Jacques and Jennifer look at the botched and devastating withdrawal of the US and its allies from Afghanistan and try to make sense of it through the lens of history.

They look back to the carve-up of the old Ottoman Empire by colonial powers after WW1 (creating divisions that last to today), the US-Soviet competition for influence in Afghanistan leading to endemic corruption and a coup in 1978, the Soviet invasion from 1979 to 1989, following civil war, and the rise of the Taliban in the 90s, which was enabled by US money and weapons.

Then in 2001 the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Towers culminated in the US ‘War on Terror’ directed at al-Qaeda and the Taliban who were based in Afghanistan. This ‘War on Terror’ has spread to surrounding countries and led to a proliferation of new ‘terrorist groups’, while costing US$320 billion per year.

An overarching trend in Afghanistan’s history has been the self-interest of major foreign powers and associated vested interests, with the US invasion and withdrawal a recent example.

Jacques and Jennifer end with a quote from Tariq Ali: ‘At the very least, refuge is what the West owes (Afghani refugees): a minor reparation for an unnecessary war’.

Sign the petition: Action for Afghanistan:  https://www.actionforafghanistan.com.au/

The Conversation article referred to: https://theconversation.com/profiles/ali-a-olomi-1263471  

(https://icct.nl/app/uploads/2021/07/SALW-as-a-Source-of-Financing-in-Post-Qadhafi-Libya.pdf)

The Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University US (https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/