This is so depressing. 18 years of a war largely invisible in the US. We the people killing men, women and children in our "war on terror." We're the terrorist in Afghanistan, which was never the goal, want or desire. The road to hell really is paved with good intentions.
3
This is a horrifying, ongoing tragedy. Thinking back to when Russia invaded Afghanistan in the '70, I remember seeing a newspaper photo of a petrified Afghani prisoner his cultural baggy trousers all wet having lost control through fear being hounded by a couple of Russian soldiers and this awful constant killing since then seems to have no end with no resolution in sight in spite of the fact that so many countries have had a hand in this ongoing disaster. An ongoing conflagration that seems to defy any rationality when even at the United Nations they couldn't not agree to any resolution We read a few lines about the suffering of these people but try to get into their hearts and heads to imagine their pain. I just worry about what "genius" will do next in this tense situation.
1
When contemplating Afghanistan and Iraq, there is a lesson to be learned by all other countries on Earth, especially those who seek to attack the United States.
Not only will the US retaliate, which should be enough for most countries, but more menacing is the fact that you’ll be stuck with the US for the next forty years, or until America gets tired of you.
America will initially bomb most major cities and then squat and occupy for the foreseeable future. Like in-laws who never leave, you’ll be stuck with Uncle Sam until trillions are spent. Much to your detriment.
So if you live in a weak country, and band of religious zealots take over, and their first desire is to pick trouble with the United States. My advice? Leave ASAP.
The Uncle you love to hate is moving in. And it’s never good.
For what it’s worth, my prayers to all who are innocent.
3
For the record, poor Iraq has never attacked the US. Yet we have invaded twice.
4
Thank you for reporting on the lives of those who are to a large part directly affected by decisions made by politicians in this country, which we vote into office.
This is so important and is invariably unreported.
5
What I know about Afghanistan I learned from Fawzia Koef's autobiography "The Favored Daughter." The withdrawal of American forces is indeed a frightening possibility because the continuing presence of American forces is the only thing between the women, intellectuals and the Afghanistani population and the Taliban. It is our moral and ethical values that our presence protects. Allah help those poor men, women and children if and when our shelter, what little there is, is withdraws.
3
I fear we are now going to cause this same kind of unbearable suffering in Iran, just so our President can keep oil prices high for his friends in the al-Saud family.
4
"agreement that could end the long war"?
No, it would have been an agreement to hand Afghanistan over to the Taliban.
5
The Times decided to air the views of a Head of State whose country actively supports and finances the Taliban and yet claims the moral high ground when writing about this issue.
4
I cannot thank you enough for your continuing coverage of Afghanistan. I'm half-Afghan and spent my childhood there in the 1970s, where I had a privileged life during a time of modernization. By the time the Russians invaded, we were all out. My family is in Europe and the US, and we have built productive lives with advanced educations, professional success and personal happiness.
But I have an ache inside that never leaves me — that dreadful sense that many people think all Afghans are ignorant radicals who aren't worthy of being viewed as fellow humans, let alone individuals.
The US used Afghanistan to take down the USSR, then left it to its very worst demons. Bled of its intelligentsia, ravaged by ten years of war, littered with weapons and mines, plagued by postwar lawlessness, and full of non-Afghan, radical Muslim fighters from every corner of the globe, this landlocked, desert nation with few resources became the ugliest possible shadow of its former self.
The Taliban is one of the great horrors of our time. Like most Afghans I know, I was so relieved when the US toppled their unspeakably sadistic regime. It was the stuff of nightmares. America had so much goodwill among Afghans after 9/11.
And now? All but squandered. 18 years of killing civilians as if they are worth nothing? Bringing the Taliban back? I cannot believe this has been allowed to happen. If not for W's follies in Iraq, you might have secured the peace.
I grieve for both my countries.
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@Northstar5
For decades, some of us have worked, mostly from a distance, to provide books and educational aids that might promote both literacy for children and adults, especially for girls and women, and a renewal of Afghan traditional culture generally in Afghanistan. Most of these books and materials have been produced by Afghans for Afghans and have been distributed throughout all the provinces by exceedingly brave souls, some of whom have lost their lives in the effort. My hope is that this effort will bear fruit, if not now, then sometime in the future when the daemons of ignorance that now haunt your once proud homeland have largely been vanquished.
5
The sadness runs incredibly deep.
And there may be more, much more if the so-called president abandons them to the tender mercies of the Taliban or ISIS.
That's likely.
2020 looms big in his mind.
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