After 18 Years of US Occupation, Poll Finds Zero Percent of Afghans Thriving, 85 Percent “Suffering”

Since the 2001 occupation of Afghanistan began, fighting has not stopped, destroying the country and leading to the U.S. spending an estimated $2 trillion on the war.

Alan Macleod
By Alan Macleod
Afghanistan Poll Feature photo

American polling firm Gallup has found that Afghans are the saddest people on earth, finding that nearly nine in ten respondents are “suffering,” in their own words, with zero percent claiming that they are currently “thriving.” When asked to rate their life out of a score of ten, Afghans gave an average answer of 2.7, a record low for any country

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The Real Lesson of Afghanistan? Regime Change Does Not Work

The debacle in Afghanistan is only one case in a fundamentally flawed U.S. policy with worldwide consequences. New quasi-governments installed by U.S. “regime change” in country after country have proven more corrupt, less legitimate and less able to control their nation’s territory than the ones the U.S. has destroyed.

Medea Benjamin
By Medea Benjamin
Afghanistan Feature photo

The trove of U.S. “Lessons Learned” documents on Afghanistan published by the Washington Post portrays, in excruciating detail, the anatomy of a failed policy, scandalously hidden from the public for 18 years. The “Lessons Learned” papers, however, are based on the premise that the U.S. and its allies will keep intervening militarily in other

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Trump’s Taliban Talks Led by Neocon Operation Cyclone Agent & PNAC Member

U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, the top American official in the negotiations, has been quietly overseeing the destruction of Afghanistan for most of his political career — longer than the Taliban has existed as an organization.

Alexander Rubinstein
By Alexander Rubinstein
Zalmay Khalilzad Feature photo

National Security Advisor John Bolton’s firing may be the 9/11 anniversary gift the war-weary American public wanted, but the support he received from the establishment demonstrates that the war machine is much greater than one man.  Bolton, the neoconservative movement’s standard bearer in the Trump administration, took up a crusade against

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US & Its Afghan Trainees Now Killing More Civilians than the Taliban

The Trump administration has increasingly relied on bombing missions in an attempt to turn the tide in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has been able to gain more and more land under its control in recent years.

Alexander Rubinstein
By Alexander Rubinstein
Afghanistan | civilian casualties

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN -- For the first time in recorded history, the U.S. and the Afghan government, whose forces are trained by Americans, killed more civilians than did the Taliban in the first quarter of 2019, according to a United Nations report. Increased bombing campaigns by the U.S. and increasingly reckless search operations by pro-government

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American Wars Are off the Charts Under Donald Trump

He’s failed to deliver his promised withdrawals from Afghanistan and Syria, vetoed an order to get out of Yemen, and expanded the U.S. bombing of Somalia, all while eyeing Iran.

Tom Engelhardt
By Tom Engelhardt
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence greet military personnel during a visit to the Pentagon, July 20, 2017. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Here’s a statement it might be hard to disagree with: American war is off the charts. Still, I’d like to explain — but I’m nervous about doing so. I know perfectly well that the next word I plan to write will send most of you tumbling elsewhere in a universe in which “news” is the latest grotesque mass shooting; the craziest tweet from

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U.S. to International Criminal Court: We Will Break Your Legs

If the ICC begins and is allowed to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the West, the entire twisted concept of the U.S. and Europe being pioneers of freedom and democracy could easily and quickly collapse.

Andre Vltchek
By Andre Vltchek
Mike Pompeo

Well, not exactly like that, but in a way, yes. Now, finally, ‘the gloves are off’. The U.S. is openly threatening the historically timid ICC (International Criminal Court) and its judges. And unexpectedly, the ICC is hitting back. It refuses to shut up, to kneel, and to beg for mercy. Suddenly, even the Western mass media outlets cannot conceal

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