In a useful column published in The Washington Times today, under the headline “Afghanistan is a Debacle—But You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” Edward Lozansky, president of American University in Moscow, points out that after “the failed U.S. foreign policy of perpetual wars'’ represented by the 20-year debacle in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden now has an opportunity to “rethink the global leadership paradigm.” Of course, one would never know that from the pessimistic picture of “doom and gloom” the mainstream media paints of the Afghan situation. But, he explains, that’s because the media, “with rare exceptions, are an essential part of the powerful lobby MICIMATT (the term coined by former CIA analyst Raymond McGovern…) that is actually in charge of this policy.” The choice is Biden’s to make, Lozansky warns. He can shift gears and “build on the strategic stability talks with Putin that would be beneficial for both nations and mankind or listen to MICIMATT, and jump from [the] Afghan to [the] Ukrainian debacle, this time threatening Armageddon.” Just after launching its anti-Russia “Crimea Platform'’ last week, a Ukrainian delegation is in Washington today, seeking political favors, more money, and more weapons to defend against the Russian “threat.”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/aug/30/afghanistan-debacle-you-aint-seen-nothing-yet/
Citing the Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs at Brown University, Lozansky offers stunning numbers on the results of 20 years of post 9/11 forever wars, with over 801,000 dead due to direct war violence, and “several times as many due to the reverberating effects of war; over 335,000 civilians killed as a result of fighting; 38 million—the number of war refugees and displaced persons. These horrific numbers do not include wounded, but they are usually several times higher than those who are killed.” Lozansky points to an April 12, 2021 Newsweek article, authored by William Arkin, which reports that in 20 years of fighting, there have been almost 11,000 American deaths (including contractors), and more than 53,000 “have been physically broken, while countless others suffer from traumatic brain injuries and other post-traumatic disorders.” He adds that these numbers account only for American numbers, so “imagine their magnitude on the world scale.” And Arkin makes this dramatic point: “After two decades of fighting, in fact, not one country in the Middle East—not one country in the world—can argue that it is safer than it was before 9/11. Every country that is now a part of the expanding battlefield of perpetual war is an even greater disaster zone than it was two decades ago.” (emphasis added)
