Afghans who worked for the U.S. military in U.S.-occupied Afghanistan are understandably worried about their safety now that their employers are pulling out and the Taliban are poised to recapture control of the country.
Don’t Hate Me Just Because I’m a Traitor
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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Apparently, one of the lessons the US military learned from Vietnam, and the massive resettlement in the US of Vietnamese, Hmong, and others who threw their lot in with the US, is, “You’re on your own, sucka.”
(I try not to always be the first to comment, but this one’s been up a couple days now.)
This presents a conundrum for me. I recall that you once observed something to the effect that all the years of Russian (and then American) occupation meant that the Afghan people (at least the ones above the age of about 15) had no more naivety in them because all the naive people would not have been able to survive. So I do wonder what motivated the people who did aid the Americans. Surely they knew the Americans would throw them to the wolves. Surely they knew the Taliban couldn’t be extirpated (even if Hell’s newest resident, Donald Rumsfeld, didn’t).
Well, gee….the gummint has decided to “expedite” visas for Afghanis who have helped the US. Hopefully this won’t turn out like the “renewed DACA application process,” in which many hopeful young refugees are registering, but few are getting approved.