The evidence increasingly indicates that a U.S. drone strike that took place outside Kabul as America withdrew from Afghanistan killed not a terrorist but an aid worker, along with nine other civilians, including several children. On August 29, the U.S. military launched a strike on what Central Command said was a vehicle transporting explosives on […]
In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the United States invaded and occupied two countries, bombed four others, helped create 21 million refugees and cause over 800,000 deaths, and spent over $6 trillion on combat and anti-terrorism measures. Republican and Democratic presidents and congressional leaders authorized sweeping new initiatives that effectively put all American citizens […]
“Mommy, do we need to take our shoes off again?” the little American girl asked as she stood in a security line at a German airport with her four younger siblings. Her mother said yes, prompting a more experienced American traveler to correct her: “Actually, here you do not.” According to the bystander, who described […]
Todd Bensman’s America’s Covert Border War faces several challenges right out of the gate. First, it’s a work of speculative nonfiction about how terrorists plotting to kill Americans could cross the U.S.-Mexico border, even though none are known to have done so. Second, it was published 15 years after fear of Islamic terrorism peaked. Third, the Trump administration—the biggest […]
In bad news for both hawkish fans of forever war and the Biden administration, Americans favor the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the quagmire in Afghanistan but are deeply unimpressed by how it has been handled. Officials will, no doubt, complain that the public holds them to an impossible standard and allows them no room […]
“You don’t get to lose a war and expect the result to look like you won it,” says historian Stephen Wertheim of the violent and chaotic withdrawal of United States forces and personnel from Afghanistan. “Yet some in Washington are denying reality, calling for still more war and blaming Biden for their failure.” Wertheim is […]
U.S. military officials said Sunday that they had launched a drone strike destroying a car full of explosives and killing ISIS-K suicide bombers headed toward the international airport in Kabul. Also on Sunday, a family living in Khwaja Burgha, a neighborhood west of Kabul, said a drone missile struck the car of Ezmari Ahmadi, a […]
Dozens were killed and more than 100 injured in a pair of suicide bombings targeting American troops and Afghan civilians gathered near the perimeter of the Kabul International Airport on Thursday. According to the Pentagon, 11 Marines and one Navy medic were killed in the blasts and another 15 American military personnel were wounded. An […]
President Joe Biden hit the right points in his speech on the Afghanistan debacle. He acknowledged the failure of the country’s western-backed government, the limited options after 20 years of occupation, and the need for Americans to withdraw and let events take their course. It was a realistic speech, almost enough to make us forget […]
President Joe Biden on Monday did something unexpected for a U.S. executive: In a press conference, he stuck by his promise to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. It’s a speech that drew plaudits from anti-war advocates and scorn from the hawks. Yet in our hyper-polarized political landscape, we sometimes forget there’s room for more than two […]