by POLLY MANN
Peace does not come easily – unfortunately for the Afghan people, who continue to suffer.
The Long War and Its Aftermath – Afghanistan
To hear Western analysts, it might appear that the 20-year war on Afghanistan waged by the U.S. and its allies was a benign and beneficial effort to modernize the country, liberate Afghan women, and provide health care, education, and good jobs for the Afghan people, and that all this has been swept away by capitulation to the Taliban. But the truth is that the U.S. spent $2.26 trillion on the war and the bulk of this sum went to maintaining the U.S. military occupation, dropping over 80,000 bombs and missiles on Afghans, paying private contractors, and transporting troops, weapons, and military equipment back and forth for 20 years.
Under pressure from the Biden administration, $460 million in funds allocated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that were scheduled to be sent to Afghanistan have been cancelled. The U.S. and other Western nations have also halted humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. After chairing a 67-nation summit on Afghanistan in August, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that withholding aid and recognition provided sufficient leverage – “economic, political and diplomatic” – to affect Taliban policy.
Peace does not come easily – unfortunately for the Afghan people, who continue to suffer.
The U.S. war on Afghanistan has often been referred to as “the longest war,” but, in fact, Korea is the longest war. Although hostilities supposedly ended in 1953, a peace treaty was never signed to officially end the Korean War. Today, the U.S. maintains a military force of 28,500 personnel at bases in South Korea, as well as weaponry on land, air, and naval warships. The U.S. has also installed the THADD missile “defense” weapon system* in South Korea, which is regarded as a potentially offensive system by China. In addition, on the basis that North Korea has an arsenal of nuclear weapons, the U.S. has been leading a war of economic sanctions against North Korea, which impacts basic human needs of ordinary Koreans.
PM: Korea – The Longer War and Its Continuation
The San Francisco Chronicle of October 1st ran an interesting story about Kim Jong Un, the present-day leader of North Korea, and his nation’s newly developed anti-aircraft missile, which was fired in the fourth round of missile tests conducted within six months. At the same time, Kim has been pushing to renew conditional talks with Seoul, expressing his willingness to hold communication with South Korea.
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