Another Chaotic Betrayal!

Henry Kissinger once famously quipped: “It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friends is fatal.” How apt and prophetic Kissinger’s words were is being borne out today by the chaotic exit of the US from Afghanistan, abandoning a large number of Afghan nationals whom it had coopted in its crusade against the Taliban to fend for themselves for an uncertain and unsafe future! This is not the first time the US has abandoned its friends and allies jerking them in uncertain abyss and chaos.

Talk swirls about the loss of American foreign policy credibility resulting in the fall of Afghanistan. What credibility is that? Historically its credibility has always been one of self-interest, leaving in the lurch or worse. The US never had permanent friends or foes. There were chunks of land it took from Mexico and Spain in the 19th century. Then there was the gunboat diplomacy and the creation of banana republics to provide Americans with cheap bananas in the 20th century. It blatantly helped topple democratically elected governments to place dictators friendly to its wishes, just to jettison them leaving behind chaos. Further, it propped up unpopular, corrupt regimes with military force and billions in cash only to watch them fall when it abandoned them. Its credibility needs to be measured by who it supports and for what ends. If the answer is whoever and for its own selfish needs, the US in fact has no credibility to lose.

The US has been occupying territories in other countries for decades “supposedly” to re-build and bring the American influence to the world, and in the name of so-called economic growth, but the reality is that it’s just another excuse for occupation and to exercise some kind of domination or authority over those territories outside its borders, regardless of its underlying legality. Read the history of countries occupied by the USA throughout the years and mention one country where its influence stayed and is a prosperous country now? In the meantime, The United States cannot even practice in itself what it preached in those occupied territories. So, why is it spending so much money on one of the largest armies on the globe? Twenty years with the “best and brightest” people working at the Pentagon, plus all those billions of dollars going down the drain. What is its excuse now? What else is next? Is there another excuse ready for another war? Are they concocting one already for the next two years? Probably. The USA has the war gene so embedded that it will not be the USA without being in a war or occupying another part of the world, and then leaving it lurch and chaos.

The US’s most latest chaotic betrayal is Afghanistan, yes, Afghanistan again. The US involvement in Afghanistan didn’t begin 20 years ago rather it began many decades earlier. To quote Wikipedia’s valuable treatment of Operation Cyclone: Operation Cyclone was one of the longest and most expensive covert CIA operations ever undertaken. Funding officially began with $695,000 in 1979, was increased dramatically to $20–$30 million per year in 1980, and rose to $630 million per year in 1987, described as the “biggest bequest to any Third World insurgency”. Funding continued (albeit reduced) after the 1989 Soviet withdrawal as the mujahedeen continued to battle the forces of President Mohammad Najibullah’s army during the Afghan Civil War (1989–1992). The Taliban did not magically appear nor were created by spontaneous forces in Afghan culture. They were created by the US in order to embarrass the Soviet Union and kill Soviet soldiers. In other words to avenge the defeat in Vietnam.

Now, the world in general and the people of the United States, in particular, are importuning kowtowingly to Biden: Don’t take the bait for starting new wars; Don’t start a new war as revenge for the Kabul airport attack; Don’t start a new war in cyberspace; Don’t start a war as retaliation for cyberattacks; Don’t start a war in outer space; Disband Trump’s “space force”; Don’t start a new war with Iran as the new villain; Don’t start a new war with China as the new villain; Don’t start a new war with North Korea as the new villain; Don’t start a new war with Russia as the new (old) villain; Don’t start a new war over any global hotspot (e.g. Israel/Palestine); Stop abandoning nations in chaotic betrayals!

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