As the second Mother’s Day without my mother approached, Rasil Basu reappeared via an unexpected Google alert.
U.S. historian and writer Noam Chomsky and Indian counterpart Vijay Prashad had resurrected my late mother s prophetic warnings from the late 1980s about the plight of Afghan women and girls under our proxy war with the Soviets.
Chomsky and Prashad examine the legacy of America s two decades of war in Afghanistan, now set to end by Sept. 11 under President Joe Biden s order. (In a rare instance of agreement, Biden s predecessor, Donald Trump, had planned on a pullout.) But the authors, who have long argued against a U.S. military presence in favor of our brokering political talks between factions, are concerned about the impact of still leaving several thousand U.S. troops and contractors there. As Politico reported, top military leaders advocate keeping them to keep the Taliban in check and prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a haven for terrorists. �
May 10, 2021
By Noam CHOMSKY, Vijay PRASHAD
The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 was criminal. It was criminal because of the immense force used to demolish Afghanistan’s physical infrastructure and to break open its social bonds.
On October 11, 2001, journalist Anatol Lieven interviewed the Afghan leader Abdul Haq in Peshawar, Pakistan. Haq, who led part of the resistance against the Taliban, was getting ready to return to Afghanistan under the cover of the U.S. aerial bombardments. He was, however, not pleased with the way the United States had decided to prosecute the war. “Military action by itself in the present circumstances is only making things more difficult especially if this war goes on a long time and many civilians are killed,” Abdul Haq told Lieven. The war would go on for 20 years, and at least 71,344 civilians would lose their lives during this period.
United States Withdraws From Afghanistan Not Really
Pressenza
08 May 2021, 16:28 GMT+10
The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 was criminal. It was criminal because of the immense force used to demolish Afghanistan s physical infrastructure and to break open its social bonds.
By Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad
On October 11, 2001, journalist Anatol Lieven interviewed the Afghan leader Abdul Haq in Peshawar, Pakistan. Haq, who led part of the resistance against the Taliban, was getting ready to return to Afghanistan under the cover of the U.S. aerial bombardments. He was, however, not pleased with the way the United States had decided to prosecute the war. Military action by itself in the present circumstances is only making things more difficult-especially if this war goes on a long time and many civilians are killed, Abdul Haq told Lieven. The war would go on for 20 years, and at least 71,344 civilians would lose their lives during this period.
United States Withdraws From Afghanistan? Not Really US 10th Mountain Division soldiers in Afghanistan. (Image by Wikimedia Commons)
The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 was criminal. It was criminal because of the immense force used to demolish Afghanistan’s physical infrastructure and to break open its social bonds.
By Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad
On October 11, 2001, journalist Anatol Lieven interviewed the Afghan leader Abdul Haq in Peshawar, Pakistan. Haq, who led part of the resistance against the Taliban, was getting ready to return to Afghanistan under the cover of the U.S. aerial bombardments. He was, however, not pleased with the way the United States had decided to prosecute the war. “Military action by itself in the present circumstances is only making things more difficult especially if this war goes on a long time and many civilians are killed,” Abdul Haq tol