What about us? Fear in Afghanistan is rising

Mawoud Academy in Kabul, Afghanistan -- the planned US troop withdrawal 

and the Taliban’s likely return to power raises fears about the 

future of rights and education for women and girls

The war in Afghanistan was sold to the American people as short, low cost and nothing like Vietnam. Unfortunately, it was clear at least 15 years ago it was going to be long, high cost and a lot like Vietnam in at least one way. One aspect of sameness is the ultimate futility of the American effort to build a stable democracy and transform Afghan society. That failed. The Taliban is likely to come back to power and those folks are not democrats. They in a society transforming mood, but the mood is harsh, sour and it points to some version of the Dark Ages, but with cell phones and AK-47s. These people are in no mood to be "civilized" as we see the concept.

The new leadership, it's not like the old incompetent kleptocrat leadership

So one question is what about women, their rights and the people who collaborated to help the US effort to nation build? It's pretty clear what the Taliban will do once they chase the incompetent US-backed  kleptocratic government out of the country. Women will be enslaved and shut up. The collaborators we leave behind will be chased down and slaughtered. Again, one can hear echoes of Vietnam and its bogus Peace with Honor.

The new York Times writes:

As American troops prepare to leave and fractures form in the Afghan government, militias controlled by powerful local warlords are once more rising to prominence and attacking government forces.

The American withdrawal will undoubtedly be a massive blow to morale for the Afghan security forces, spread across the country at hundreds of checkpoints, inside bases and along violent front lines. For years, the U.S. presence has meant that American air power, if needed, was nearby. But since the Trump administration’s deal with the Taliban, those airstrikes have become much less frequent, occurring only in the most dire of situations.

Without American military support, Afghan government troops are up against a Taliban enemy who is frequently more experienced and better equipped than the average foot soldier.  

“It is not the right time to withdraw their troops,” said Major Saifuddin Azizi, a commando commander in the southeastern province of Ghazni, where fighting has been especially brutal in recent days. “It is unreasonable, hasty and a betrayal to us. It pushes Afghanistan into another civil war. Afghanistan’s destiny will look like it did two decades ago.”  

An Afghan Army official recently said the Taliban would have overtaken the city if not for U.S. air support.

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Once again, America betrays its allies and leaves them to be slaughtered. How many will we leave behind? The republicans will fight tooth and claw to severely limit the number of Afghan refugees into the US. After all, most republicans appear to see Muslims as terrorists, drug dealers, Sharia law spreaders and so forth. We will probably never know the scope of the brutality once we leave because journalists will also be targeted and slaughtered if they get caught there.

Bush, Obama and T**** all failed to get us out of an obviously hopeless situation with obviously hopeless nation building goals. Now Biden is going to get us out. One can already hear the republicans, Fox News, Breitbart, etc., inhaling deep so that they can commence loud and long screaming at President Joe for his failures. Biden will be the one the GOP falsely portrays as the reason for the US failure.  

A 14-year old Afghan bride sets eyes on her new 65-year old 

husband for the first time

This 8-year old Afghan bride is too young to be scared, unlike the 14-year old

She thinks this is going to be fun