assumption that Afghans were sick of the Taliban and would therefore welcome its opposite. The first part was probably true, the second was hopelessly naïve.
There’s a very obvious point to be made right away : British and NATO officials never spoke Afghan languages or knew any Afghan history or anything about clan and tribal structures. Also, there was a fast turnover of diplomatic staff because nobody wanted to stay there longer than 18 months.
We did not work with the grain of Afghanistan because we did not know what the grain was and did not make the time or space to find out.
One big problem was the drugs trade. I am informed that 95% of Western heroin was supplied by Afghanistan. What an opportunity for Western forces to eradicate a great social evil. But “many key powerbrokers themselves profited from the trade” and blocked any attempt to destroy the poppies. Well, pardon me, not so surprising. Another big BIG maybe the BIGGEST problem was corruption. This bad word is sprinkled around on every other page, but most annoyingly, all the writers assume we know exactly what they mean. I mean, yes, we have a rough idea, but I would have liked some light shone on this murkiest aspect to the whole Afghan catastrophe. Do the Western authorities shrug and turn a blind eye when all the aid is stolen over and over?
A CASE OF REAL BAD TIMING
Lord Purvis of Tweed, the Liberal Democrat Party’s bigshot in the House of Lords, writes in his essay :
The world is – contrary to what the daily news may make us think – more stable, democratic, free and tolerant than in any time in recent history.
As I read that Mr Putin’s tanks were about to start rolling into eastern Ukraine.
SERIOUSLY??????? WTF??????
One time I was told something that shocked me – on page 243 :
Bagram Airbase…had been abandoned by the US in early July, leaving behind some $85 billion worth of military equipment.
$85 billion? Do you think that's a misprint?
UPDATE on this : Venus (below) pointed me to articles on fee and politifact which seriously dispute this crazy figure. Undoubtedly there was a whole lotta hardware left behind but not quite that much. Google "No proof Biden left Taliban $80B" for details.
A CONTROVERSIAL OPINION
The best, most forthright essay for me was by Professor Paul Dixon. He sticks it to the military elite, and I think about time too
…Senior British military officers, like their US counterparts, have resented and evaded democratic control. Their growing power represents a threat to democracy but…. criticism of the military elite, whether from the left or the right, is considered largely beyond the bounds of legitimate debate… Scrutiny and criticism are portrayed not only as an insult to those who have served and sacrificed but also as potentially treacherous for undermining the propaganda required to defeat the enemy.
Strong words indeed.
There are many other aspects to the whole thing which I would love to discuss but I have tried your patience enough I think.
2.5 stars.
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Losing Afghanistan.
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Reading Progress
February 20, 2022
– Shelved as:
to-read
February 20, 2022
– Shelved
February 22, 2022
–
Started Reading
February 23, 2022
– Shelved as:
history-will-teach-us-nothing
February 23, 2022
– Shelved as:
politics
February 23, 2022
–
Finished Reading
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My favourite real life peer of the realm is Lord Adonis
Do the essays discuss that Trump secretly negotiated a US surrender to the Taliban that didn't include the Afghan government or DOD? Or that women's rights were never mentioned? Or the deadline for all troops out by May 2021? POTUS Biden did a masterful job of fixing the inevitable cluster f*ck. 20 years is enough to admit that like the Vietnamese a superpower (US) can't win a guerilla war fought with a populace that's NEVER been defeated (Afghanis). The Ukrainians will defeat the Soviets just like the Mujahadeem defeated the Soviets.
the loss of 85 billion dollars worth of military equipment is 100% believable. you'd only have to leave a bit considering that a lot of things cost millions of dollars. not that i expect the military equipment was a handful of fighter jets and tanks.
well, it still seems kind of high to me, but okay. I wonder if the new rulers will get any use out of the mountain f stuff.
a cursory glance and i found an article from fee.org that lists what military equipment was left behind and debunks the number slightly. the billions also accounts for the amount of money to train security personnel apparently as well.apparently the taliban has more black hawk helicopters than most countries now because of this.
aha, thanks for that - i will add a note to the review
I also read that the USA left behind billions in equipment, however, they believe that the Taliban doesn't know how to use most of it. How true that is, I don't know. The USA likely could use the equipment elsewhere, so I'm not sure if the military actually had to leave in that much of a hurry or they just decided it was cost effective to leave it.I watched a documentary about people who had worked with the Americans who had a very difficult time getting out of Afghanistan with their families, because there weren't enough transport planes to hold everyone that wanted to leave with the military. It was sickening to know that the USA left some people, who had assisted them, behind to die. A clusterfuck in so many ways.
the news in the UK has featured many stories exactly like that too, of interpreters and others who didn't have the right paperwork or just got lost in the chaos. Too late now.
Is that from Blackadder?