Casualties in the 17-year US war effort in Afghanistan is higher now than any time since 2009. Former marine and state department official Matthew Hoh says that there still is no end in sight.
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This is not a US – led war. It is a war crime. An aggressive war is a war crime per Nuremberg definition, that means every war that is not a defensive war (to defend your country when being invaded or bombed by another country) is a war crime. That means the war against Afghanistan is a war crime by definition, because Afghanistan did not invade the USA. It is very important to use the correct wording, because blurring the line between war and a war crime is the 1st and most important step of the war propaganda machine.
Can we please stop calling this a "war?" It isn't and has never been! It's an illegal U.S. invasion and an illegal occupation. It's not a war!
Where are the leaders like George Kennan calling for a fundamental shift in policy? I’m not a Bernie Sanders fan, but I probably would have voted for him because he has been so consistently opposed to foreign involvement since he has been a senator.
The US cannot continue to sponsor covert wars by reinforcing rifts in countries and providing firepower to one side to slaughter the other.
appreciate the honesty of a veteran, an insider who knows what is really going on; all the political B.S., the corruption, the profiting off of wars; serial liars in charge who claim this war is winnable; a massive waste of American lives and resources
The US is a National Security State, whose Economy is dependent on interminal War. Each year the US spends $One Trillion on Defence — this keeps over 50 large Corporations in business. The US National Security State has a propaganda machine which attunes the US public to agree to this cycle of never-ending War. If this stopped it would be like taking $One Trillion out of the US Economy, causing the Military Industrial Complex to collapse. Each year the US Debt increases by $One Trillion (and the US pays half a Trillion Dollars yearly as interest on the Debt). This means many thousands dead each year so that this War Machine can continue. It may well be best to let it continue (it cannot stop anyway). The best hope of Peace is collapse of the $US and its economy. The recent Crash on Wall Street, and resultant instability, could be a sign that this is not too far away. Until the $US collapses none of us has a chance.
So again innocents killed and yet Trump uses Russia's legal capturing of Ukraine vessels wherein there were No deaths to avoid diplomacy talks with Russia. The Neocons are still in control.
I'm Swiss, if you bring your army to my country, I will fight you to the death. No questions asked, no warning shot, you come in arms & uninvited, I'll try to kill you with whatever means I got.
But come in peace, as a friend and you will be welcomed with smiles and sit at the head of the table as an honoured guest.
Those Afghans that fight you are patriots and deserve your respect, they certainly have mine. These things are really extremely simple and straightforward. If Americans fail to understand the basic rules of that game, the fault is theirs and they have no right to complain about anything they suffer from their failure to understand that no one has installed them as the rulers or policemen of this world or its people.
YOU ARE NOT THE GOOD GUYS! You are the murderers of the innocent, the destroyers of homes, the enemy of peace and justice.
That is not an "antiamerican" rant, this is the cold hard truth, clear as sunlight to everyone except you.
The American people are related through kinship, actual bonds of blood with the people from every nation on this planet, when will you start to act like the family members of us all that you are? Don't lend your ears to the hate and fearmongers that tell you your fellow man is your enemy. Instead join forces, for fruitfull collaboration, with your brothers and sisters on each of the five continents, don't believe anyone that says your culture is trash and that you are not good enough to share in to one great celebration of love and happiness! Tell your stories, as we tell ours, laugh, dance and sing with us all and we will reap the fruits of peace together, that is the ONLY HOPE FOR OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE!
Amen
Thank you, Matthew. You are a role model
I love Matthew Hoh. He's such a great dude… and he loves the Afghan people.
But but Hillary Clinton said the problem is the Refugees 🤔😠
We are there for their poppy fields and we covet their rare earth opportunities. IMHO
How to stop it, simple, CIA /MI5 must stop funding and arming THEIR Taliban because they STILL ARE to keep the world filled into believing their lie that the US and its allies are there for 'humanitarian' reasons. THAT IS THE REASON WHY THIS FAKE WAR HAS NOT ENDED
I treat (as a therapist) veterans who have been on 12+ tours, they feel the war has no meaning and are suffering, and their fellow comrades are not being acknowledged. It is about profit and we are losing to many. This needs to stop.
Great show, thanks! Ugly story we need to hear.
History is foretelling. it never ends well in Afghanistan. Ever hear of Constantine? Alexander the Great? Leonid Brezhnev & Mikhail Gorbachev? Donald Trump?
OMG Exactly what I say, bring back the draft! You stop the war by sending in a senator's son or grandson of CEO! (no deferments for flat feet!)
all foreigners and collaborators who die in Afghanistan are in Hell. all those defending Afghanistan or innocent civilians killed InshAllah are in Paradise.
Opioids. That’s why. The key ingredients for our must profitable legal/illegal drugs is there. Follow the money. American interests….
It looks like my country, the US of A, is pushing real hard to start a war with a country that CAN fight back. It ain't gonna be no Afghans or Kooreans folks. It will not be a Mai lai baby killer or Seal team 6 throat cutter. Dead men have no throat to cut.
America spreading democracy. The Taliban never did this. Whether the Taliban is in power or not, it is not America's business. This is no different than what America has done in South America for centuries. We are witnessing what America's intervention into South America has done to the people. Like in South America and in Vietnam, it is about drugs and/or oil. The poppy crop has gone from hundreds of tons per yer under the Afghani to thousand of tons per year under the American occupation. As always spreading American democracy is about money.
If our military had not invaded their country, they could not attack them. What would America do to Afghan soldiers who invade America? One of the reasons for mutiny in Vietnam was because of the draft. People were forced to go that did not want to go. One of the reason for taking out the soldiers and recycling them back is because there is a fear as to what they will if allowed to stay home. How many McVeighs are there? has already been reported that in Iraq, soldiers are refusing to fight. Because soldiers are not making it known, the military cannot get the total picture on what the soldiers are really doing when they go out on a mission.
It is another Yankie go home time. Murder is murder.
That Taliban cannot be insurgents. This is their own country. The indigenous cannot be insurgents. Insurgents are outsiders who have entered another country (insurge). Usually insurgents are have invaded with overthrow of government in mind. They will often follow by putting in place a government to their liking.
Thanks TRNN , for reminding us of the on going plight of the people of Afghanistan where both war and starvation is devastating the nation , keep up the good work .
Great insights. Thanks for articulating the view from the inside.
I have found it difficult to get those who experienced the conflict first hand to say anything other than "It was Hell".
Iran killing because trump cancel the deal
Should have hit them harder the first time around.
War is a racket, and every bomb increases shareholder value.
I'm so god damn sick of wars! America needs a military coup d'etat!
Afghanistan has turned into our military's weapons research proving grounds.
All the ruined lives everywhere. . . . . .
When Taliban gained power, it eliminated 95% of the rampant Afghanistan opium-heroin trade. After the US invaded, allied to the old Afghan Communists and northern Tajik tribes, opium-heroin production soared to record levels 500% since 2001. Today, US-occupied Afghanistan is the world’s largest producer of opium, morphine and heroin.
Professional Killers!
Afghanistan there, a valiant, fiercely-independent people, the Pashtun (Pathan) mountain tribes, have battled the full might of the US Empire to a stalemate that has so far cost American taxpayers $4+trillion, and 2,371+ dead and 20,320 +wounded soldiers. No one knows how many Afghans have died. The number is kept secret.
Pashtun tribesmen in the Taliban alliance and their allies are fighting to oust ALL foreign troops from Afghanistan and evict the western-imposed and backed puppet regime in Kabul that pretends to be the nation’s legitimate government. Withdraw foreign troops and the Kabul regime would last for only days.
Pull out now!!! End the war immediately & make concessions with the Taliban to end the onslaught.
And the war continues.
How many us soldiers killed so far to revenge 3000 life how many need to die
So US troops get the word "killed" in the title, but the civilians get the word "die?" As if the civilians WEREN'T specifically being targeted. Use the word "killed" next time, these people didn't die of natural causes.