Tag: afghanistan

NO LESSONS LEARNED FROM AFGHANISTAN FOUR YEARS LATER

Four years ago this month, the US ended its longest war in a most embarrassing fashion. The Taliban efficiently retook the entire country in a matter of months, culminating in the surrender of Kabul. The world watched as Afghans chose to fall to their deaths from departing aircraft than to become captives of the Taliban. Newly released terrorists killed even more Americans at the airport gate and the US amateurishly responded by bombing an innocent contractor’s water truck. Amidst all of this, CNN reporter Clarissa Ward famously proclaimed:

“If this isn’t failure, what does failure look like exactly.”

In August 2021, SIGAR (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction) released a report called “What We Need to Learn: Lessons from Twenty Years of Afghanistan Reconstruction.” While focused on the reconstruction debacle, the beginning of the report makes a troubling point that can be generalized to other parts of America’s failure.

“What We Need to Learn: Lessons from Twenty Years of Afghanistan Reconstruction is the 11th lessons learned report issued by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. The report examines the past two decades of the U.S. reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. It details how the U.S. government struggled to develop a coherent strategy, understand how long the reconstruction mission would take, ensure its projects were sustainable, staff the mission with trained professionals, account for the challenges posed by insecurity, tailor efforts to the Afghan context, and understand the impact of programs. There have been bright spots—such as lower child mortality rates, increases in per capita GDP, and increased literacy rates. But after spending 20 years and $145 billion trying to rebuild Afghanistan, the U.S. government has many lessons it needs to learn. Implementing these critical lessons will save lives and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in Afghanistan, and in future reconstruction missions elsewhere around the world.”1

The truly shocking part of the SIGAR report and the seemingly for show bipartisan government testimonies after the war was that the knowledge of why the US failed in 2021 had been there for over a decade. For just shy of two decades, the US military and political leadership had at best a flat learning curve and no real desire to win. Analyses of failure written before 2010 were extremely similar to the ‘smart’ generals and politicians’ admissions after the last US troops had left the country. So, what has the US military and government done about it?

The failure in Afghanistan spanned 20 years and almost an equal number of red and blue presidents. No one side can take the blame. Both parties failed America.

Keep reading

Iran Deporting Millions Of Afghan Migrants After Capturing Alleged Israeli Spies

It would seem that mass deportations in the name of national security is not an issue limited to western countries.  Over the past few weeks Iran has drawn the attention of the UN and a number of humanitarian NGOs after initiated a nationwide program to remove all Afghan migrants without proper legal documentation from their borders, relocating them back to Afghanistan. 

Nearly 1 million migrants have been deported in the past month alone according to estimates by Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni.  That’s around half of the 2 million Afghans currently residing in the country.  Iran’s government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani stated at the beginning of the relocation effort:

“We’ve always striven to be good hosts, but national security is a priority.” 

The deportations are a response to detrimental intelligence leaks and acts of sabotage within Iran during recent conflict with Israel.  Iranian authorities report the capture of a number of Afghan refugees involved in the transportation and piloting of drones, the gathering of sensitive intelligence and the planting of bombs.  They assert that migrants are easier for the Israelis to bribe.

In a well-publicized case, Iranian authorities in the city of Rey arrested an Afghan university student accusing him of links to the Mossad and alleging he was caught in possession of sensitive material on bomb-making, drone mechanics and surveillance operations. 

State television aired reports of arrested Afghan citizens “confessing” to being Israeli agents.  In one such report, broadcast on June 26, showed the questioning of several suspects, mostly Afghans, being accused of plotting to bomb a power station in southeast Tehran.

It is possible that the mass deportations represent nothing more than an effort to divert blame for Iranian intelligence failures onto a convenient scapegoat.  However, migrant groups have historically been easy targets for manipulation and conversion by foreign enemies and Iran’s caution is a logical response.  Open borders have long been used by intelligence agencies as a means to plant “sleeper agents” within nations they plan to go to war with.

For example, several Iranians have been recently apprehended trying to sneak across the US border, some of them with national security ties.  

The Taliban government has urged Iran to stop the exodus, calling for a gradual process instead.  Taliban officials say the dignity of the migrants must be respected, though, it is likely that the Afghan economy could be crippled by a surge of a million or more refugees in such a short span of time and the Taliban have limited means of humanitarian support.

Keep reading

Entire Board of CA English School for Afghan Migrants Resigns After $180 Million Fraud Report

The entire school board for a Sacramento school that teaches English to adult migrants resigned after a state audit revealed mismanagement, fraud, and illegal use of education funding.

The entire board of directors for Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools (HCCTS) resigned on Monday after a 171-page audit alleging massive fraud was released by the California State Auditor’s office.

The report found that the school took some $180 million in state education funding that it either never qualified for, or qualified for but misspent.

The school opened in 2014 to help adult migrants, especially Afghans, return to school to earn equivalent high school diplomas to allow better employment opportunities in the U.S., the Sacrament Bee reported

During Monday’s board meeting, the trustees first voted to remove board member Sonja Cameron for hiring her unqualified daughter to serve as Highlands’ Director of Attendance and Admissions, a position that pays a $145,860 annual salary, according to KXTV-TV.

However, on the tail of that vote, the remaining six board members immediately tendered their own resignations, with three of the six vowing to stay on until replacements can be arranged.

The auditor’s report alleged that the school board engaged in nepotism in hiring Cameron’s daughter, inflated the number of students to get more funding, purposefully avoided providing financial transparency reports to the state, spent money on repair bills for cars owned by board members, paid for luxury items such as food and travel, approved consulting contracts to friends and family members, modified test results, and committed a slew of other violations.

Some of the fraud concerned admissions to the school. The state charter only allows the school to admit migrants aged 22 and up and who don’t already have high school diplomas. However, the audit found that it was admitting students younger than the target age and also students who already had high school diplomas.

State officials allege these violations occurred to grow the school’s attendance numbers to boost the school’s state funding which was based on average daily attendance and the total number of students enrolled, the Sacrament Bee reported.

Keep reading

Afghan man, 45, ‘marries girl aged SIX before Taliban intervene… and say he must wait until she is NINE’

A six-year-old girl has allegedly been forced to marry a 45-year-old man in Afghanistan after she was given away for money.

The haunting photo of an older man and a little girl standing together horrified even the Taliban, who intervened with the union.

The youngster had allegedly been exchanged by her father for money to a man who already has two wives, it was reported by Amu.tv.

The marriage was allegedly set to take place on Friday in Helmand province but the Taliban stepped in and arrested both men involved.

No charges were brought against them but they have forced the creep to wait until the girl is nine before he can take her home, local media said.

UN Women reported last year that there has been a 25 per cent rise in child marriages in Afghanistan after the Taliban banned girls’ education in 2021. They also said there has been a 45 per cent increase in child bearing across the country.

In the same year as the Taliban came to power, after the US’ heavily criticised exit, a nine-year-old girl who was sold by her father to a 55-year-old man as a child bride was rescued by a charity.

Parwana Malik was sold for the equivalent of £1,600 in land, sheep and cash to a stranger named Qorban so her father Abdul Malik could pay for food. 

Keep reading

Afghan National Brought to US As a ‘Refugee’ by Biden Admin Pleads Guilty to Plotting Election Day Terror Attack in Oklahoma on Behalf of ISIS

A citizen of Afghanistan has pleaded guilty to federal charges that he was planning an election day terror attack in Oklahoma City.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, pleaded guilty on Friday to conspiring and attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization, and receiving, attempting to receive, and conspiring to receive firearms and ammunition in furtherance of a federal crime of terrorism.

Tawhedi was brought to the United States as a “refugee” in 2021 during the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

According to a press release from the Department of Justice, court documents state that “Tawhedi admitted that between June 2024 and October 2024 he conspired with at least one other individual to purchase two AK-47 rifles, 500 rounds of ammunition, and 10 magazines, with the intent to carry out a mass-casualty attack on or around Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, on behalf of ISIS. According to a criminal complaint affidavit filed in the case, Tawhedi communicated with an ISIS facilitator about his plan to purchase firearms for use in the terror plot, including asking the individual whether 500 rounds of ammunition would be sufficient.”

“Tawhedi and his co-conspirator, Abdullah Haji Zada, were arrested on Oct. 7, 2024, after purchasing the firearms and ammunition from an undercover FBI employee,” the press release continued. “Zada, 18, pleaded guilty in April 2025 to the firearms offense in connection with his role in the terror plot and is awaiting sentencing. Zada, who was 17 at the time of his arrest, entered his guilty plea as an adult and will be sentenced as an adult.”

Tawhedi faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the material support charge and up to 15 years in prison for the firearms charge. Zada faces up to 15 years in federal prison.

Following any prison sentences, both conspirators “will be permanently removed from the United States and barred from reentry under stipulated judicial orders of removal to Afghanistan.”

“By pledging allegiance to ISIS and plotting an attack against innocent Americans on Election Day, this defendant endangered lives and gravely betrayed the nation that gave him refuge,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Today’s guilty plea guarantees he will be held accountable, stripped of his immigration status, and permanently removed from the United States, and shows the Justice Department has zero tolerance for those who exploit our freedoms to spread violence.”

Keep reading

Warpig Lindsey Graham: A Russian Victory in Ukraine Will Be Worse than the Withdrawal of US Troops From Afghanistan

Warpig Lindsey Graham traveled to Ukraine this past weekend to pump up the hopes of the Ukrainian leader in the country’s ongoing war with Russia.

During his visit to Europe, Graham told reporters that a Russian victory in Ukraine would be worse than the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

Lindsey is getting desperate.

The globalist warmongers fear Trump’s work to bring peace to the region. The warmongers are shooting for World War III.

Senator Lindsey Graham: “The American withdrawal from Afghanistan was a terrible decision. It triggered the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It made America look weak in the eyes of the world. I told President Trump this privately, and now I’m telling him publicly: If this war ends as if we abandoned Ukraine, it will be even worse than leaving Afghanistan, and it will be a serious blow to global stability.”

Lindsey is a lunatic.

Keep reading

Hegseth Launches Special Task Force To Investigate Biden’s ‘Chaotic’ Afghanistan Withdrawal

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the creation of a special review panel on Tuesday to investigate the Biden administration’s “chaotic” 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal.

“President Trump and I have formally pledged full transparency for what transpired during our military withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Department of Defense has an obligation, both to the American people and to the warfighters who sacrificed their youth in Afghanistan, to get to the facts,” Hegseth wrote in an agency memo released on Tuesday.

In his directive, Hegseth disclosed that the Defense Department has been conducting “a review” throughout the past three months of what the secretary described as a “catastrophic event in our military’s history.” Based on the probe’s findings, Hegseth “concluded that we need to conduct a comprehensive review to ensure that accountability for this event is met and that the complete picture is provided to the American people.”

The memo tasks Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Senior Advisor Sean Parnell to “convene a Special Review Panel (SRP) for the Department who will thoroughly examine previous investigations.” As noted in a Defense Department press release, Parnell spent 485 days stationed in Afghanistan and was “wounded in action” along with many of his fellow soldiers.

According to the directive, the agency’s Parnell-led investigation will “include but [is] not limited to, findings of fact, sources, witnesses, and analyz[ing] the decision making that led to one of America’s darkest and deadliest international moments.”

“This team will ensure ACCOUNTABILITY to the American people and the warfighters of our great Nation,” Hegseth wrote.

As highlighted in the memo, the consequences stemming from the Biden-led withdrawal from Afghanistan were severe.

Keep reading

Ex-UK Special Forces break silence on ‘war crimes’ by colleagues

Former members of UK Special Forces have broken years of silence to give BBC Panorama eyewitness accounts of alleged war crimes committed by colleagues in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Giving their accounts publicly for the first time, the veterans described seeing members of the SAS murder unarmed people in their sleep and execute handcuffed detainees, including children.

“They handcuffed a young boy and shot him,” recalled one veteran who served with the SAS in Afghanistan. ”He was clearly a child, not even close to fighting age.”

Killing of detainees “became routine”, the veteran said. “They’d search someone, handcuff them, then shoot them”, before cutting off the plastic handcuffs used to restrain people and “planting a pistol” by the body, he said.

The new testimony includes allegations of war crimes stretching over more than a decade, far longer than the three years currently being examined by a judge-led public inquiry in the UK.

The SBS, the Royal Navy’s elite special forces regiment, is also implicated for the first time in the most serious allegations – executions of unarmed and wounded people.

A veteran who served with the SBS said some troops had a “mob mentality”, describing their behaviour on operations as “barbaric”.

“I saw the quietest guys switch, show serious psychopathic traits,” he said. “They were lawless. They felt untouchable.”

Special Forces were deployed to Afghanistan to protect British troops from Taliban fighters and bombmakers. The conflict was a deadly one for members of the UK’s armed forces – 457 lost their lives and thousands more were wounded.

Asked by the BBC about the new eyewitness testimony, the Ministry of Defence said that it was “fully committed” to supporting the ongoing public inquiry into the alleged war crimes and that it urged all veterans with relevant information to come forward. It said that it was “not appropriate for the MoD to comment on allegations” which may be in the inquiry’s scope.

Keep reading

Left Behind, Afghanistan Is Now An Environmental Hellhole

For over four decades, Afghanistan has been trapped in a relentless cycle of war and destruction.

While much of the world’s attention has focused on the political and security dimensions of this conflict, another crisis has unfolded — one that will haunt the country for generations. Afghanistan’s environment has suffered profound devastation, and the consequences for its people are dire.

From poisoned water sources to barren lands, the natural world has become another casualty of war, with the most vulnerable communities bearing the brunt of this catastrophe.

Every war in Afghanistan’s modern history has left an ecological footprint that will endure long after the last bullets have been fired. The use of depleted uranium munitions has left behind radioactive waste. The destruction of irrigation networks has crippled agriculture. Rising respiratory diseases and cancer rates, linked to exposure to hazardous materials, are only beginning to be understood.

Even back in 2017, reports indicated that many Afghans increasingly viewed toxic pollution as a graver threatthan the Taliban. And, all warring parties bear responsibility for this destruction.

According to Richard Bennett, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan, environmental degradation caused by war is a human rights issue that has been largely ignored. He argues that it must take center stage, as its implications are vast. Bennett is advocating for mechanisms to explore transitional justice, including possible reparations for the environmental impact on affected communities.

“The water, soil and air of Afghanistan are polluted due to decades of explosive substances that have not been cleaned up, affecting public health, particularly child health. All parties to the conflict are responsible,” he said. “While we have only scratched the surface, scientific research on the impact is starting to emerge.”

Leading these research efforts at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, Afghan scholar Dr. Haroun Rahimi is working alongside Bennett and U.N. Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights, Dr. Marcos Orellana, who is compiling a report for the U.N. General Assembly on the impact on populations of toxics after military interventions. In February, they co-hosted a webinar with the Environmental Law Institute in Washington D.C., aiming to push the crisis to the forefront of global discourse on Afghanistan.

Keep reading

DHS To Revoke Temporary Protected Status For Afghans, Cameroonians In US

Thousands of Afghans and Cameroonians living in the United States will have their temporary protected status (TPS) revoked in the coming months, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Monday.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has terminated TPS designations for Afghanistan and Cameroon as she determined that the countries’ current conditions no longer warrant protections, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.

As The Epoch Times’ Aldgra Fredly reports, the decision will affect about 14,600 Afghans, who are set to lose their legal status in May, and approximately 7,900 Cameroonians, whose protected status will expire by June.

McLaughlin stated that Noem decided to terminate Afghanistan’s TPS designation following a review by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which had also consulted with the State Department.

TPS is a designation that allows individuals from countries affected by armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary events the ability to remain in the United States.

Global Refuge, a U.S.-based nonprofit refugee resettlement agency, has condemned the DHS move to revoke protections for Afghan nationals and urged the government to reverse its course.

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, stated that Afghanistan has been facing a humanitarian crisis under Taliban rule, which seized power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of American troops from the country.

In a statement, Vignarajah called the decision to revoke protections for Afghans “a morally indefensible betrayal,” saying that the individuals could face oppression if deported to Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan today is still reeling from Taliban rule, economic collapse, and humanitarian disaster,” she said. 

“Forcing them back to Taliban rule, where they face systemic oppression and gender-based violence, would be an utterly unconscionable stain on our nation’s reputation.”

CASA—which organizes working-class black, Latino, African-descendant, Indigenous, and immigrant communities—said that ending TPS for Cameroonians would put them at “severe risk” due to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Central African nation.

Keep reading