#40 In Videos: An International, Multilateral, Political & Strategic Failure
The Fall of Kabul & the Lamentable Loss of the
Anti-Terror & Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
2001-2021
– Dr Regeena Kingsley
Honourable nations act honourably.
15 August 2021
FOX NEWS (USA)
‘Gen. Keane: Afghanistan falling to the Taliban ‘faster than I thought’
16 August 2021
THE TELEGRAPH (UK)
‘Saigon then, Kabul now: Afghanistan airport evacuation compared with fall of Saigon in Vietnam War’
17 August 2021
FOX NEWS (USA)
‘Crenshaw: Biden’s ‘incompetence’ made the world a lot more dangerous’
‘Biden ‘truly owns’ Taliban victory in Afghanistan: Gen. Keane’
‘Gen. Jack Keane points out ‘factual inaccuracies’ in Biden’s Afghanistan speech’
‘The Five’ gives exclusive reaction to Biden’s Afghanistan remarks’
THE TELEGRAPH (UK)
‘Afghanistan – How world leaders reaction to Taliban takeover of Kabul’
18 August 2021
AL JAZEERA (QATAR: DOHA & LONDON)
‘How the Taliban Took Over Afghanistan. Again. / Start Here’
THE TELEGRAPH (UK)
‘Afghanistan: MP Tom Tugendhat gives emotional speech in Parliament on Taliban takeover’
‘Theresa May gives blistering speech on UK’s Afghanistan withdrawal’
1842 vs 2021
‘In both cases the decision to withdraw troops has turned on factors with little relevance to Afghanistan, namely the state of the economy and the vagaries of politics back home.’
– William Dalrymple, ‘Return of a King’, 2013, author’s note, p. 492.
19 August 2021
THE TELEGRAPH (UK)
23 August 2021
THE TELEGRAPH (UK)
‘Former PM Tony Blair criticises withdrawal from Afghanistan’
28 August 2021
CRUX (INDIA – NEWS ANALYSIS)
‘Honeymoon Over For Biden: After Afghan Withdrawal Criticism, Kabul Blast Rips Approval Ratings’
‘The fact is that Pakistan has been ‘Ground Zero’ for international terrorism for a long time. The Americans will admit in private that the world’s biggest financier of jihadism is Saudi Arabia and the world’s biggest sanctuary for international terrorists is Pakistan. But these two countries are labelled as “allies” by Washington. So the fact that Pakistan for such a long time has gone unpunished tells a lot about the way the [U.S.-led] War on Terror has been waged. It also tells us a lot as to why this War on Terror has gone off the rails.’
– Brahma Chellaney, Professor of Strategic Studies, Center for Policy Research, stated in a televised interview with Oksana Boyko on the geo-political analysis show Worlds Apart, aired by RT on 20 September 2021.
PAKISTAN-ENABLED TALIBAN RULE IN AFGHANISTAN
11 November 2021
CRUX (INDIA – NEWS ANALYSIS)
‘Taliban Army Inauguration I Seized US Arms & Choppers Are Highlight Of Kandahar Parade’
24 November 2021
AL JAZEERA (QATAR: DOHA & LONDON)
‘100 days of Taliban rule in Afghanistan / Start Here’
“Men of Honour” protect their people, care for their families, and respect their women and children.
“Men of Honour” keep their word, matching tangible actions to verbal promises.
“Men of Honour” reject what is cruel and evil, and fight for what is noble and good.
1 YEAR LATER
15 August 2022
CNN (USA)
‘Ex-Afghan president explains why he fled the country’
16 August 2022
AL JAZEERA (QATAR: DOHA & LONDON)
‘Can the Taliban fix Afghanistan’s economic crisis? / Start Here’
For more information and analysis on the situation facing the legitimate, multi-ethnic, and democratic ‘majority-elected and majority-ruled’ government of the young but besieged Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in 2021, and the events surrounding the Fall of Kabul and the resultant loss of Afghanistan as a democratic and anti-terror State (the horrifying, deeply embarrassing and extremely dangerous sequel to the ‘Fall of Saigon’ and the Free World’s loss of democratic South Vietnam in 1975), refer to blogs ‘ISAF APPENDIX 2 – Counter-Insurgency (COIN) Warfare: Definitions, Political Nature & 5 False Expectations’ (especially the second half) and ‘#39 Farewell Fallen Friend: Democratic Afghan Republic, 2001-2021’.
Formulas for Failure:
(+ Lasting Shame & Lamentation for All Involved)
- Ignorance of history – what has already taken place or gone before (“The Past is Prologue”)
- Refusal to accept and consider the actual facts (“Facts Don’t Lie”)
- Lack of understanding or appreciation of the real situation
- Lack of clear and achievable political and security goals
- Half-hearted moral, political or military commitment to achieving these political and security goals
- Lack of a practical and workable strategy to achieve these goals (“Half-Baked Methods”)
- Quasimodo, restricted or sporadic efforts and implementation of the adopted strategy, towards attaining the set ‘stepping-stone’ objectives to tangibly achieve the overarching, ‘more abstract but necessary and realistic’ political and security goals
- Premature military withdrawals for short-term and domestic-only political gains (many highly questionable in reality and in hindsight)
- Lack of long-term strategic vision, nationally, regionally and globally
- Inability to foresee, perceive, project or predict the likely future outcomes of current decisions and actions taken now