8/17/2021

Defeat in Afghanistan a complete humiliation for the US: Martin Jacques

 


Published: Aug 15, 2021 10:09 PM

The US is confronted with a historic defeat in Afghanistan at the hands of the Taliban. America's longest war, which began in 2001, is ending in complete humiliation. The Taliban has captured the countryside, every major city and now Kabul has effectively fallen. This is Saigon in 1975 all over again, except the US withdrawal from Vietnam took place in 1972 and its puppet government managed to survive another three years. America's puppet government in Kabul has fallen only four months after the announcement in April that the US would withdraw. It tells us that the Kabul government, and the American occupation, had only a tiny sliver of popular support: The condition for the former's survival was America's troops and airforce. In contrast, the Taliban clearly enjoys considerable backing amongst the people.

The last two decades have been disastrous for the US. The election of George W. Bush in 2000 was supposed to mark, according to its neo-conservative doctrine, the beginning of a new American century and the continuation of the US' unipolar moment following the end of the Cold War. Instead, it led to the humiliating defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan followed in 2008 by the worst financial crisis since 1931. By the time of Bush's departure in 2008, unipolarity was effectively dead and America's reputation for military prowess had been undermined. America is now widely seen as a superpower in rapid decline, a pale shadow of what it once was. Its defeat in Afghanistan will have major implications across the world; It brings into question the competence of its political and military leadership, its willingness to engage in further military entanglements, and its reliability and commitment as an ally. If it can make such a huge miscalculation and suffer such a catastrophic defeat in Afghanistan, then who is going to trust its judgement in East Asia, or the South China Sea.

Military power has been fundamental to America's global role since 1945. It played a key role in undermining the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

America has long believed that overweening military strength was the primary factor in enabling it to get its way in the world. That is why its military expenditure has been far greater than that of any other country.

The first great setback to this philosophy was Vietnam. Now we have the examples of Iraq and Afghanistan. In each of these cases, America enjoyed a massive military advantage, but in the circumstances, it proved entirely inadequate. The key was to win over the people and military superiority could not win hearts and minds, the contrary in fact.

The US, of course, is not alone in having failed to conquer Afghanistan. Down the ages many foreign powers have tried, including Britain and the Soviet Union.

There has been speculation in the West that perhaps China might try its hand next. The chances of China being so stupid are zero.

In fact, nothing better illustrates the fundamental difference between China and the US than their approach to Afghanistan.

The US sought to subdue the country overwhelmingly by force. It offered precious little else. There was no serious attempt to foster economic growth in a desperately poor country.

China's approach, in contrast, will be completely different. There will be no military involvement. The PLA will have no role. China, in the longer term, will attach the greatest importance to how it can assist in the economic development of the country, just as it has done in Africa, Latin America and South East Asia.

Development has been the calling card of China. It lies at the heart of the Belt and Road Initiative. The fact that China has been a developing country since 1949 gives it an understanding, and empathy with, the problems of the developing world. The US, as a rich society, has little comprehension of, or interest in, their problems.

China will have another overriding concern. While the US has spent 20 years waging a war in Afghanistan that has sown profound divisions and instability in a country and a region that is over 11,000 kilometres away, China's interest is the opposite. As a country that shares a border with Afghanistan, it will seek to bring stability to the country and to the wider region, not least because this also has implications for the situation in Xinjiang.

Above all, China understands that instability and war are the enemy of economic development.

The fundamental difference in the approach of China and the US has, of course, much deeper historical roots.

The credo of America ever since its birth has been expansion - across its own continent, the Pacific, and since 1945 across the whole world, with nearly 800 military bases in over 70 countries.

In contrast, China has no such history and has never regarded military power as paramount. While the US has pursued global expansion, China has prioritized its own stability and development.

The author was until recently a Senior Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University. He is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University and a Senior Fellow at the China Institute, Fudan University. He is the author of When China Rules the World.

Follow him on Twitter @martjacques opinion@globaltimes.com.cn 

Posted by LIPs

8/16/2021

US-Afghanistan War: It's Over!


The US-Puppet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan like a typical coward and devout crony of Western Hegemonic Imperialism.


The Taliban have entered the Afghan Presidential Palace and found it empty of people, treasures and valuable items. President Ghani has fled. He was nowhere to be found. He must have been in the first flight of the US embassy evacuation plane out of Kabul International Airport, direct to the US Oval Office to lick the boots of President Joke Biden.

Thousands of Afghans crowd Kabul International Airport after the Taliban entered Afghanistan Capital Kabul and seized control of the Presidential Palace and government buildings. Some of the Taliban leaders have been seen inside the Presidential Palace together with local leaders and senior police officials, surrounded by many bodyguards, military personnel and armed fighters.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who heads the Taliban’s political bureau, said in a brief video statement on Sunday that the real test of governing would begin with meeting the expectations of all Afghans and resolving their problems.

In just one day, the battle for Kabul is over. In just ten days, the Taliban Nationalist Forces have liberated the entire Afghanistan from the occupation, domination and control of the Evil US Empire together with Its European Axis of Evil.

The Taliban leaders immediately set to work by first calling for a Media Interview to address the journalists and reporters from the country’s seat of power on Sunday.

They entered the palace after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country amid the Taliban’s rapid advance, which saw its nationalist forces capture 26 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals in less than ten days.

The coward Ghani later wrote in a Facebook post that he fled to prevent further bloodshed (from his body).

“The Taliban have won with the judgement of their swords and guns, and are now responsible for the honour, property and self-preservation of their countrymen,” the coward US-puppet Ghani said with obvious ill intent.


Latest updates:

1. The Taliban have reconquered Afghanistan in a lightning surge 20 years after they were toppled by the US invasion.

They entered Kabul on Sunday, more than two weeks before the August 31 deadline set by Biden to complete the withdrawal of American troops from the country.

It was under US President Trump that the US brokered a deal with the Taliban in Doha in 2020 to allow US troops to withdraw by May 2021, in exchange for various security guarantees from the Taliban.

2. Former US president Donald Trump is quick to seize the opportunity to call for his successor Joe Biden to resign on Sunday over the swift takeover of Afghanistan by Taliban Nationalist Forces, as US troops withdrew from the country after nearly 20 years of occupation and building of a fake Democracy in Afghanistan.

“It is time for Joe Biden to resign in disgrace for what he has allowed to happen to Afghanistan,” Trump said in a statement.

3. Shafiq Hamdam, the ex-adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, slammed Ghani’s decision to flee Afghanistan on Sunday amid the Taliban’s rapid advance on Kabul.

“It’s shameful. It’s embarrassing. People feel abandoned, people feel betrayed,” Hamdam told Al Jazeera by phone from Washington DC.

4. Iran has reduced its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, leaving a skeleton staff at the embassy in Kabul.

5. Gunfire could be heard as night fell near the Kabul airport, where foreign diplomats, officials and other Afghans fled, to escape retribution or to seek greener pastures.

Hundreds of Afghans crowded in a part of the airport away from many of the evacuating Westerners. Some of them lined up for what was to be the last flight out of the country.

6. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as usual from his motherhood statements notebook, urged the “Taliban and all other parties to exercise utmost restraint.


LIPS At Your Service.

Indian Government Responsible for Suicide Bus Attack that Killed 9 Chinese



India's intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Afghanistan's intelligence agency National Directorate of Security (NDS) were behind the Dasu bus terror attack that killed nine Chinese nationals, according to a probe carried out into the incident, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Thursday.

The Chinese nationals were killed in a shuttle bus explosion in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on July 14 on their way to the China-invested Dasu hydropower project.

Further investigation by Pakistan is still ongoing, and China and Pakistan will follow the important consensus reached by the leaders of both sides, ascertain all the facts and truth, and hold the culprits accountable and bring them to justice, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

India's intelligence agency RAW was set up in September 1968 and is the biggest intelligence agency in South Asia. It conducts activities widely in Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and has been engaged in activities of sabotaging, assassinations and supporting dissidents with notorious reputations.

The smooth progress of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the achievements it has brought have worried India which do not want to see further development of China-Pakistan cooperation in areas such as politics, economy and security. To prevent further cooperation, India financially supports Pakistani terrorists to attack Chinese people involved in the China-Pakistan cooperation projects and undermine the relationship between the two countries.

In June 2020, four gunmen attacked the Pakistani stock exchange in Karachi, and the Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility afterwards. Pakistan's national security advisor then accused India's intelligence agency of orchestrating the terror attack. 

LIPS

8/15/2021

Covid19 - NUSS changing room/toilet designated only for vaccinated users

a close up of a sign



Singapore — After a photo from the National University of Singapore Society (NUSS) showing a sign that a certain changing room/toilet was designated only for vaccinated users was spread online and via WhatsApp, NUSS issued a statement on its Facebook page on Aug 11 to clarify the matter.

The Society said that in its three clubhouses, which include sports facilities and eateries, it sees to it that government regulations, directives, and guidelines are strictly complied with.

These regulations include those regarding safety measures for managing the Covid pandemic, and for sports facilities, these come from Sport Singapore.

NUSS cited the guidelines from Sport Singapore from Aug 7, which directed that “Enterprises will also have to ensure that vaccinated individuals who participate in such activities do not mix with other users for the entire time they are within the facility (including in common areas such as changing rooms and toilets).”

Therefore, the designation from NUSS of certain bathrooms and changing rooms for vaccinated and unvaccinated people “is in compliance with this guidance.”

 

The above is quoted from theindependent.sg. After being accused of discrimination against unvaccinated people and preventing them from using changing room/toilet, not sure if there were other toilets/changing rooms available for the unvaccinated nearby, NUSS has quoted a ruling by Sport Singapore to justify what it has done. 

What kind of revere status does Sport Singapore, with due respect, have for NUSS to carry out Sport Singapore as the authority on this matter? NUSS is not your ordinary society, not an Ah Beng or Pasar Malam society, it is the crucible of Singapore's intelligentsia where many of the island's top brains rubbed shoulders with each other and called it their exclusive club.

Would it be more appropriate to quote something from the govt or the MTF other than Sport Singapore? Is there any other organisation or govt ministry practising the same discrimination? 

NUSS act is in compliance with the guidelines of Sport Singapore! Wow! Good thinking. Good justification. Hope and pray the MTF or the govt did not come out and say they did not approve of it.

Who authorised Sport Singapore to come up with such a regulation? Singapore govt or the MTF? What if the Singapore govt or MTF denies such authorisation or disapproves of it?

What is the govt and MTF's position on this? 

Goh Meng Seng posted this in TRE.

'PAP has ignited this crazy outburst of discrimination and disrespectful acts against the Unvaccinated, dividing the people and creating an upheaval of social spats amongst us.

It is not a Gov of Unity but instead a Gov of spiteful, vindictive and hateful discriminations.'