America should never have invaded Afghanistan. Or for that matter it should never have invaded any country beginning with Korea in early 50s, to Syria about ten years ago. In all these wars there has been no winner except the U.S corporate elite which ended up raking in tons of money from the mountains of debris and millions of mangled bodies which U.S wars left in their bloody wake.

In the end it is now abundantly clear that it has all been a game of resource extraction and monetary loot at the expense of mostly the poor and the defenseless. In all these wars a democratic legislature, the free media, and the dirty rich have joined hands to rob the poor.

In cases where the leadership of the poorer nations fell in cahoots with the U.S, the wars which the U.S levied went unseen. But in cases where the leadership of such countries chose to stand up to the U.S, these wars turned hot and bloody.

No matter what transpires now in Afghanistan, one thing should be quite clear i.e America will now be looking for someone to blame for its own corruption, incompetence, and ultimate humiliation. And foremost in the crosshairs will be Pakistan and the Taliban. The signs of this are already there for all to see.

The internal effort against Pakistan will be led by the Zardaris and the Sharifs and their cohorts, the leaders of the fifth column. They had already been charged to bring the country to its knees. They had pretty much succeeded by hollowing it out and foisting bankruptcy upon it.

It was a minor miracle that they were removed from the corridors of power just in the nick of time. But what is not understood is why they have been left free to operate from behind these corridors, instead of being tried and locked up. The question which will have to be answered is why the government and the “establishment” failed to destroy the power of this fifth column when it lay clearly exposed and identified, and when this ought to have been the FIRST order of business of the new dispensation in the land.

The answer to this is slowly becoming apparent. And this is taking the form of a smudge, threatening to become a slur. Before this shape takes a more concrete form, this fifth column needs to be resolutely moved against and comprehensively crushed. If this is not done NOW, it threatens to become a major mark of betrayal in our unfortunate history.

Imperceptibly, gradually, the suspicion has begun to grow that our much vaunted army bears for the thugs a corner softer than it has for its country. This is a terrible though to be assailed by, but it just won’t go away. May the Lord have mercy on us.

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/afghanistan-latest-debacle-of-us-foreign-policy-by-jeffrey-d-sachs-2021-08