The inevitable end of the Afghan war?

Mike Jason writes for Atlantic Ocean About the failures of the US military in Afghanistan.

We invaded Afghanistan with righteous anger after 9/11, but so what? Why was the US in Afghanistan for years then? What about our charged relationship with Pakistan and its impact on Afghanistan? A coherent strategy to address these questions would have made my work easier on the ground. First and foremost, a clearly defined end goal was to assure our Afghan partners and other country allies (as well as our enemies) our determination. Rather than leaving the entire effort to the Department of Defense, a coordinated strategy with commensurate resources across government could have produced better results in many Afghan institutions. Moreover, 20 years ago, a commitment to law enforcement was probably very attractive to our allies, many of whom have their own national police force and a proven track record of success in performing such tasks. Perhaps most importantly, a clear and strong foreign policy toward Pakistan, along with a commitment to support and employ a new Afghan army, could have provided much clarity and focus for our military.

We did not have a 20-year war in Afghanistan. We fought 20 incoherent wars, one year at a time, without a sense of direction. The US military can and should be blamed for the collapse of the security forces in Afghanistan – and I hold us responsible. The current meltdown keeps me up at night. In the military, the main effort gets the best resources and the best talent available. For more than 20 years, no matter what has been reported, and what we have read in the headlines, efforts to build and train large-scale conventional security forces in Afghanistan and Iraq have mostly been an aimless soup of acronyms of trial and error. It never became the true major effort, and we are responsible for that.

Emily Tankin From new country state He asserts that while President Joe Biden may be doing the right thing in withdrawing from Afghanistan, implementing the withdrawal is simply FUBAR, but it doesn’t have to be.

[I}f you invade and then occupy a country for 20 years, fail to adequately train Afghan security forces and oversee a failing state and corrupt government, and then leave, exposing people (especially women and girls) to the brutal rule of the Taliban, that is a reflection of the callousness of American power.

On the other hand…The idea that the US should police every possible human rights violation throughout the world would require it to militarily occupy numerous countries at great cost to American treasure, men and materiel. Nor can the US be expected to remain in Afghanistan indefinitely, perpetuating what is already the longest war in American history.

This is the situation that the Biden administration finds itself in. As Biden announced this spring, American troops are due to leave by the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 11 September, 2001. The Taliban is retaking the country. The situation is so dire that the US reportedly tried to negotiate with the Taliban to leave its embassy in Kabul unharmed and sent thousands of troops back to Afghanistan to evacuate Americans. Kabul could fall in a month.

Over at Vox, German Lopez writes that we may need to accept that COVID-19 will be with us for awhile.

If you go back to the earlier days of the pandemic, the original hope with vaccines was more modest. Previously, the Food and Drug Administration set the standard for an acceptable Covid-19 vaccine at 50 percent efficacy. The expectation was that the vaccine wouldn’t stop all cases of Covid-19, but would at least reduce the severity of the disease. As Baylor College’s Peter Hotez put it at the time, “Even if it’s not the best vaccine, it still could prevent me from going to the hospital or worse.”

[…]

Keep in mind the last study, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported the outbreak in Provincetown, Massachusetts. the Primary titles About the study that focused on the fact that three-quarters of the cases tracked in the study were among vaccinated people, which indicates the spread of the virus in a highly immune community. The implication, backed by new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance that vaccinated people should wear masks indoors in public places, is that the delta variant can spread at a high level even among people who get their shots.

But if you Dig into the details of the outbreakThey revealed some very good news for vaccinated people. Of the more than 1,000 cases linked so far to Provincetown, only seven have been reported to the hospital (some of which have not been vaccinated) and there have been no deaths.

If this is 2020, given the overall hospitalization and death rates, the outbreak would likely result in nearly 100 hospitalizations and 10 deaths.

Liz Benjamin From New York times She writes about the soon-to-be first female governor of New York, Kathy Hoshol.

What is important to Ms. Hoochul’s understanding – and it may seem like a small thing, but it isn’t – is that she finds ways to make the most of her position.

Her last position, that of deputy governor, was largely ceremonial in New York, with no formal political portfolio and little chance of setting an agenda. Until this month, it was far from a household name: even some veteran TV anchors and reporters covering the governor’s downfall and resignation struggled to utter the word “Hochul.” (It’s a hard “c,” like “cool,” not the soft “ch” for church.”)

But Mrs. Hochhol seems to be indefatigable, and has been known to pack her day full of public events – sometimes beginning and ending at opposite ends of the state. In the process, it has built strong relationships with a wide range of political stakeholders and power brokers.

In doing so, she created a profile for herself beyond her political base in Buffalo, which had always been seen as something of a slump by the state-dominated political class. The last real governor of the area was a native of Cortland County, Nathan Miller, was elected in 1920. George Pataki assumed the mantle of the Northern District, but he hails from Westchester County, already a suburb of New York City.

Justin George Reports on Washington Post About what transportation agencies plan to do with the money they are set to receive once the infrastructure package is signed into law.

While transportation agencies, including Metro in the Washington area, fear the slow pace of returning riders amid Corona Virus The pandemic and the impact remote work can have on revenue, they are simultaneously looking to make expensive service upgrades. Most are looking to electric buses, expanding rapid transit buses, installing high-tech fare gates, or adding mobile fare payment systems.

A bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan — which includes a Record 107 billion dollars Federal investment in transportation projects – that would put public transportation officials on standby for potential job and service cuts due to revenue losses while providing an opportunity to modernize their systems. The plan that recently Passed successfully Senate calls for funding upgrades, giving agencies in the Washington area and nationwide a reason to remove the flick from their wish lists.

Infrastructure package financing is largely earmarked for capital projects, such as building and construction and equipment. In most cases, this money cannot be spent to offset the huge fare revenue losses associated with the pandemic. Three coronavirus stimulus packages included operating dollars that many agencies continue to rely on.

Kimberly Atkins Store From Boston Globe He writes that when it comes to race in America, there are the facts…and then there are the politics.

If we are all given the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as our nation’s founding documents claim, every American should have a vested interest in ending the persistent systemic racism in our society. But the Pew report shows that Americans don’t see it that way.

While 78 percent of Democrats said they believed the growing interest in historical racism and slavery is a positive development, only 25 percent of Republicans said the same.

When it comes to solutions to systemic racism, 74 percent of Democrats said more needs to be done to achieve racial equality, according to the study. But only 22 percent of Republicans agreed.

The divide extends to views about the existence of racial inequality in America. While 85 percent of Democrats said whites take advantage of the benefits blacks are denied, 78 percent of Republicans said whites don’t enjoy such a privilege.

The political divide on the issue of race is not new, but it is widening.

David R. Baker, Brian K Sullivan, and Josh Sol Write to Phys.org that we may be witnessing the beginning of a new era in the western United States.

Drought across the western United States has forced California to ration water for farms. Hydroelectric dams hardly operate. The tiniest spark – from a lawn mower or even a flat tire – can explode in a wildfire.

While this region has always had dry summers, it is supposed to follow a pattern that leads to relief with the arrival of the annual rainy season in November. But the break is no longer guaranteed.

In fact, there are now short- and long-term agents drying up the western United States under the influence of rising temperatures, as documented in detail in this week’s report from the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that may enter a drought. The dry season may be giving way to the dry era.

Jacobo Barigazi Politico Europe writes about the next wave of troubles that could plague the continent as the withdrawal of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan nears completion, even as the Taliban rapidly advances in retaking the country.

Fueling European fears is the prospect of a hardline Islamic regime ruling Afghanistan once again, the prospect of a new wave of immigration and serious concerns about the safety of Afghans who have worked with the European Union or European governments. Officials are also closely watching the roles of geopolitical rivals Turkey and China in the crisis.

However, although Europe has a large stake in the outcome of the conflict in Afghanistan, European officials admit that their influence or influence is minimal. Nor is there any sign of any appetite among European leaders for a new military intervention, following US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw US troops – a move that prompted Europeans to follow suit.

The European Union is representing Special Envoy Thomas Nicholson at talks in Qatar aimed at a lasting political settlement for Afghanistan. On paper, the bloc has some influence there, through its financial aid and ability to give international recognition to whoever leads the country.

Lili Bayer, also writing for POLITICO Europe, reflects on the current fortunes of “piracy parties” in the European Union.

One group has adopted some of the traditional party structures that many in the movement have long avoided – and may finally become part of a coalition government in the European Union.

Clinging to his anti-establishment sensibility, the other remained loosely organized – staying mostly outside looking inward.

The difference left the political movement in transition nearly a generation after it first appeared on the scene, spurred by growing wariness of mainstream politics and a pledge to bring the ethos of technology-first and radically transparent into politics.

While the broader movement stagnated in many European countries – success was short-lived as parties struggled with infighting and traditional politics – some of the more progressive parties are making gains. There are currently four hacker members in the European Parliament, as well as hackers in national legislatures in Luxembourg, Iceland and the Czech Republic. The pirate even works as the mayor of Prague.

finally, Ryan Hass Brookings’ Order From Chaos asserts that while there are other “major powers” in the international system, the United States and China are the two bipolar (and interdependent) superpowers in that system – and will be for some time to come.

As America’s unipolarity in the international system wanes, a renewed focus has been placed on the role of major powers in the international system, including the European Union, Russia, India and Japan. Each of these powers has a large population and significant economic or military weight, but as my Brookings Institution colleague, Bruce Jones, did noteNothing has everything. Only the United States and China possess all of these qualities.

The United States and China will likely continue to mobilize a disproportionate weight in the international system moving forward. Their growing role in the global economy is largely fueled by both countries technology sectors. These two countries have unique features. These include world-class research expertise, deep pools of capital, abundant data, and highly competitive ecological innovation systems. Both benefit disproportionately from the effect of clustering around technology hubs. For example, of the approximately 4,500 companies engaged in artificial intelligence in the world, about half of them operate in the United States and a third of them operate in China. According to a widely cited study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the United States and China are preparing for an acquisition. 70% of $15.7 trillion in windfall profits Artificial intelligence is expected to add to the global economy by 2030.

The United States and China are reinvesting their economic gains to varying degrees in the research and development of new and emerging technologies that they will continue to drive forward. While the US and China’s stay at the forefront of innovation has not been given up indefinitely, it also isn’t clear which other countries might replace them or on what timeline. Total, China’s economy Relative to the steep growth pace of recent decades, it is likely to ease in the coming years, but is unlikely to unravel.