Thought I would share this particular video by John Oliver. For the most part, he makes excellent points throughout, as he reflects on the history of the invasion and how Americans really should have known more of what to expect from the very beginning. He also talks about how self-centered our policy towards Afghanistan has always been, with American interests being served exclusively from the seemingly promising beginning, right to this bitter end.
He also points out how that American arrogance and sense of international entitlement and exceptionalism is still very much alive, and lessons not learned, as he shows FOX News analysts talking about how we should be able to do whatever the hell we want, wherever the hell we want and, in their words, turn a country upside down, and then now have to deal with the consequences of restructuring or bending even a little bit our immigration policies so that we do not have to help those who helped our cause during the actual war. There is pretty transparent racism there, and you do not have to dig all that deeply to see it, frankly. Just a little common sense.
Then again, if some common sense was in fact more common in this country, we probably would not have had to see the tragedy in Afghanistan unfolding to begin with. Perhaps mindlessly supporting warlords who ruthlessly exploited the Afghan people was not going to win hearts and minds there, just like mindlessly supporting corrupt and brutal regimes in South Vietnam did not help win hearts and minds there. Perhaps if we actually had a more serious commitment to bringing some real stability there, we would not have seen the tragedy that is unfolding. Perhaps if we thought about those things before invading the country, or perhaps if we were not in such a rush to go off to war in yet another country while we were still fighting in Afghanistan, things might have turned out better. Hell, we can go back to the days of the Reagan administration in terms of a lack of common sense coming back to haunt us later down the road. Let's just say it: if we had given the Afghans more actual help to stabilize their country and improve their lives back then, instead of mindlessly arming religious extremists in what was then our immediate American interest of fighting the big, bad commies from Russia, maybe they would not have harbored terrorists, and maybe September 11th never happens.
All of that is, of course, pure speculation. The truth is we Americans are quite taken with ourselves. We knew back then that, historically speaking, Afghanistan has been the graveyard of empires. And right when we were collectively accepting, and even taking militant pride, in our status as the world's empire, we jumped in, obviously without a clear plan for meaningful, lasting success. As Oliver also rightly points out, presidents, one after the other, have been quick to declare success in Afghanistan. George W. Bush did it, and he did it in Iraq as well, even though both of those wars quickly turned into quagmires, and rather predictably, at that. Barack Obama also beamed about our success in Afghanistan. So did Donald Trump, in his typical, shallow, over-the-top manner.
Now, here we are. Another blatantly obvious failure before the entire world. First Vietnam, but we did not learn our lessons. We could not wait to fight another war and claim that "We're back!" as we did following the first Persian Gulf War. But then we got caught in bad situations again in both Iraq and Afghanistan, falsely assuming that we could easily win two wars at once, assuming that we truly had unlimited means at our disposal. For now, we are learning, once again, that it does not work that way, and the whole world is watching.
Then again, are we learning that? After all, also not surprisingly, FOX News seems ready to support the next foreign engagement, and to make sure that our immigration policies remain unbending and unaccommodating to those who will help us in that foreign entanglement. Nobody seems horrified at our passive acceptance with the idea of turning countries on their head, although now, Americans are aghast, once again, at another of our foreign wars going very badly. Yes, this is bad. The Taliban believes that they won, that they outlasted Americans, that they kept fighting until Americans lost their will to fight the war, much like they did in Vietnam. And truth be told, they are not entirely wrong with that rationale, are they? Trump promised to pull us out of Afghanistan, and as Oliver correctly suggests, all Biden did was push back the deadline that Trump set from May until August.
People are comparing this to Vietnam, and the evacuation of Saigon after that war was lost. Frankly, there is no reason to debate if this comparison fits, because obviously, the comparisons are being made for good reason. And both times, the whole world was watching. They are learning the lesson that American military might simply cannot impose it's will wherever it wants, whenever it wants, and always expect to succeed. It has now failed on a major level twice. At least twice, because while Iraq was not quite as spectacular a failure, it sure cannot be regarded entirely as a success, either. Some have called that the biggest blunder in the history of American foreign policy, and I might agree. But Vietnam and Afghanistan are close to being on that level, as well. And again, the whole world was watching, including Americans.
The real question, at least to me, is whether or not we Americans have actually learned our lessons this time, or if we still need more national embarrassments before we begin to understand these lessons. Time will tell, of course. The jury is still out. But it would not surprise me if we are pining for another war soon enough, just to show the world that "We're back!" If that indeed happens, another sobering humiliation will be inevitable somewhere down the road. And you can bet that when it does, the whole world will be watching, yet again.
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