How the Pentagon Leaned on Hollywood to Sell the War in Afghanistan

In hundreds of films and TV shows, every single word and image has been closely scrutinized and signed off on by senior military figures, all in an effort to convince viewers into supporting deadly and grossly immoral campaigns around the world.

Alan Macleod
By Alan Macleod

The (official) 20-year U.S. occupation of Afghanistan has come to a close, with the military beating a hasty and ignominious retreat. The puppet Afghan government NATO installed lasted fewer than two weeks on its own, with President Ashraf Ghani fleeing for the UAE, allegedly with around $169 million in cash. If the occupation was so unpopular

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War Is a Racket: Ex-State Department Official Matthew Hoh Speaks Out

The U.S. was and is effectively taking part in the established drug trade by backing drug lords in Afghanistan.

Lowkey
By Lowkey

What was the Afghanistan War all about? That is the question on many people’s lips after a devastating 20-year campaign that has killed an estimated 176,000 people and displaced nearly 6 million more. Today, Watchdog host Lowkey is joined by a man who knows the war from both inside and out. Matthew Hoh was at the forefront of the American

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How the US Trained the Afghan Mujahideen To Produce War Propaganda

Behind The Headlines’ Dan Cohen explains a little known effort to train Afghan Islamic fundamentalists in propaganda, and how that effort created a blueprint for the White Helmets in Syria.

Dan Cohen
By Dan Cohen
Afghan War Propaganda Feature photo

By now, everyone knows about the White Helmets – the State Department’s propaganda operation to manufacture consent for the U.S.’s dirty war on Syria. But long before the White Helmets were the Afghan mujahideen. Quick review: The White Helmets were presented as laudable rescue teams who operated in opposition-held territory in Syria. They

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On Propaganda and Failed Narratives: New Understanding of Afghanistan is a Must

US-Western propaganda, which has afflicted our collective understanding of Afghanistan for twenty years and counting, has been so overpowering to the point that we are left without the slightest understanding of the dynamics that led to the Taliban’s swift takeover.

Ramzy Baroud
By Ramzy Baroud
US Afghanistan Feature photo

For twenty years, two dominant narratives have shaped our view of the illegal US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, and neither one of these narratives would readily accept the use of such terms as ‘illegal’, ‘invasion’ and ‘occupation.’ The framing of the US ‘military intervention’ in Afghanistan, starting on October 7, 2001, as the

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Chris Hedges: The Empire Does Not Forgive

The Americans, like the British and the Soviets before them, dug their own graveyard in Afghanistan.

Chris Hedges
By Chris Hedges
US Empire Feature photo

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY (Scheerpost) —The Carthaginian general Hannibal, who came close to defeating the Roman Republic in the Second Punic War, committed suicide in 181 BC in exile as Roman soldiers closed in on his residence in the Bithynian village of Libyssa, now modern-day Turkey. It had been more than thirty years since he led his army across

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Did the US Support the Growth of ISIS-K in Afghanistan?

Regional players have long accused the US of supporting the group with midnight helicopter transport into Afghanistan.

Alexander Rubinstein
By Alexander Rubinstein
ISIS-k Feature Photo

WASHINGTON (Substack // Alex Rubinstein) — The list of governments, former government officials, and organizations in the region that have accused the US of supporting ISIS-K is expansive and includes the Russian government, the Iranian government, Syrian government media, Hezbollah, an Iraqi state-sponsored military outfit and even former Afghan

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