Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Fifteen years into the Afghan war, do Americans know the truth?

Last week marked the fifteenth anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan, the longest war in US history. There weren’t any victory parades or photo-ops with Afghanistan’s post-liberation leaders. That is because the war is ongoing. In fact, 15 years after launching a war against Afghanistan’s Taliban government in retaliation for an attack by Saudi-backed al-Qaeda, the US-backed forces are steadily losing territory back to the Taliban.

What President Obama called “the good war” before took office in 2008, has become the “forgotten war” some eight years later. How many Americans know that we still have nearly 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan? Do any Americans know that the Taliban was never defeated, but now holds more ground in Afghanistan than at any point since 2001? Do they know the Taliban overran the provincial capital of Kunduz last week for the second time in a year and they threaten several other provincial capitals?

Do Americans know that we are still wasting billions on “reconstruction” and other projects in Afghanistan that are, at best, boondoggles? According to a recent audit by the independent US government body overseeing Afghan reconstruction, half a billion dollars was wasted on a contract for a US company to maintain Afghan military vehicles. The contractor “fail[ed] to meet program objectives,” the audit found. Of course, they still got paid, like thousands of others getting rich off of this failed war. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Who got us into these endless wars?
  2. Taxpayer Burden: Cost of war in Afghanistan hits $4million an hour...
  3. Afghan war will leave British taxpayers with £20billion bill...
  4. The nightmare since 9/11 — 14 years of war, torture and kidnappings...
  5. Iraq war cost US more than $2 trillion...
  6. Ron Paul: the real cost of America's wars...
  7. War, occupation and massacre...
  8. The Picture...
  9. America's war in Afghanistan: murdered civilians, mistreated veterans...

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