1,550 words
America left Afghanistan in the most humiliating fashion possible. The government and military it spent trillions of dollars building collapsed almost immediately in the face of a Taliban offensive, proving even the most pessimistic predictions of the experts wrong.
The images coming out of Kabul are as astounding as the ones the nation remembers from Saigon in 1975. Conservatives are having a field day with the debacle and heaping scorn on President Biden. Apparently, they had a better plan for the departure from Afghanistan that they had initiated.
The whole affair proves how much of a joke our empire is. In spite of all our wealth and might, we can’t cobble together a semi-competent puppet government after 20 years. A bunch of cave-dwelling militants easily defeated the “well-equipped and well-trained” Afghan army. Every expert, from the generals to the State Department to the CIA, promised that the government would at least last long enough for us to accomplish a safe withdrawal. They were completely wrong.
The primary takeaway from this disaster is that our empire is extremely incompetent, doesn’t serve our interests, and should be dismantled.
But that’s not the takeaway for conservatives. Instead, they’ve shown their complete lack of principles and overriding commitment to shallow partisanship by upholding the empire against the DemoKKKrats. Not only are the Democrats the real racists, they’re also the real Taliban supporters! Conservative reactions to the Afghan pullout have been nothing short of pathetic and counter-productive. All the America First talk has fallen by the wayside, and neocon arguments have returned to the fore.
This was best exemplified by a viral clip that conservatives gushed over. Matt Zeller, a former CIA analyst and head of a group dedicated to bringing thousands of Afghans to the United States, became a star of the American Right thanks to an MSNBC appearance. In the clip, Zeller excoriates Biden for leaving “our allies” behind and not doing enough to get tens of thousands of Afghans into the US. Zeller says that we should take in at least 86,000 Afghans whom he identified as “allies.” He also strongly rejected the notion that the Afghan National Army, which surrendered to the Taliban virtually overnight, deserves any blame for the disaster. His overall point was that the empire should be trusted and that responsibility for the failure lies with the American people and those of its elected officials who demanded a withdrawal.
Zeller doesn’t directly say that we should have stayed in Afghanistan. Few besides Bill Kristol and the most diehard neocons dare to say that. He simply says that we botched the withdrawal. That’s the standard conservative line nowadays: “We have no problem with leaving, we just have a problem with how we left.” It’s not clear how a better pullout could have been conducted without keeping troops there, however.
President Trump could never have completed the withdrawal himself due to the intense pushback he would have received from his cabinet, the generals (who repeatedly showed insubordination throughout his presidency), his own party, and the media. Trump had wanted to pull out before his term ended, but these elements prevented him from doing so. Theoretically, he could have done it anyway — but he probably would have been impeached again. The Republicans care more about the interests of the military-industrial complex than they do about January 6.
Biden, on the other hand, still has the support of most of his party and much of the media. He will survive this PR disaster. Indeed, the one good thing about the media’s love affair with Biden is that it allowed us to leave Afghanistan.
Republicans hope they can use the Afghan withdrawal against him. This will be terrible for the American Right. If the Republicans base their strategy on criticizing Biden for Afghanistan, the implication is that we should have stayed and that we may need to re-invade the country to protect ourselves from the terrorists. And at the same time they will agree with Biden that we need to take in our wonderful Afghan allies, despite the fact that they refused to fight for their country, raked in bribes, and kept child sex slaves. At least some bipartisanship can be found!
Braindead partisanship is a standard feature of American democracy. Both Democrats and Republicans are equally guilty of it. Democrats became big fans of the CIA, the FBI, and forever wars in response to Trump. Now the Republicans are falling in love with the same empire that wants to throw their base into prison camps because they think they can use it to hurt Biden. And even though the generals say “white rage” is the number one threat to the country and that we must teach critical race theory to soldiers, conservatives still treat them with reverence. They aren’t responsible for the Afghan mess; Biden is!
Politicians and commentators rarely see the big picture and prefer scoring cheap points for short-term gains rather than making any substantive analysis. Trump pushed Republicans in the direction of America First, and many Republicans and conservative outlets supported him when he announced the Afghan withdrawal and in his desire to see America give up its role as the world’s policeman. But one spectacle is all it took for them to reverse themselves.
The furor over the pullout is only a distraction. This chaos was inevitably going to happen whenever we left. How could there have been a better withdrawal when our supposedly staunch Afghan allies wouldn’t even fight? Moreover, why should we care that Afghanistan is now going to shit? Why should we care that our military looks buffoonish now, and that no foreign country will ever trust the State Department again? Or that “evil” countries will now be less hesitant to wage war against us? Why does this matter?
Unless you work for the actual evil empire – ours – none of this is of concern to us. The empire’s success is our own misfortune, and its misfortune is our hope. If we had had an orderly withdrawal, it would only have inspired more confidence in the empire. The current debacle shows it for what it really is. That’s a reason to celebrate — not to get angry and start repeating neocon talking points.
The American Right must reorient itself to oppose the empire. The empire doesn’t represent the American nation, it doesn’t serve our interests, and it doesn’t deserve our loyalty. The empire went to Afghanistan to root out Islamic terrorists. Now we are not even allowed to say “Islamic terrorists.” Its spokesmen say that the real threat is white people, not jihadis in caves.
The empire stayed in Afghanistan for as long as it did to keep up the pretense that we were there to spread rights for women and gays. None of those things concern us. In reality, it was about the empire sending a message that our troops are everywhere and that America is invincible. Pulling out, especially in such a humiliating fashion, undermines that image. No conservative should shed tears over it.
But making this reorientation faces a serious hurdle in conservatives’ ever-present desire to score cheap partisan points. While this is a standard feature of our democracy, the Republicans seem to be particularly mired in it. They have no real agenda aside from doing things which show that “Democrats are the real racists.” Democrats do this as well, but they at least have a vision of how they want the world to be. Republicans can only muster soundbites about “this reckless President.” In the end, this reduces them to imperial pawns. If Biden won’t be a firm supporter of the empire, then dammit, Republicans will!
So now we’re about to endure an insufferable cycle of hearing Republicans complain about women’s rights in Kandahar, GOP governors begging for Afghan refugees, and demands that we need to listen to the generals and commit more resources to foreign interventions. Don’t buy the line about “supporting the withdrawal but not liking how it was conducted.” It’s a ruse to get you to support the empire. When the empire has egg on its face, it’s not your task to exculpate it and blame its preferred scapegoat instead.
The empire is humiliated, but it’s not broken. The Soviet Union collapsed two years after its own withdrawal from Afghanistan, and some are hoping for a repeat of this in America — but this is far too optimistic. American troops are still stationed throughout the world, our financial power is still dominant, and our degenerate culture still reigns supreme. NATO and the other international bodies aren’t going anywhere. States aren’t going to secede from the US anytime soon. The empire is now weakened and disgraced on the world stage, but it’s far from being on its last legs.
One of the many reasons why the empire will continue is because conservatives still pledge allegiance to it. They’re incapable of separating the historic American nation from its foreign policy, and they’ll still sign up to fight its stupid wars. The empire can carry on for as long as it has loyal serfs, and those serfs are middle Americans who are conned into feeling rage over non-issues such as the Afghan withdrawal.
The sooner Americans cheer and laugh at these failures, the sooner we can reclaim our nation again. The empire isn’t ours — but this nation is.
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28 comments
The author has the sensitivity of a toilet seat.
The Demented fool Biden left this country in the worse way possible. A way that will lead to the death and suffering of thousands upon thousands including countless Americans. Terrorism in America will most likely get a renewed push, plus an influx of Afghans will be brought to our shores, most who have zero to offer accept maybe to walk into a crowded area with a bomb strapped to themselves.
Yet, this author thinks the U.S. leaving Afghanistan was a good thing, What a retard.
Imagine not annexing a Middle Eastern country AND denying access to Afghan refugees. It’s not either/or!
But you’d know that if you weren’t a huge neocon shill.
Antarctica called, it wants its ice cold take back.
You appear to be the retard. https://off-the-reservation.com/2021/08/18/generation-gwot-and-the-fall-of-afghanistan/
Greeting, Bill Kristol, and welcome to Counter Currents!
Mr. Hamptonr is not a retard. His article is brilliant and insightful. No matter when we left or under who we left (i.e. Trump or Biden), we would have experienced the same disaster. We never should have been there in the first place and then we would never have had to leave. The author clearly supports the idea of the Old Republic, rather than the Evil Empire, which began under McKinley and continues to this day.
So, you should not do a good action if there is a likelihood that foolish or devious people will respond to that action in harmful ways.
If I didn’t already have a clear picture of how stupid conservatards can be I would have rather interpreted this comment as an ironic troll intended to make Robert Hampton look good in the face of such caliber of detractors. Because this is what you moron achieved. “Accept” of course this is a good thing. Hampton’s article was the best opinion piece I’ve read on the subject.
Biden, particularly now, doesn’t have the cognitive fire power to analyze a complex problem and affirm with confidence a solution. So, who pushed him to order the pull out knowing that it would be a world-wide PR disaster and give Conservative Inc a club to beat him with? I’m wondering if he was a set up by a Dem cabal looking to push him out before midterms and move in Harris or even Pelosi. Sheer speculation, but I’m guessing that old white Joe, behind the scenes, is deteriorating fast, panic is setting in, and they need to move to Plan B sooner than originally scheduled.
The US drive to shape the world in its own image. It always backfires. Quot servi, tot hostes – “So many servants so many enemies”. Seneca, AD 65 – Tom Sunic
Any shred of a moral case for the US–always central to media & government propaganda justifying wars in the Middle East–has completely disappeared. I can’t think of any reason why other countries would want to emulate the US–where elites hate most of the people they rule .- Kevin MacDonald
The Hindu Supreme Kamala made him do it?
There definitely needs to be a pow wow about how to move forward after this event. It came out of the clear blue sky. Tectonic shift in the political landscape. All the mixed metaphors are welcome. Biden did the right thing but he will get crucified. what we must do is forge a general opinion about the nature of that occupation and the meaning of its collapse. I suggest that it was at root a Zionist lead scheme. That the evacuation was a necessary noble thing and it is an opportunity to remove several warmongers off the pentagon and lickspittle journalists out of media who’ve lied to us for decades.
I’ve posted this before here and I’m posting it again. This is another manufactured refugee crisis. The cabinet members who are really running the show knew what they were doing by having the military leave first. The bonus is that numerous Republican governors are begging to have Afghan refugees settled in their states. It’s a big gamble, Democrats are banking on the Afghan refugees wanting to vote Democrat against the implicitly white and Christian Republican party. However, these Republican governors may be onto something. I think even anti-Taliban Muslim Afghans aren’t going to be very thrilled about the degeneracy of the Democrat party and drag queen story hour.
Semd moar base voters?
The Gaping Orifice Party is running a Tranny in for Governor of California. Those ‘based’ Afghani are gonna love ‘Caitlyn’.
They’re going to love the pederasts in the DNC.
It’s going to be hard for them to choose. We”l see which party grovels the most for their vote.
Cuz we know they don’t want give anything to White folks.
pleeze tri 2 uze corect spellin. wytes iz knot capitalisezed.
“White” in reference to people us not capitalized according to the Associated Press stylebook and guidelines, which are adopted across-the-board by anti-White media and publications. I expect better on a pro-White website. I always have, and always will, capitalize “White” in reference to White people, because I am as much of a person as someone who is “Black”.
Adopt your enemy’s terminology and you are deferring to their ideology.
You’re really giving too much moral agency to savage troglodyte degenerates. They have no problem with globohomo’s peculiarities the same way they don’t have a problem with bacha bazi. Like all non-whites, they’ll vote for immediate interest. These “people” don’t even have a concept of moral principle. They really don’t.
We shouldn’t underestimate the incompetence of the Biden administration. The Taliban have already hammered out a deal with China and I expect Chinese and Russian investment and influence to start rushing into Afghanistan. An orderly withdrawal, such as would have been possible under Donald Trump would have at least kept Afghanistan out of China’s hands, whilst recognizing that America can no longer hold it.
Neocons are hungry for Arab blood and Libtards are hungry for Arab voters. Don’t let either have their fill.
Friends of mine who have consistently based their news and opinions off of CNN, The WSJ {the most respected news outlet} NPR, and Salon are very disappointed in Biden. They are unaware of every other issue but apparently, the pull-out from Afghanistan was too big to cover up like the non-existent southern border crisis, BLM fiery yet peaceful protests, or spectacular success of the defund the police movements.
Of course, the real issue is the 100,000 Afghan migrants soon to be given citizenship, refugee benefits, jobs, positions in universities, and free housing, all at the cost of the soon-to-be-extinct, despised, white population. I don’t really care about losing another war: it might make the Non-U, S of A, military easier to control if only we still had our own country. But we don’t.
White America is becoming more independent every month. White folks are just sick of being everyone’s whipping boy.
The Taliban believe they won this Jihad because they were loyal to the will of their God, and were fighting against evil, satanic forces. All the Afghan gubmint and armed forces believed this as well, which is why they folded like deck chairs. This 9/11, the Twentieth anniversary, the flag of the Taliban (and maybe the flag of Al Qaeda) will fly over the American Embassy. Like the Soviet evacuation of two generations ago, this will inspire Muslims all over the world from The Temple Mount and Lebanon to Berlin, Paris and Detroit. The Hui and the Uighurs will also watch these events with fascination and envy. If the mission was to eliminate radical Islam having a headquarters in Afghanistan—then it was a failure.
I read ‘War is a Racket’ when I was a teenager so I understood from the get-go vast fortunes would be made from the equipment, bombs, dope, infrastructure projects, “education” and training. In this sense Afghanistan was a roaring success for the sutlers and warmongers—perhaps the most profitable war of all time.
Obongo’s dreams of nation building in Afghanistan on a par with the de-nazification of Germany and the sweeping away of feudalism in Japan are shattered forever. The people of Afghanistan rejected gay pride, tranny bathroom rights, feminism, diversity, and pornography. Complete failure.
This. Summed up well my friend. Afghans who sided against the Taliban and with the satanic empire of degeneracy and emptiness knew that they were not on the side of the good of their people and nation. The Taliban Holy Warriors knew that they were morally right in rejecting the satanic empire and its degeneracy. A lesson should be learned here. We need to instill similar fervor in our people for our cause. I’m a Christian, and would be in favor of a Christian theocratic form of government for our people, but life under a secular government that advocates for our interests would be perfectly fine with me as well.
Bottom line though, the more of us who believe in our cause with intense fervor the better our odds. I would prefer that be under a banner of Christianity, but if it’s paganism or even just deep and profound respect of our ancestors and their accomplishments, that’s certainly much better than atheism and/or nihilism, which should be shamed and rooted out within our circles as much as possible. I honestly do not fear death, and there are things much worse than death. Those who fear death the most tend to be the atheistic, nihilistic, degenerate types. As a wise man says, we need to be the heroes in our own story, as the Taliban was in theirs. Tons of damage to our people to be undone, but the recent events in Afghanistan certainly give me lots of renewed hope…
If you think that the evacuation from Afghanistan was humiliating, wait til the Chinese invade Taiwan.
As to the Biden administration being “the empire”, what if Obama and Biden are puppets of the globalist elites, the “Davos crowd”, (as Tom Luongo suggests), the WEF, and not empire builders? What if they’re goal is to destroy the USA, and not to strengthen the empire?
If this were to be the real objective of the globalists, what strategy should a White Nationalist movement adopt?
… Just asking, I don’t have an answer.
Overthonking is a bad idea.
That wouldn’t mean a destruction of empire, merely the absorption of the American empire into the Davos empire.
I repeat: The only perspective we should ever adopt is that of white interests. Is issue x good or bad for (or perhaps immaterial to) ultimate white preservation, and short term white power? Every non-racial issue should be assessed from this perspective. And when contemplating “larger world” issues, prowhites need to think of ourselves as an already diasporic people. The only Great Game that we should involves ourselves in, either politically or emotionally, is the one focused on stanching the hemorrhaging of white power and security on all fronts.
The Biden-caused (and yes, the fall of Kabul is directly attributable to the incompetence and deep unseriousness of the current Admin, and esp its “leader’) Afghanistan disaster will benefit whites in myriad ways in the future, from souring our gullible population on future nation-building exercises, to greater public examination of the “wokeness” of our modern military, to haunting the Democrats politically for the next several years.
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