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Afghanistan
SIGAR: US officials have ‘routinely’ lied over Afghan war
2020-01-17
[KhaamaPress] John Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) told US Congress on Wednesday that US officials have ’routinely lied’ to the public with exaggerating reports on the Afghan war. Sopko was summoned by the US Congress to talk about the ’Afghanpapers’ recently published by America’s Washington Post.

"There’s an odor of mendacity throughout the Afghanistan issue. . . mendacity and hubris," Sopko said in testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "The problem is there is a disincentive, really, to tell the truth. We have created an incentive to almost require people to lie."
Have y’all lied to President Trump?
As an example, he said that US officials have lied in the past about the number of Afghan children enrolled in schools ‐ a key marker of progress touted by the B.O. regime ‐ even though they "knew the data was bad."
Ah yes, the previous president.
Sopko cited a 2014 agency newsletter, where the then-USAID administrator stated: "Today, 3 million girls and 5 million boys are enrolled in school‐compared to just 900,000 when the Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
 ruled Afghanistan," he said.

The US sent personnel into Afghanistan who did not know the difference between al-Qaeda and Taliban and who lacked any substantive knowledge of Afghan society, Sopko said.
The key is that they learned what they needed to know once they arrived, and passed their learnings on to those who followed — that’s the American way of war.
He also said that the abuses committed by coalition-aligned warlords drove many Afghans into the arms of the resurgent Taliban.
And the abuses of the other-aligned warlords — where did they drive the remaining Afghans?
"For all the lives and treasure the US and coalition partners have expended in Afghanistan, and for Afghans themselves who have suffered the most from decades of violence, the very least we can do is to learn from our successes and failures," he said.
A safe statement...
"Oversight is mission-critical to any successful reconstruction and development program in Afghanistan," he added.

He said that in the future, "we need to recognize vital importance of addressing corruption from outset. This means taking into account the amount of assistance the host country can absorb and ensuring that agencies can more effectively monitor assistance."
Yes, along with recognizing that Third World cultures are corrupt — that’s why they aren’t First World.
"While honesty and transparency are always important, when government agencies overstate the positive and overlook flaws in their methodologies or accountability mechanisms, it has real public policy implications," he said.

On peace, Spoko said: "We know that a stronger Afghan economy is necessary to last peace and stability, and, without it, US reconstruction efforts are largely unsustainable."
That seems backwards, somehow...
Related:
John Sopko: 2019-12-28 ANA Not Meeting Target Enlistment Numbers: MoD
John Sopko: 2019-12-11 The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History Of The War. U.S. officials constantly said they were making progress. They were not, and they knew it, states a confidential trove of government documents.
John Sopko: 2019-03-29 Afghan peace would bring its own risks to reconstruction: US watchdog
Posted by:trailing wife

#17  Shoulda cut off the head but left the Ba'athists in power. Re Afgh, maybe a few punitive strikes but not wise to put a massive forward presence there. Avoid land wars in Asia.
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-17 19:28  

#16  Shoulda cut off the head but left the Ba'athists in power.
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-17 19:27  

#15   Germany & Japan are nations with history & culture. You didn't build nations there - you just changed their directions.

Plus, we sat on them for a while to make sure they got the idea - something we didn't do in tribal Iraq. Not that I'm saying we should have...

The fundamental question here is what to do about regions like Afghanistan, places that might be referred to, for a number of reasons, as 'shitholes'. If you are one of those people who read "The End of History" and believed it, then turning them into western-style democracies is the way to go. Hint: it isn't.

Globalization is all about flow - flows of goods, money, people, diseases and culture. And jihadis. I'm personally willing to let people stew in their own cultural juices for however long. (By the way, how's that Islamic Revolution going for you, Iranian dudes?) But once it starts getting exported, it becomes everyone's problem.

Nuking them from orbit would provide at least a short-term solution and maybe an example for the next guys, but I can see why some might object to this sort of thing. Short of encasing them in a giant transparent bubble, I'm not sure what to do.
Posted by: SteveS   2020-01-17 18:55  

#14  #10 Germany & Japan are nations with history & culture. You didn't build nations there - you just changed their directions.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB   2020-01-17 12:13  

#13  Three Cups of Tea !!
and Sympathy
Climate Justice For Afghan Girls-- who can code!!
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-17 10:24  

#12  That's because we went for their utter defeat to end WWII, instead of this stupid don't-hurt-their-feewings crap in Afghanistan. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara   2020-01-17 10:04  

#11  "One c would be forgiven right for thinking the US govt was filled with drama queens"

FTFY, #1 S.S.- no charge. :-D
Posted by: Barbara   2020-01-17 09:59  

#10  where there is no foundation for it.
Seems like with enough rubble one can build a good foundation (see, e.g., Japan, Germany.)
Posted by: Glenmore   2020-01-17 09:52  

#9   the very least we can do is to learn from our successes and failures

Like don't waste your resources and lives trying to 'nation build' where there is no foundation for it.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2020-01-17 09:48  

#8  I have a mental picture of Burl every time I hear someone drop the phrase big data. BIG DATA's GONNA LIVE!!
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-17 09:02  

#7  Ref #2: 'Big Daddy'.... Mound Church and Cemetery near Willow Hill, Illinois.
Posted by: Besoeker   2020-01-17 08:28  

#6  #3 I've felt that way all along.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2020-01-17 08:25  

#5  Check is in the mail not my kid trust me I love you they started it I am not a crook
Posted by: Thusogum Slomosing3775   2020-01-17 08:13  

#4  Quarantine? How about fumigation? More effective, lasts longer.
Posted by: Andy Glolurt4639   2020-01-17 07:40  

#3  Wouldn't a quarantine around islam infected areas be much cheaper and safer?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2020-01-17 06:41  

#2  MENDACITY!!
Posted by: Lex   2020-01-17 01:36  

#1  "There’s an odor of mendacity throughout the Afghanistan issue. . . mendacity and hubris,"

Does mendacity smell different than hubris? And is the stench better or worse than Gwennie Paltrow's poozle candle? One could be forgiven for thinking the US govt was filled with drama queens.
Posted by: SteveS   2020-01-17 01:15  

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