The news over the past week was dominated primarily by four stories: the continued COVID-19 crisis in southern U.S. states, the departure of American troops from Afghanistan, a massive and deadly earthquake in Haiti and the return of football as the NFL preseason kicked off.
Things are bad in Florida with the Delta variant causing COVID-19 to spread everywhere across the state it seems.
As Florida Governor Ron DeSantis continues his b.s. tour of blaming everyone and everything for the virus instead of encouraging preventative measures, folks are fact-checking him in real time:
Of course, the first point of mitigating spread is so folks don't get sick and die. The other main reason is to protect the healthcare system. There are so few hospital and ICU beds in the south that it is scary. Don't forget it's hurricane season too...
America's war in Afghanistan is 20 years old, which is about 20 years longer than we ever needed to be there in the first place. The Biden administration announced a final troop pullout back in April and it began in earnest a couple weeks ago. Now the country is in shambles and the Afghan National Army (ANA) just gave up and surrendered to the Taliban. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani took off and fled the country, signaling a collapse of the official government. There sure is a lot of unpack here:
1. The end result of the Taliban retaking power was inevitable. Why was American intelligence so poor that military officials believed it would take months - instead of days - for this to occur?
2. Why did 20 years of U.S. military training, huge supplies of state-of-the-art weapons and infusions of monthly payments fail to produce a strong ANA? This is rhetorical, but I will answer it anyway: because you can't impose your own beliefs about democracy and the will to fight on other people (and nations). The individuals have to believe in the cause and do so without fear. Also, you can't beat guerrilla (or tribal) warfare. See Viet Cong.
3. Why were U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan in the first place? The 9/11 terrorist attacks, of course. Why have U.S. forces stayed in the region so long after allies left? No exit plan (see Bush/Cheney), a fear of military failure, a desire for nation building, a patriotic belief that it is America's job to "fix everything" and "help everyone." That last part isn't a dig, by the way. I am proud so many nation's around the world respect America, our wealth and especially our military might. Still, hard power can't always fix everything.
4. Why did the Trump administration - especially Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - so ardently believe the Taliban were worthy partners in peace and were negotiating in good faith? Why did the Biden administration keep Trump's draw-down deadline?
President Biden is now sending more troops in to Afghanistan to rescue Americans and the Afghan partners who have helped us all these years. I hope they all get out safely and that the evacuations occur quickly. One thing to note: the Taliban knows not to engage with U.S. troops. They certainly live in the stone age, but they are not so stupid as to know that engaging with American military will mean certain - and massive - retaliation against them.
A final thought, er, question on Afghanistan: of those who believe leaving the region at this time was the wrong decision, then when was the right time to go? Another year? Decade? Never?
Poor Haiti, man. A decade ago the country was just about destroyed by a big earthquake. Earlier this week, another massive quake hit the island. Over 700 are confirmed dead now and more certainly will be in the coming days.
Football (the NFL kind) is back! I watched my Bengals against the Buccaneers last night in preseason play. The Bengals won, edging out the current Super Bowl champs! Of course, Bengals QB Joe Burrow didn't take any snaps - he is still recovering from a massive knee injury - but the rest of the team looked really promising. Oh and this happened at a different game - people are nuts:
And since we're on football, I leave you with this:
Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 12:01AM 