Radio War Nerd #287 — Afghanistan: Exit Stage Left, Even
Recorded: July 6, 2021
20 years ago, the US Pentagon and its media cheerleaders were celebrating "victory" over the Taliban in Afghanistan. Today, the US is hastily abandoning the last of its bases, while the Taliban is routing US-backed Afghan National Army forces. The War Nerd and Ames discuss the Afghanistan war, withdrawal, imperial cultural failure, and the ALL-CAPS CHINA panic.
Maps
*Taliban vs US-backed government control
*Hazara area conspicuously outside Taliban control
*Afghanistan ethno-linguistic map (c. 2001)
Total time: 1:38:32
Comments (11)
Today, my War Nerd Radio collection crossed the 25 GB mark. Please offer the shows in the Opus format. A 64kbit opus runs circles around outdated bloated 128kbit constant bitrate mp3. Ceterum censeo Opus esse addendum.
What I here them say is that there is danger that the Afghan strategy will be sabotaged for ego, I'm passing on educating lemmings. Might be something for you. What Bidens wonderboy is working on is moderate institutional progress, wanna see a zombie good luck. Closing statement no amount of virtues (salary) warrant being dumb
Great music from Brendon as always.
john cant handle the truth
With a little a bit of luck the transition may not be as bloody as feared since the Russians are engaging https://www.mid.ru/en_GB/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4810299
The taliban does not have control of Bagram airfield but did manage to over run a base on the border of tajikistan after the troops manning it ran to the boarder. Its going to be a drawn out fight, the Taliban have made a lot of enemies over the years but its shocking how much land they control now. Even in Kunduz where they had no presence pre 2001 they control now.
The taliban arent Isis where they make enemies everywhere. The Taliban have been gaining more and more legitimacy while the Afghan government has been getting weaker. The footage of crowds of people cheering the taliban in villages and soldiers surrendering in large numbers without being harmed shows that their message resonates with more Afghans than most people are comfortable admitting.
Anyone know where to read the Radio War Nerd newsletter issue on the Afghanistan strategy that was referenced in this episode? I think they called it issue #114
Was a big Snagglepuss fan.
Yaaaaay new rwn! Finally something to distract me from boredom at work!!!1!
My father got his first tattoo in his 60s just saying