President Donald Trump shakes hands with Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley before addressing the troops at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.
Credit: Olivier Douliery / AFP/ Getty
Last week, the Washington Post published a massive set of documents on the protracted and still unsuccessful U.S. war in Afghanistan, a conflict that Samuel Moyn and Stephen Wertheim have aptly dubbed the “infinity war.”
While not quite as revelatory as the Vietnam-era Pentagon Papers, the release of these documents is still an important contribution to public understanding of U.S. national-security policy. In more normal times—without a looming impeachment, an endless parade of Trumpian distractions, and a congenitally irresponsible Republican Party—discovering that U.S. officials had obscured their doubts about the war and their recognition that U.S. strategy was failing might even prompt change of course.
To be clear, U.S. officials didn’t lie to the public so much as they misled them, largely by keeping their doubts hidden under a veil of government secrecy.
To be clear, U.S. officials didn’t lie to the public so much as they misled them, largely by keeping their […]
The Afghan war is about drug money just like Vietnam. Amazing as it may seem, there are the same players or sons of the same players involved. George Webb has been making the connections. See https://www.youtube.com/GeorgWebb and you will be amazed.
The US needs war to keep the military-industrial complex humming. If it wasn’t Afghanistan, it would be somewhere else. They need battle-hardened soldiers and officers, so they need a battle.