The power of journalism in search of truth and even with best will possible striving for broad minded empathy scares evil people. But I do no know why the incidents of ignorance and greed perpetrated by other parties arenot given wide coverage, I have seen your comments, Lynne, on the corruption of the side backed by US (and their shocking collapse to the Taliban move on Kabul) Was that a voice in the wilderness?
John. Respectfully. That was covered. Ad nauseam. No one cared. We needed the myth of success to justify the billions poured into the country. From Karzai and his bags of cash from both Langley and Tehran to mad dog on a leash Razaq to the many abuses by Dostum (look up his wife died by accidentally shooting herself, at least twice), all of which covered by mainstream outlets, the voice was by no means solitary.
Thanks. I admit I did not read thoroughly on the war. I have crisp recollection of Biden answering reporter when Taliban were moving on Kabul. He reeled off stats on numbers of trained troops and implied they were strong. A week later they fled. Biden had been badly informed. Very badly
I have crisp recollection of a string of ISAF and Resolute Support commanders saying similar things dating back to sometime in 2011 when I started paying attention for professional reasons. There are...volumes...of reports that refuted those assertions, most of them from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
All of which are freely available to the general public.
Ironically, NATO and the Americans released their own bi-annual reports (not sure if they're still up...I got tired of reading, analyzing, and doing digests of them when they said the same thing over and over) that showed that the number of trained troops being reported by leadership throughout the war weren't accurate.
From retention issues, to recruiting challenges, to trying, desperately, to put together basic literacy program for recruits, the US was oddly open about how things were going in Afghanistan.
The problem?
The public didn't care, so long as flag-draped coffins coming through Dover were kept to a minimum. Because whatever the Kardashians are doing was always of more interest than what was happening in the Korengal.
THanks. Your last sentence about US society caring for TV sitcom/drama rings sadly true. I knew Lynne from her,time in China (and impressed with her care of content) and she cared enough to leave China (in the near end of a book on China she had poured he heart into to go and understand Afghanistan)
The power of journalism in search of truth and even with best will possible striving for broad minded empathy scares evil people. But I do no know why the incidents of ignorance and greed perpetrated by other parties arenot given wide coverage, I have seen your comments, Lynne, on the corruption of the side backed by US (and their shocking collapse to the Taliban move on Kabul) Was that a voice in the wilderness?
John. Respectfully. That was covered. Ad nauseam. No one cared. We needed the myth of success to justify the billions poured into the country. From Karzai and his bags of cash from both Langley and Tehran to mad dog on a leash Razaq to the many abuses by Dostum (look up his wife died by accidentally shooting herself, at least twice), all of which covered by mainstream outlets, the voice was by no means solitary.
Thanks. I admit I did not read thoroughly on the war. I have crisp recollection of Biden answering reporter when Taliban were moving on Kabul. He reeled off stats on numbers of trained troops and implied they were strong. A week later they fled. Biden had been badly informed. Very badly
I have crisp recollection of a string of ISAF and Resolute Support commanders saying similar things dating back to sometime in 2011 when I started paying attention for professional reasons. There are...volumes...of reports that refuted those assertions, most of them from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
All of which are freely available to the general public.
Ironically, NATO and the Americans released their own bi-annual reports (not sure if they're still up...I got tired of reading, analyzing, and doing digests of them when they said the same thing over and over) that showed that the number of trained troops being reported by leadership throughout the war weren't accurate.
From retention issues, to recruiting challenges, to trying, desperately, to put together basic literacy program for recruits, the US was oddly open about how things were going in Afghanistan.
The problem?
The public didn't care, so long as flag-draped coffins coming through Dover were kept to a minimum. Because whatever the Kardashians are doing was always of more interest than what was happening in the Korengal.
THanks. Your last sentence about US society caring for TV sitcom/drama rings sadly true. I knew Lynne from her,time in China (and impressed with her care of content) and she cared enough to leave China (in the near end of a book on China she had poured he heart into to go and understand Afghanistan)
I wrote this back in 2015: https://www.vice.com/en/article/ev7je7/phantom-troops-taliban-fighting-and-wasted-money-its-springtime-in-afghanistan
I hate to be "that" guy tooting his own horn, but yeah...it's been covered.
Blog post to follow. Is it still a blog post if it's on Substack?
Be strong, Lynne. We are all proud of you and your work.