The last ten days or so have been an interesting lesson in the media, politics, the government, the public perception of it all, and how all four play together. President Joe Biden’s approval numbers have dipped some in this last round of national polls. While still in the Approval bracket overall, he’s dropped below 50 percent collectively and just about every individual area has shown a decline. That’s the recent COVID outbreak, the economy, and in particular the withdrawal of American forces and allies from Afghanistan after the 20-year waste of time, money, and life.
It should be noted, of course, that Americans overwhelmingly support getting us out of Afghanistan and see the whole affair as a horrid geopolitical mistake. Seventy percent, as a matter of fact, and that number hasn’t budged much since polls were asking if we should leave. A lot of folks, however, disapprove of his handling of Afghanistan, peaking right now at 60 percent and falling.
The disparity between the two numbers is what’s interesting. We’re not going to get into the particulars, but the U.S. government has been advising non-military Americans to leave the country since April and most of this is running off a playbook set down by Trump last year. According to that, we were supposed to start leaving in May but he kneecapped all of that after getting beat like a government mule in the election.
As it was, Biden’s decision to cut bait two weeks back was a bit of a shock to the hoi polloi but that’s mainly because we haven’t been paying much attention to the country we’ve been trying to pound into submission for almost a generation. Most European forces in country started leaving this Spring and the first significant reduction of American soldiers happened back in June.
What really flipped everyone’s omelet was the Taliban’s capture of the capital city of Kabul but, again, had we been paying attention, we wouldn’t have been so surprised. Apart from Kabul, bits and pieces of the country have been falling through the grip of the American-backed coalition – our troops, European troops, and the propped-up Afghan government’s troops – for most of the year. There’s been an active bipartisan effort in Congress to pull out of Afghanistan since the Obama administration and it kicked into high gear within the last couple of years.
Personally, I’m willing to give the devil his due and give Trump and GOP congress critters as much kudos as they deserve. Even Rand Paul, that slimy bastard, has put in some effort. We’re particular about how we pull out, partly because we don’t want to leave too much behind us and partly we don’t want to look like we’re tucking our tails between our legs, a la the Fall of Saigon. I’m not sure how a complete withdrawal from a country is supposed to go, as we really haven’t done that all that much.
But I digress. Biden made the call, the Taliban “officially” took over Kabul, and the Afghan military just sort of letting them. This isn’t a diss against them, as there is a whole lot about life in that country that the average dickhead – which is you, me, and most of the folks on Twitter – really don’t understand. Afghanistan has a fascinating history and even at its most cohesive, it’s always been a rough-and-tumble collection of tribes and groups with different agendas. Indeed, even within the Taliban, there’s apparently a couple of schisms with the most powerful group – coincidentally, the one most concerned with impressing the West – holding on by its fingertips.
Bringing it all back home, the public perception of the Afghan withdrawal is starting to change because, by all appearances, it’s actually going pretty well. So far, between 80,000 to 100,000 refugees have been lifted from the country, with thousands leaving everyday and flights leaving Kabul once every forty minutes or so. The first couple hundred American troops out of the almost 6,000 stationed have started to leave. Right now, everyone’s working with a deadline of August 31, which the Taliban says they aren’t inclined to change and Biden’s people figure they’re on track anyway. The Pentagon’s hard-assed about getting our troops out one way or another.
The stickler is how many non-military Americans are still in-country and how much equipment we leave behind. A lot of balloon juice has been floated around about $80 billion in weapons left behind, but that’s horseshit. As of right now, we have an estimated $10 billion of military equipment in-country and have moved or destroyed a good 900 tons worth. As for those non-military Americans, there are an estimated 1,500 of them and a not insignificant number of those are private military contractors. So, yeah.
Now, in cases like this, most of us have no other source of information than what we refer to as “the Mainstream Media.” That includes the cable news channels, the networks, and a double handful of national newspapers and web magazines that focus on American politics. Regardless of what you think of them or who you think counts – and yes, Fox is “mainstream” as is The Washington Times – they all have a vested interest in two things: not getting sued and making a profit. And what we should never forget about those news sources – pretty much our primary window into how we deal with the rest of the world and what it thinks about it – are all owned by no more than six companies. Of those companies, some are media conglomerations but more than one are multi-national corporations that also have a hand in developing and selling military hardware. They have made out like bandits the last 20 years, y’all.
And as for the pundits currently squealing about losing Afghanistan? Well, they’re generally the same bunch of gormless hacks that blindly cheered for us getting knee-deep in Afghanistan and Iraq in the name of “fighting terror” when neither country had much to do with 9/11. They think we really need to hear from the likes of Karl Rover and John Bolton, people who’ve been persona non grata for years and with good reason. If they have admitted screwing the pooch on the War on Terror, it took them 10 years to do it, and, anyway, anti-war sentiment was just Bush Derangement Syndrome.
If nothing else, they have a vested interest in not looking like total jackasses. Plus, they work for those “mainstream media” sources that have financial interests aided by more war or, at least, spending on war. Some people will tell you ownership has no effect on the editorial side of things and those people are dirty, filthy liars.
It’s hard enough to dig through the news for the straight dope without some overpaid jackass stroking his chin over blood, death, and misery he’ll never see. If we still take them seriously, though, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Dear Y'all 