I’ve written about Afghanistan a lot lately. It’s on a lot of minds but I couldn’t figure out why our failure has wounded me so deeply.
Then I wrote this op-ed and it hit me. The funny thing about writing is that it opens up an author’s subconscious. Sometimes I write and write and write, and then my true feelings are revealed. Those buried issues come creeping out and surprise even myself.
The way our leaders rushed into Afghanistan with no clear strategy allowed corruption and greed to take the reins. Oil, rare earth mining, and opium fields in the area became “our business” unchecked.
From an outsider’s perspective America swooped in and abused the area and its people like a destructive parent, then abandoned it once we sucked it dry. The opioid crisis, power struggle with China, and uncertain gas industry were all drawn from this if not born from it.
Now that Afghanistan is no longer useful to us, we’ve cast it aside the way an abusive parent does when their child grows too old to be taken advantage of.
This parallel wasn’t something I just conjured up. I know it well. My father could be the most charming person at a party, but at home he was a monster. Once my sister and I were old enough to realize just how wrong his behavior was he didn’t want the burden of our dependency and threw us out when we started fighting back.
Maybe I’ve taken the analogy too far. Maybe I will never escape the shadow of my past.
Honestly I don’t want to be my father or support anyone or anything that behaves like him. I recognize our grave mistakes and the need for this country to atone. Because everyone is deserving of forgiveness, even countries.
The United States has the opportunity to do better. We can support Amrullah Saleh and the people who remain to fight the Taliban.
I’ve been told that it’s not our business. That we’ve done all we can, and even that the women there are better off now because at least they’re not “wage slaves” like women in this country, and at least they get to stay at home with their children.
A 3 year old was beaten for being American in Afghanistan yesterday. A dead body was flown around hanging from one of the black-hawk helicopters that WE left. A known folk singer was shot in the head for refusing to stop playing music in public because it has been OUTLAWED under sharia law.
Here are some more stories of what people are experiencing in Afghanistan:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/daughter-describes-watching-taliban-beat-163449213.html
https://www.the-sun.com/news/3587066/taliban-death-squads-porn-sites-prostitutes/
https://news.yahoo.com/taliban-soldiers-door-executions-110701194.html
These are not “cultural differences” that we need to accept, as some have also told me. Yes, my “western” perspective is biased in favor of freedoms like having the ability to walk down the street without being covered from head to toe, or knowing how to read to my children.
But the mainstream media is napping. They’re licking Biden’s asshole and pretending that this is some international tragedy that had NO WAY of being prevented.
Uhh… it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that you never pull out your soldiers FIRST. Or in waves. You get the civilians out, then most equipment and weapons out, then you pull every single soldier en masse (if you’re not planning to leave some troops behind just in case).
I don’t care if you voted red, blue, purple, or pink, we have no leader. We have no credibility. And honestly at this point, I fear we no longer have a country.
Which is convenient for the Taliban and everyone wishing to destroy “capitalism” “western nationalism” “imperialism” and all the other isms that allowed the American people to have more rights and freedoms than any other people on the fucking planet.
Now here we are. Another op-ed on the situation. And in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, no less. But for some reason everything I write just seems useless. And it will remain so unless YOU call, write, and bang on every damn elitist politician’s door you can find. We have the ability to right this wrong and live up to our ideals. The question is will we get off our asses, stop posting online, and do anything in the real world?
Jessica Marie Baumgartner 