Talibanned

The U.S. has "cut-and-run" from the neverending Afghani debacle. The "vacuum" of power left in its wake is filled unquestionably by the Taliban. They have assured the world, during a press conference, that they will respect the rights of women and others. I'm confident we can take that as a given.

With all that the American people have suffered in the last, almost two years now, NOTHING seems to be more humiliating and senseless than the fact that the most extraordinary military machine the world has ever known has just admitted defeat and handed over an ENTIRE FUCKING COUNTRY to the Taliban, whom they went there to depose twenty years ago.

Biden has said that a "trillion" dollars were wasted on the Afghan war. I've heard figures much higher, actually, but perhaps that includes the illegal Iraq debacle as well. As far as human lives, it is in the thousands and thousands and thousands; 2,448 U.S. soldiers, as well as thousands of more contractors. Around sixty-thousand Afghan forces are reported to have been killed.

Oh, and around 44,000 Afghan civilians. (Note: Below, we have linked to an article outlining the total cost of the Afghanistan war, in both lives and massive debt.)

The cost for the "Neverending War," according to the doddering, lackluster, non-entity, puppet P-resident, is upwards of a trillion dollars. But I've heard figures as high as four trillion. Generations from now have been made hostages to the Neverending War, which accomplished absolutely NOTHING.

But the American People, always so good, so docile, so tolerant, will accept ANY amount of shit from the criminals on top. They'll do so out of an appeal to loyalty. They'll remain subservient, cowed, docile out of fear, but also because of the State religion.

They'll mostly march in lockstep out of misguided patriotism. It's a form of conditioning Pavlov might have envied. It exists everywhere, but it is applied most cynically and ruthlessly in the You Ess Eh.

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The scoundrel will always appeal to "patriotism." He will deride and castigate YOU for insufficiently offering obeisance to the national, State-sanctioned idol; meanwhile, every crime, larceny, villainy, or contumely prohibited by God and Act of Congress you can imagine, he's committed. He'll wear self-righteous morality like a cloak.

The Whitehouse is trying to spin a twenty-year fiasco, costing thousands of lives and trillions of dollars, and one in which the enemy is now in total control than they were two decades ago, as some "inevitable final step." That, in effect, we "achieved all of our objectives." Yes, Virginia, they really will piss down your leg and tell you that it's raining.

A few weeks ago, everyone was up in arms when one woman turned her back to the flag. Me? I applaud her resolutely. She should have done a lot worse.

The people are robbed. Their blood and treasure are pissed away for dubious reasons. The most extraordinary military machine history has ever known was finally trounced by a bunch of fanatics who believe in Shariah Law. The system pigs are trying to somehow spin this as "victory." We live in times that are beyond absurd; they venture into the surreal.

Meanwhile, millions are facing possible eviction and homelessness. The income inequality gap has widened to grotesque proportions. The crumbling infrastructure of the nation cannot sustain clean drinking water or even electricity in some places. Millions of children go homeless every year in a country with vast, opulent wealth. Millions lack health insurance or basic medical necessities during the deadliest pandemic in recent history.

When a man presents himself one way but is the complete opposite, what do we call that? Scoundrelism?

Fraud?

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The clusterfuck of departure has seen U.S. collaborators trying desperately to flee what they know will be a bloodbath. Meanwhile, the newly crowned kings of the former failed state have announced, magnanimously, that they will "respect the rights of women."

One is uncertain, in times such as these, what the emotionally correct response should often be.

Costs of the Afghanistan War in Lives and Dollars