Background Briefing: April 14, 2021
The Tragic Span of America’s 20 Year History in Afghanistan Since 9/11
We begin with President Biden’s announcement today that he is ending America’s longest war in Afghanistan and will begin the withdrawal of the 2,500 plus troops beginning on May 1 and ending on September 11, the 20th anniversary of the Al Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a planned attack on the Capitol, which was the reason for the U.S. military’s involvement in Afghanistan in the first place. Joining us is a veteran analyst and specialist on Afghanistan and Pakistan who has observed this tragic span of history as America fought a losing war from the beginning because Pakistan was continually stabbing the U.S. in the back and to this day the ISI’s ongoing perfidy has yet to be acknowledged and dealt with. We speak with Christine Fair, a Professor in the Security Studies Program within Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service who previously served as a political officer with the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan in Kabul and was a Senior Fellow at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center. The author of Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army’s Way of War and In Their Own Words: Understanding Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, who speaks and reads Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, we discuss how Biden opposed the 2009 “surge” when Obama got rolled by the military who promised a victory that has yet to come and how much the emphasis on corruption in Afghanistan disguised corruption here at home where 90% of the more than 2 trillion spent on this fruitless endeavor ended up. With the fate of women and girls up for grabs as Pakistan gets its way with its proxy the Taliban poised to take over most of the country, we examine how the U.S. Treasury should sanction Pakistan’s elite and assess what kind of bitter fruit this “victory” will be for the generals who run Pakistan.