LARA LOGAN: FACTS VS. SPIN ON AFGHANISTAN
– The US has the technological capability to wipe any enemy off the battlefield. This is obviously not being used — why not? Afghans know this and to them it is a clear indication that the US wants this outcome.
– There has never been a defeat of this nature in the history of the US because this one comes with the shame of betrayal, written in the blood of our allies and innocent Afghans. It has been engineered by the US and the US is pushing this forward still, in spite of the chaos and the criticism. Actions speak louder than words.
– The natural conclusion Afghans and every other US ally draws from this is that the US is weak — not in capability — but in terms of political will.
– The only thing standing between the US as the world's superpower and the total end of US power/authority is the US itself – American political leadership on both sides of the aisle. One side hates America as much as their enemies and is driving this – the other has rolled over and/or is actively complicit — the effect is the same.
– The Taliban has broken the "peace deal" it made with the US a thousand times over so there is no deal and obviously no peace. The US could stop the Taliban right now with the full force of the technologically advanced US military and clean up this mess.
– This would include strategic UAV strikes with UAV's that can see through anything, day or night and bombing Taliban targets. Cut off their supply lines, infiltration and exfil routes in and out of Pakistan and elsewhere, have the US State department OPENLY DEMAND Pakistan stop supporting the proxy terrorist army, destroy in place the US weapons seized by the Taliban and whatever stockpiles remain, hand over to the Afghan govt leaders and US-trained commandos/special operations forces who are fighting in the Pansjir Valley, Baghlan, the Salang tunnel other areas etc.
– The US has a history of destroying weapons/equipment left behind — look at the OBL raid and the helicopter that was downed. If the US does not destroy its weapons/equipment now in place, it tells our allies and our enemies that we are willfully handing them over/giving it to them.
– The US is monitoring all Taliban communication systems 24/7. There are no surprises and anyone saying/pretending we did not or do not know something is worthless.
– The Taliban are a terrorist regime — the number two in their leadership is Siraj Haqqani whose terrorist organisation, the Haqqani Network, was declared an FTO by the US in 2012. Siraj Haqqani's brother Anas and their uncle, have been leading the so-called "peace talks". This means the US has been negotiating with terrorists in violation of US law. No one will hold this government to account if both Republicans & Democrats do not demand accountability.
– The same propaganda tactics are in play in Afghanistan and you need to realise some of what you see has been stage-managed for political reasons and may not be as it appears. Some surrenders were real — but deals were made ahead of time and the cameras there to capture it as if it were just unfolding spontaneously. Some Afghan leaders did NOT surrender — they were lured into traps and arrested — but the Taliban is controlling the message. Other Afghan leaders are under house arrest and not necessarily willing participants in the meetings you see them in — Or able to say anything other than what they are told. We do not know the truth, but our intelligence agencies do. And therefore our leaders do too.
– Don't hold your leaders to the same standard and expectations that make sense for people with no inside track, no intelligence, no real time visibility or access to foreign leaders etc. They know more than we do — for example, they know what is in the secret annexes to the so-called US "peace deal" with the Taliban. So don't make it easy for them to lie.
– As long as the media which has traditionally been regarded as credible and still dominates information flow in this country is not doing its job, Americans as a whole will be denied the ability to make up their minds based on truth. Political deceit and narratives that are false/partially true lead to bad decisions — not good ones. And the powerful propaganda gods hiding behind charities, civil society and academia etc should not be allowed to engineer the destruction of everything Americans on both sides hold dear. We can no longer allow them to "discredit" people because they disagree with a radical political agenda that is based on annihilating the US as a country and life as we have known it.
– Hispanic media is blaming the Afghans, telling its audience that the US warned the Afghans months ago and they should have been prepared. That false narrative leaves out many things — such as the US pulling air support from Afghan Special operations who rely on mobility by design and cannot be effective on the scale needed to stop this invasion without that capability. At the same time, the US took the maintenance capability away from the Afghan Air Force — pulling out the contractors who keep their planes running. It also told the Taliban and al Qaeda the timeline for withdrawal, broke the morale of the Afghan security forces by announcing total withdrawal of the strategic and tactical capabilities those forces brought to the fight, did nothing to stop weapons and arms sent in by Pakistan that were flowing across the border, with US Intel agencies watching these things happen in real time.
– Also, the Taliban is not fighting alone — as Pakistan's proxy this is really a Pakistani invasion. And their strongest allies are China, Qatar, Iran and others who have already promised international recognition and sent Taliban forces in with bucket loads of cash to sweeten the deal. Which would you choose as a local Afghan district leader already surrounded and outnumbered with no cavalry in the skies? Choosing to live one more day is not necessarily the same as surrender and this story is not over. The Afghan resistance are fighting every day but left out of the media and political narratives.
– Before he become President, Ashraf Ghani presided over the 'disarmament and demobilization" process — but primarily took the guns/stockpiles of US allies from the north and left weapons in the hands of the Taliban. US leaders criticsed their own allies from the north more than Pakistan, who support of the Taliban was and remains the single, defining line between defeat and victory on the Afghan battlefield.
– The US media quickly echoed the narrative of US allies/warlords from the north = bad, writing many stories about their human rights abuses and so on, equating their actions to the Taliban. Al Qaeda and others who often got a pass. This was also Pakistan's narrative and served US enemies while distancing the US from its allies — those same allies are now fighting once again, but so far without support or recognition from the Biden administration.
– This distortion was also echoed by human rights organisations who called out both sides but gave them parity.
– The US Military, OSD, Generals and so on all echoed the State Dept narrative on Pakistan publicly— I reported this year after year as a correspondent for 60 Minutes. It was this: Pakistan can and should do better — sure— but they are doing all they can and things are getting better all the time". Not only was that a lie, it led to where we are today with Pakistan engineering a complete takeover of power by their proxy.
– Not one single leader ever stopped Pakistan and anyone who does not understand what that means, can go to Arlington cemetery. There you will find many of the soldiers who died because of Pakistan's support for America's enemies, while our own political leaders were drinking tea in Islamabad or having lunch in DC with Pakistani lobbyists like the Podesta Group.
– That is still happening right now — while unarmed Afghan civilians are being shot outside the airport and US allies are being hunted by the Taliban and al Qaeda, the Ashraf Ghani's lobbyist for years in DC, Claire Lockhart, is on the phone with journalists selling the narrative that serves his interests and whoever is backing him. So the President-that-fled lives to fight another day, while American citizens, allies and soldiers bear the burden of these political decisions and their elected, political leaders effectively do NOTHING to stop the US hurtling towards the end of American power, authority and the idea itself.
– There has never been a defeat of this nature in the history of the US because this one comes with the shame of betrayal, written in the blood of our allies and innocent Afghans. It has been engineered by the US and the US is pushing this forward still, in spite of the chaos and the criticism. Actions speak louder than words.
– The natural conclusion Afghans and every other US ally draws from this is that the US is weak — not in capability — but in terms of political will.
– The only thing standing between the US as the world's superpower and the total end of US power/authority is the US itself – American political leadership on both sides of the aisle. One side hates America as much as their enemies and is driving this – the other has rolled over and/or is actively complicit — the effect is the same.
– The Taliban has broken the "peace deal" it made with the US a thousand times over so there is no deal and obviously no peace. The US could stop the Taliban right now with the full force of the technologically advanced US military and clean up this mess.
– This would include strategic UAV strikes with UAV's that can see through anything, day or night and bombing Taliban targets. Cut off their supply lines, infiltration and exfil routes in and out of Pakistan and elsewhere, have the US State department OPENLY DEMAND Pakistan stop supporting the proxy terrorist army, destroy in place the US weapons seized by the Taliban and whatever stockpiles remain, hand over to the Afghan govt leaders and US-trained commandos/special operations forces who are fighting in the Pansjir Valley, Baghlan, the Salang tunnel other areas etc.
– The US has a history of destroying weapons/equipment left behind — look at the OBL raid and the helicopter that was downed. If the US does not destroy its weapons/equipment now in place, it tells our allies and our enemies that we are willfully handing them over/giving it to them.
– The US is monitoring all Taliban communication systems 24/7. There are no surprises and anyone saying/pretending we did not or do not know something is worthless.
– The Taliban are a terrorist regime — the number two in their leadership is Siraj Haqqani whose terrorist organisation, the Haqqani Network, was declared an FTO by the US in 2012. Siraj Haqqani's brother Anas and their uncle, have been leading the so-called "peace talks". This means the US has been negotiating with terrorists in violation of US law. No one will hold this government to account if both Republicans & Democrats do not demand accountability.
– The same propaganda tactics are in play in Afghanistan and you need to realise some of what you see has been stage-managed for political reasons and may not be as it appears. Some surrenders were real — but deals were made ahead of time and the cameras there to capture it as if it were just unfolding spontaneously. Some Afghan leaders did NOT surrender — they were lured into traps and arrested — but the Taliban is controlling the message. Other Afghan leaders are under house arrest and not necessarily willing participants in the meetings you see them in — Or able to say anything other than what they are told. We do not know the truth, but our intelligence agencies do. And therefore our leaders do too.
– Don't hold your leaders to the same standard and expectations that make sense for people with no inside track, no intelligence, no real time visibility or access to foreign leaders etc. They know more than we do — for example, they know what is in the secret annexes to the so-called US "peace deal" with the Taliban. So don't make it easy for them to lie.
– As long as the media which has traditionally been regarded as credible and still dominates information flow in this country is not doing its job, Americans as a whole will be denied the ability to make up their minds based on truth. Political deceit and narratives that are false/partially true lead to bad decisions — not good ones. And the powerful propaganda gods hiding behind charities, civil society and academia etc should not be allowed to engineer the destruction of everything Americans on both sides hold dear. We can no longer allow them to "discredit" people because they disagree with a radical political agenda that is based on annihilating the US as a country and life as we have known it.
– Hispanic media is blaming the Afghans, telling its audience that the US warned the Afghans months ago and they should have been prepared. That false narrative leaves out many things — such as the US pulling air support from Afghan Special operations who rely on mobility by design and cannot be effective on the scale needed to stop this invasion without that capability. At the same time, the US took the maintenance capability away from the Afghan Air Force — pulling out the contractors who keep their planes running. It also told the Taliban and al Qaeda the timeline for withdrawal, broke the morale of the Afghan security forces by announcing total withdrawal of the strategic and tactical capabilities those forces brought to the fight, did nothing to stop weapons and arms sent in by Pakistan that were flowing across the border, with US Intel agencies watching these things happen in real time.
– Also, the Taliban is not fighting alone — as Pakistan's proxy this is really a Pakistani invasion. And their strongest allies are China, Qatar, Iran and others who have already promised international recognition and sent Taliban forces in with bucket loads of cash to sweeten the deal. Which would you choose as a local Afghan district leader already surrounded and outnumbered with no cavalry in the skies? Choosing to live one more day is not necessarily the same as surrender and this story is not over. The Afghan resistance are fighting every day but left out of the media and political narratives.
– Before he become President, Ashraf Ghani presided over the 'disarmament and demobilization" process — but primarily took the guns/stockpiles of US allies from the north and left weapons in the hands of the Taliban. US leaders criticsed their own allies from the north more than Pakistan, who support of the Taliban was and remains the single, defining line between defeat and victory on the Afghan battlefield.
– The US media quickly echoed the narrative of US allies/warlords from the north = bad, writing many stories about their human rights abuses and so on, equating their actions to the Taliban. Al Qaeda and others who often got a pass. This was also Pakistan's narrative and served US enemies while distancing the US from its allies — those same allies are now fighting once again, but so far without support or recognition from the Biden administration.
– This distortion was also echoed by human rights organisations who called out both sides but gave them parity.
– The US Military, OSD, Generals and so on all echoed the State Dept narrative on Pakistan publicly— I reported this year after year as a correspondent for 60 Minutes. It was this: Pakistan can and should do better — sure— but they are doing all they can and things are getting better all the time". Not only was that a lie, it led to where we are today with Pakistan engineering a complete takeover of power by their proxy.
– Not one single leader ever stopped Pakistan and anyone who does not understand what that means, can go to Arlington cemetery. There you will find many of the soldiers who died because of Pakistan's support for America's enemies, while our own political leaders were drinking tea in Islamabad or having lunch in DC with Pakistani lobbyists like the Podesta Group.
– That is still happening right now — while unarmed Afghan civilians are being shot outside the airport and US allies are being hunted by the Taliban and al Qaeda, the Ashraf Ghani's lobbyist for years in DC, Claire Lockhart, is on the phone with journalists selling the narrative that serves his interests and whoever is backing him. So the President-that-fled lives to fight another day, while American citizens, allies and soldiers bear the burden of these political decisions and their elected, political leaders effectively do NOTHING to stop the US hurtling towards the end of American power, authority and the idea itself.