by In a nutshell: for the US deep state, leaving Afghanistan is anathema.All this is being withdrawn is US visible presence. The shadow war goes on as US troops pull out.The extended troika [Russia, the United States, China and Pakistan, with Turkey poised to enter], at least rhetorically, is in favor of an “independent, sovereign, unified, peaceful, democratic, neutral and self-sufficient Afghanistan.” Talk about a lofty undertaking. It remains to be seen how Afghanistan’s “neutrality” can be guaranteed in such a nest of New Great Game serpents.Beijing and Moscow will be under no illusions that the newly privatized, Special Forces Afghan-American experiment will eschew using Salafi-jihadis, radicalized Uighurs or other instant assets to destabilize what in effect should be the incorporation
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In a nutshell: for the US deep state, leaving Afghanistan is anathema.All this is being withdrawn is US visible presence. The shadow war goes on as US troops pull out.
The extended troika [Russia, the United States, China and Pakistan, with Turkey poised to enter], at least rhetorically, is in favor of an “independent, sovereign, unified, peaceful, democratic, neutral and self-sufficient Afghanistan.” Talk about a lofty undertaking. It remains to be seen how Afghanistan’s “neutrality” can be guaranteed in such a nest of New Great Game serpents.The Vineyard of the SakerBeijing and Moscow will be under no illusions that the newly privatized, Special Forces Afghan-American experiment will eschew using Salafi-jihadis, radicalized Uighurs or other instant assets to destabilize what in effect should be the incorporation of Afghanistan to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (where it’s already an observer) and the larger Eurasia integration project.
Pepe Escobar
During a government investigation of what went wrong back in 2015, Douglas Lute, an Army general who directed Afghan war policy for the Bush and Obama administrations, observed: “We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan — we didn’t know what we were doing.”Same as Vietnam.
This is a backgrounder.
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