(2021-08-20). Will Americans Who Were Right on Afghanistan Still Be Ignored? dissidentvoice.org 
Protest in Westwood, California 2002. Photo: Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images America's corporate media are ringing with recriminations over the humiliating U.S. military defeat in Afghanistan. But very little of the criticism goes to the root of the problem, which was the original decision to militarily invade and occupy Afghanistan in the first …
(2021-08-20). The United States Does Not Learn from its Past Mistakes. dissidentvoice.org It is said that Afghanistan is the grave yard of Empires. Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the Empire of Great Britain, the Soviet Union and now the American Empire and its NATO allies have all suffered defeat at the hands of the fiercely independent Afghans. As the World watches in disbelief, the American-backed government in …
(2021-08-20). Israel Bombs Syrian Cities in the Middle of the Night. telesurenglish.net On Thursday night, Israel launched missile strikes at some sites in the Syrian capital of Damascus and the central province of Homs. | RELATED: | At 11: 00 pm local time, "the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack with missile bursts" directed against the outskirts of Damascus and Homs City, the Syrian news agency SANA reported. | The Syrian air defenses responded to the attacks, intercepting most of the Israeli mi…
(2021-08-20). Signs suggest this isn't the Taliban of old. asiatimes.com 
There is immense curiosity about the Taliban's first moves after their dramatic return to Kabul after two decades. The big question on everyone's mind is whether the Taliban have "changed" since the 1990s. Opinions vary. But so far at least, there are no signs of a return to repressive authoritarian rule. The stunning press conference on …
(2021-08-20). Despite Departure from Afghanistan, America still Has an Archipelago of 750 Military Bases around the World. juancole.com 
By Patterson Deppen | — ( Tomdispatch.com ) — It was the spring of 2003 during the American-led invasion of Iraq. I was in second grade, living on a U.S. military base in Germany, attending one of the Pentagon's many schools for families of servicemen stationed abroad. One Friday morning, my class was on the …
(2021-08-20). How the Taliban Surge Exposed Pentagon's Lies. dissidentvoice.org A month ago, as the US army prepared to end the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan and hand over responsibility to local security forces it had armed and trained, maps showed small, relatively isolated pockets of Taliban control. At the weekend, the Islamist fighters marched unchallenged into Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, bringing almost the entire country under …
(2021-08-20). G7 Seeks Cooperation on Evacuation Amid Chaos in Kabul. telesurenglish.net The Group of Seven (G7) on Thursday sought to secure close cooperation in personnel evacuation and the resettlement of refugees as chaos continues at the Kabul airport amid the hasty withdrawal of the U.S.-led military troops in Afghanistan and the Taliban's swift takeover of the Asian country. | RELATED: | The foreign affairs ministers of G7, including Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States,…
(2021-08-20). NATO lays down the law to Taliban. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com Worth reading in its entirety; rarely has such an amalgam of hubris, delusion, grandiosity, presumption, contempt and solipsism been seen in one short document. Does this mean Afghanistan won't remain in Partners Across the Globe? Statement by NATO Foreign Ministers on Afghanistan Under the current circumstances, NATO has suspended all support to the Afghan authorities. …
(2021-08-20). Afghanistan and the American Imperial Project. counterpunch.org On August 16, 2021 President Biden addressed the nation to explain why the US military is pulling out of Afghanistan. To a lesser extent, he also tried to explain why the Afghan government and its 300,000 military forces imploded over the past weekend. With the Afghan State's quick disappearing act, in a puff of smoke
(2021-08-20). Create two, three, many Saigons. That is the watchword: The Thirty-Third Newsletter (2021). mronline.org 
On Sunday, 15 August, Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani fled his country for Uzbekistan. He left behind a capital city, Kabul, which had already fallen into the hands of the advancing Taliban forces.
(2021-08-20). Afghanistan: the Longest US War Continues to a New Stage. counterpunch.org The longest of the United States' "forever wars" in Afghanistan was supposed to end August 31 after President Biden extended his predecessor's withdrawal date from May of this year. But what will be ending is not clear; certainly not the imperial mission of the world's superpower. If the US determines that it cannot impose its
(2021-08-20). US Role in Afghanistan Lies in Destruction, not Construction: Chinese FM. orinocotribune.com "US President [Joe] Biden said the US' mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been nation-building, and it's true," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Tuesday, slamming the US for leaving turbulence and chaos wherever it goes. "The role of US lies in destruction, not construction." | Hua's remarks were made in response to Biden's speech on Monday, who said that despite the "hard and messy" US retreat amid the lightning conquest of Taliban that has come much faster than the US had expected, he stood "squarely behind" his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan. | Amid cha…
(2021-08-20). Ambrose Bierce's Pro-Freedom Cynicism. counterpunch.org The collapse of the U.S.-backed regime in Afghanistan is a fine time to dip into one of America's most penetrating and underappreciated political analysts — Ambrose Bierce. The political establishment and its media allies are continually abusing the English language to lull people into submission. From pupils being required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance
(2021-08-20). German militarism and the debacle in Afghanistan. wsws.org The Afghan war was a dirty colonial war from the very start, with all that entails: massacres, torture, crime and corruption.
(2021-08-20). Afghanistan Was Based on Lies: Will Canada's Militarists Apologize? dissidentvoice.org 
The quick collapse of the US-backed government in Afghanistan has revealed how little ordinary people should trust Canada's military, arms industry and associated ideological supporters. Their justifications for war, their claims of progress and then victory have proven to be no more than propaganda and lies. Canada's biggest military deployment since World War II, more …
(2021-08-20). President Maduro: 'Afghanistan Speaks Volumes on Decline of US Empire'. orinocotribune.com The warmongering and interventionist policy of the United States empire has failed, as evidenced by the "pathetic" situation in which Afghanistan was left following the 20-year U.S. occupation, according to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. | What's more, the Venezuelan President said that the misinformation given by U.S. intelligence just days prior indicates that they're either tragically misinformed "or someone within the United States intelligence apparatus is conspiring" to try to sink the U.S. President. | President Maduro
(2021-08-20). Afghanistan and the Nature of US Military Intervention: Kabul versus Saigon. globalresearch.ca
(2021-08-20). Phyllis Bennis and Matthew Hoh on Afghanistan Withdrawal. fair.org 
(LA Times, This week on CounterSpin: US news media are full of armchair generals who talk about weapons of war like they're Hot Wheels, and have
(2021-08-20). Five Ways the U.S. Created and Prolonged the Afghan Crisis. counterpunch.org Media coverage of the Taliban takeover of Kabul would lead most Americans to believe that U.S. involvement in Afghanistan began after 9/11, with the invasion to topple the previous Taliban government. But Afghanistan has been at war continuously for 42 years, and the Pentagon has been involved every step of the way, under both Republican
(2021-08-20). And so it begins again: The media recycles Afghanistan war lies. wsws.org The claims that the US war was waged for democracy and women's rights and against terrorism are even more threadbare than in 2001.
(2021-08-20). New Zealand ruling elite whitewashes its "contribution" to Afghan war. wsws.org On 3 October 2001, parliament approved a motion presented by Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark, with the support of the phony "left-wing" Alliance, that endorsed the despatch of Special Air Services troops and "totally" supported the US in Afghanistan.
(2021-08-20). On the IPCC's latest climate report: What does it tell us? mronline.org 
The UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently released its latest comprehensive report on the state of the earth's climate. The much-anticipated report dominated the headlines for a few days in early August, then quickly disappeared amidst the latest news from Afghanistan, the fourth wave of Covid-19 infections in the US, and all the latest political rumblings.
(2021-08-20). Nessuna lezione dalla catastrofe afghana. globalresearch.ca Nel discorso del 16 agosto alla Casa Bianca, il presidente Biden ha fatto una lapidaria dichiarazione: ´La nostra missione in Afghanistan non ha mai avuto come scopo la costruzione di una nazione, non ha mai avuto come scopo la creazione …
(2021-08-20). Satellite Images Prove Dozens Of Afghan Military Aircraft Fled To Uzbekistan. southfront.org 
Click to see full-size image | On August 16, the Prosecutor General's Office of Uzbekistan According to the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office, the aircraft were obliged to land at…
(2021-08-20). Afghan Women and Girls Are Caught in the Cross Fire. thenation.com Afghan Women and Girls Are Caught in the Cross Fire…
(2021-08-20). Spencer Ackerman on How the U.S. War on Terror Fueled and Excused Right-Wing Extremism at Home. democracynow.org 
As Republicans raise concerns that Biden's withdrawal of U.S. troops will turn Afghanistan "back to a pre-9/11 state — a breeding ground for terrorism," Pulitzer Prize-winning national security reporter Spencer Ackerman lays out how the U.S. war on terror after the September 2001 attacks actually fueled white, right-wing extremism. Ackerman says U.S. elites consciously chose to ignore "the kind of terrorism that is the oldest, most resilient, most violent and most historically rooted in American history." His new book is "Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump."
(2021-08-20). Why Did the Afghan Army Fold So Fast? Because They had Nothing to Fight For. counterpunch.org American pundits, politicians and Pentagon apologists are all casting about trying to find the reason why the Afghanistan military, supposedly 300,000 trained people in uniform and supplied with over $83 billion in US weaponry including ground attack planes and helicopters, folded like an old deck of used cards in two weeks' time confronted by an
(2021-08-20). Headlines for August 20, 2021. democracynow.org Pentagon Boosts U.S. Troop Levels in Kabul as Chaotic Evacuations Follow Taliban Takeover, Taliban Says It Executed Former Islamic State Leader Abu Omar Khorasani, Afghan Youth Soccer Player Zaki Anwari Died in Fall from U.S. Plane Evacuating Kabul Airport, Afghan Immigrants in Greece Demand Sanctuary for Refugees Fleeing Afghanistan, WHO Slams Rich Nations for Offering Booster Shots While Just 2% of Africa's Population Is Vaccinated, Texas Supreme Court to Allow Schools to Defy Gov. Abbott's Ban on Mask Mandates, Major Hospital in Port-au-Prince Closes After Gangs Kidnap Doctors, Hampering Earthquake Relief, Rep…
(2021-08-20). If Only Afghans Were Jews. warisacrime.org 
The U.S. and other governments are not making the priority of rescuing endangered people from Afghanistan that a consumer of Hollywood movies might imagine being made were the endangered people Jews in Nazi Germany. Sadly, the reality in the 1940s was no different from today. Major investments went into wars, and Western officials wanted no …
(2021-08-20). The US and Afghanistan: Exit the Paper Tiger. orinocotribune.com By Freedom Road Socialist Organization — Aug 17, 2021 | The images are searing. Helicopters ferrying diplomatic personnel from the U.S. Embassy while plumes of black smoke billow from the building. Taliban fighters with heavy artillery parade through the thoroughfares of provincial capitals. The International Airport, still under U.S. control, is in chaos as collaborators try storm planes to flee the country. In the space of a few weeks the puppet government collapsed, and its figureheads have vanished. The decades of occupation have come to an end. Those that fought to end it now sit at the former president…
(2021-08-20). Spencer Ackerman: Today's Crisis in Kabul Is Direct Result of Decades of U.S. War & Destabilization. democracynow.org 
As thousands of Afghans try to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control, we look at the roots of the longest U.S. war in history and spend the hour with Pulitzer Prize-winning national security reporter Spencer Ackerman. "This is not the alternative to fighting in Afghanistan; this is the result of fighting in Afghanistan," says Ackerman, whose new book, "Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump," is based in part on his reporting from Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo.
(2021-08-20). Roaming Charges: When the Empire of Graveyards Falls in the Graveyard of Empires. counterpunch.org The next war on Afghanistan will be a silent war, one waged behind the shadowed windows of board rooms and bank vaults, an economic war, fought with sanctions and debt, weapons indiscriminate as cluster bombs, that will almost certainly inflict much more misery and death than the hot war of the last 20 years. It's already started.
(2021-08-20). U.S. Cooperating With Taliban To Evacuate Americans Out Of Afghanistan: Pentagon. southfront.org 
Click to see full-size image | On August 18th, US Department of Defense officials said that the US was working together with Taliban to evacuate Americans out of Afghanistan. | The White House said that the military evacuated approximately 1,800 people, bringing the total since August 14th to 6,000. | Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. intends to increase that flow using various U.S. military aircraft."We're going to get everyone that we can possibly evacuate, evacuated. And I'll do that as long as we possibly…
(2021-08-20). Fight them on the beaches. dissidentvoice.org Dominic Raab, the British foreign secretary, gives new and shameful meaning to Winston Churchill's rousing speech about fighting an enemy on the beaches. While the Taliban were sweeping to victory in Afghanistan at the weekend, Raab was reportedly lounging on a sun-splashed beach on the Greek island of Crete. The arrogant Raab — who is prone to …
(2021-08-20). The Afghanistan Debacle and "The Great Reset". The Strategic Role of Zalmay Khalilzad. globalresearch.ca
(2021-08-20). Vets Fear, Like Post-Vietnam, US Unlikely to Learn Lessons From Afghanistan. sputniknews.com WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Barrington M. Salmon – US policymakers are unlikely to absorb any lessons from the Afghanistan war, despite accomplishing nothing in 20 years, just like they failed to learn from mistakes made in Vietnam, American Army veterans told Sputnik.
(2021-08-20). WSJ: Biden has broken NATO. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com From the Wall Street Journal edition of August 19, issued by the editorial board. It's evident both by the source and the harsh tone of the unsigned opinion piece — really, passionate denunciation — that something of major significance is occurring in the so-called Euro-Atlantic community; something that the West's ongoing debacle in Afghanistan alone …
(2021-08-20). China Urges World to Stop Putting Pressure on Afghanistan, Guide it Through Power Transition. sputniknews.com The Taliban's* successful takeover of the power vacuum left by the fugitive president Ghani on Sunday has sparked a media and political whirlwind in the West, with strong warnings about the ramifications of a resurgent Taliban rule for Afghanistan and other countries.
(2021-08-20). Biden's Botched Withdrawal From Afghanistan. zcomm.org The criticisms against Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan are coming from all corners. But most are missing the point…
(2021-08-20). Does the Future Belong to the Taliban? zcomm.org Afghanistan is not the only place at risk of takeover by extremists…
(2021-08-20). British and US Troops at Odds in Afghanistan as UK Engages Rescue Missions. Reports. globalresearch.ca
(2021-08-20). Lebanon complains on Zionist regime over airspace violation. en.mehrnews.com The Lebanese government has sued Zionist regime at the United Nations for repeatedly violating its airspace to attack Syria.
(2021-08-20). Syria Intercepts Several Israeli Strikes On Its Soil. southfront.org 
Click to see full-size image | Israel has conducted several airstrikes through Lebanon's airspace on targets in Syria, according to local media in Lebanon. | Civilian aircraft heading towards Beirut airport were affected during the Israeli Air Strike on Syria. — INTELSky (@Intel_Sky) Syrian State Media said that Syrian air de…
(2021-08-20). Recent Israeli Strikes On Syria Destroyed Compounds Near Lebanon's Border, Killed Four Civilians. southfront.org 
Illustrative photo of an Israeli F-15 Eagle fighter jet (Edi Israel/Flash90/File) | The On August 20, the Aurora Intel account on Twitter shared new satellite images of the targeted compounds which were located to the east of Qarah. All three compound…
(2021-08-20). Israeli F-35 Stealthy Fighter Jets Spotted Over Lebanon Only Day After Strikes On Syria (Photos). southfront.org 
Israel's first two F-35 stealth fighter jets on their maiden flight as part of the Israeli Air Force on December 13, 2016. (Israel Defense Forces) | On August 20, several F-35 stealthy fighter jets of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) were spotted flying over South Lebanon, the heartland of Hezbollah. | Lebanese activists shared photos of the fighter jets, which were apparently conducting a training or a reconnaissance mission in Lebanon's airspace in a blatant violation of the country's sovereignty and international laws. | At lea…
(2021-08-20). Wishful Thinking: Lebanon Files Complaint Over Israeli Violations Of Its Airspace At The U.N. southfront.org 
Click to see full-size image | On August 20th, Lebanon lodged a complaint at the United Nations due to Israel continually carrying out airstrikes from its airspace. | Caretaker Lebanese Defense Minister Zeina Akar, in a statement, condemned the Israeli violation of Lebanese airspace during its bombing of Syrian areas on August 19th. | Akar noted that the Israeli violation posed a direct and serious threat to the Lebanese navigation and safety of civil aviation, and were in flagrant violation of…
(2021-08-20). 10 Palestinians on hunger strike against illegal administrative detention by Israel. peoplesdispatch.org Palestinian prisoners' rights group have expressed concern about the rapid decline in the detainees' health. Four of the 10 detainees have been on hunger strike for more than a month…
(2021-08-20). Forced evictions near and far: Canada's complicity in the dispossession of Palestinian homes. mronline.org 
Does our commitment to reconciliation mean anything while we support settler-colonial regimes abroad?>
(2021-08-20). The Quiet Rebellion: Why US Jews Turning Against Israel is Good for Palestinians. counterpunch.org A unique but critical conversation on Israel and Palestine is taking place outside the traditional discourse of Israeli colonialism and the Palestinian quest for liberation. It is an awkward and difficult — but overdue — discussion concerning American Jews' relation to Israel and their commitment to its Zionist ideology. For many years, Israel has conveniently
(2021-08-20). In Video: Al-Quds Brigade Fighters Uncover, Destroy ISIS Hideouts In Central Syria. southfront.org 
File image. | On August 20, the al-Quds Brigade, a Palestinian faction that has been supporting the Damascus government since its formation in 2013, shared a video documenting one of its recent combing operations in central Syria. | The video shows al-Quds Brigade fighters uncovering and destroying several hideouts of ISIS cells in an unspecified part of the central region. Several vehicles of the terrorist group were also destroyed. | The al-Quds Brigade, which is reportedly backed by Russia, has been operating ag…