For nearly 20 years the U.S. has waged a horribly expensive (trillions of dollars) and horribly deadly (many, many, many thousands of deaths) war that accomplished NOTHING.
US to Withdraw from Afghanistan after Two Decades of War Leaving Behind Tortured Wasteland Having Accomplished Nothing: https://www.opednews.com/articles/US-to-Withdraw-from-Afghan-by-Scott-Ritter-911-Truth_Afghanistan-Pullout_Afghanistan-War_Architects-And-Engineers-For-911-Truth-210416-123.html
Now President Biden announced that he will withdraw U.S. troops. People are happy with that. But people do NOT know that THE WAR WILL CONTINUE without U.S. troops. The U.S. continues its reckless, deadly drone war, and also continues to arm factions throughout the region. The overall U.S. foreign policy in that region (and elsewhere) continues unchanged. Many experts have written articles saying that Biden’s foreign policy is pretty much the same as Trump’s. We must inform the public about the realities — and we must pressure the government to CHANGE TO A PEACEFUL FOREIGN POLICY!
On April 17, 2021, a savvy commentator said this: [Recently] President Biden announced the U.S. would withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11, just five months off. That was the Big Story trumpeted by U.S. media to relief of a majority of Americans who want this senseless, wasteful, endless war ended. But within hours, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ‘hinted’ that the U.S. will likely keep a “counterterrorism” force just across the Afghan border to strike targets deep inside Afghanistan as needed. Austin said, “In terms of our ability to acquire targets and engage them in places where we are not … we have the reach and the ability to in fact do that.” It gets worse. Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki refused to deny, when asked, if Biden might keep special operations inside Afghanistan after September 11. When it comes to America’s perpetual wars in the Middle East and Africa, it’s wise to avoid early celebration of any peaceful initiative till we get, like famed commentator Paul Harvey use to give us, The Rest of the Story.
Despite what Biden said, U.S. will continue warfare in Afghanistan:
The U.S. war in Afghanistan won’t end just because President Biden and U.S. news media tell us so. Read Norman Solomon’s article from April 16, 2021: https://www.nationofchange.org/2021/04/16/contrary-to-what-biden-said-u-s-warfare-in-afghanistan-is-set-to-continue/
What Does Biden’s Decision to Withdraw From Afghanistan Mean? Ending the war will take more than bringing home the troops, but it’s a start. Phyllis Bennis’s smart article from April 15, 2021, deserves reading. She is with the Institute for Policy Studies (www.ips-dc.org). This was posted by The Nation on April 15, 2021:
The smart non-profit organization Win Without War (www.winwithoutwar.org) advocates a truly nonviolent foreign policy. They posted this information about how to help people understand President Biden’s announcement about withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan:
https://winwithoutwar.org/policy/u-s-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-messaging-guidance/
The U.S. will continue making wars throughout Afghanistan’s region, by drones and in other ways.
On April 14, 2021, President Biden dramatically announced that he will withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September. While we celebrate that too-long-awaited decision, the truth is that U.S. military power will continue to be exerted in that country and throughout Central Asia — via remote means, as described today in The New York Times.
This headline is misleading: Biden Pledges To End War In Afghanistan After 2 Decades:
The Huffington Post article used the headline noted above, and it quoted President Joe Biden saying, “It is time to end America’s longest war.” That too is misleading. Here is the article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-speech-afghanistan-war_n_6076f45fe4b0e554e819e3c2?6g
Democracy Now! posted this article on April 14, 2021:
Afghanistan and beyond: Is the Long War Finally Ending?
A savvy writer posted this when anticipating Biden’s announcement: Withdrawing several thousand U.S. troops from Afghanistan is just the tip of the iceberg. By John Feffer | March 31, 2021 https://fpif.org/is-the-long-war-finally-ending/?emci=c9405552-a692-eb11-85aa-00155d43c992&emdi=72483d28-0293-eb11-85aa-0050f237abef&ceid=3993183
A hopeful article by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies on March 31, 2021, said: The U.S. Joins the ‘Rules-Based World’ on Afghanistan. At long last, the U.S. is turning to legitimate, multilateral diplomacy to end America’s longest war.
