Afghanistan – US Relations of the Past Four Decades & What the Future Holds -From an Afghani Perspective
When it comes to trying to understand Afghanistan and US foreign policy options, we are presented with an ahistorical false dichotomy between supporting or not supporting the Taliban government. Our show details how our foreign policy is what is responsible for the very dilemma we claim to be morally concerned about. Learn how we largely created the Taliban as well as the Islamic fundamentalist Mujahadeen which generated Osama Bin Laden, ultimately 9-11 and absolute misery for 40 million Afghanis as byproducts of four decades plus of US foreign policy.
When history and its lessons are wiped off the map the map becomes unable to help us understand the truth of Afghanistan. Our guest Basir Bita barely escaped Kabul just a month following the US withdrawal. He lived in Afghanistan the last 18 years and is in daily communication with family and friends. Basir worked for development projects, civil society organizations, and international institutions including USAID, British Development Agency, and the Australian Development Agency and describes the desperate situation that we created in Afghanistan from firsthand knowledge.
Following 20 years of war and occupation and our recent August withdrawal the US froze nearly $10B in assets belonging to the Afghan Central Bank. The IMF and World Bank, where the US exerts great influence, tightened the screws as well as the IMF froze distribution of $450m while the World Bank held back hundreds of millions from the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund. Meanwhile, Afghan teachers have gone without pay since June and hospitals are closing.
The cost of War to our veterans and Afghanis and the cost to US taxpayers is reviewed as are the Afghan Papers that reveal that we have always known this war is unwinnable and once again have been systematically lied to by our government and the mainstream media. Yet the war has been profitable to some and therefore has persisted. Now, we as US taxpayers should be held accountable for fixing what our foreign policy has broken, but instead current US foreign policy make life even more unlivable for the majority of Afghans. Listen in and learn real US foreign policy outcomes and Afghan history, as Basir also describes the current political environment and a path forward to help alleviate rather than exacerbate one of the greatest humanitarian disasters in the world today. Don’t be Late! If you care….