Nightly Nuance: August 16, 2021

Hello, my friends. This week, we’re going to talk about Afghanistan. I hope we can look at history and current events through the lens of worthiness -- at critical decision points along the way, what did we know? What timeline were we thinking about? What would moral goodness require?

Here’s our plan:

Monday, August 16: From 9/11 to the Trump administration’s 2020 deal with the Taliban Tuesday, August 17: May to August and some thoughts on what’s next Wednesday, August 18: My 10-year-old daughter, Jane, joins me to discuss all of this

Resources:

PBS: The Taliban now control 2/3s of Afghanistan. How did it happen so quickly?  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-taliban-now-control-two-thirds-of-afghanistan-how-did-it-happen-so-quickly

New York Times: US Asks Taliban to Spare Its Embassy in Coming Fight for Kabul https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/us/politics/taliban-afghanistan-us-embassy.html

Axios: Mapped: The Taliban’s lightning offensive to take over Afghanistan https://www.axios.com/afghanistan-map-taliban-captured-capitals-061475d6-735f-49bd-b606-45a2d0d64dc4.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiospm&stream=top

Axios: Biden Braces for Brutal Loss https://www.axios.com/scoop-biden-braces-for-brutal-loss-7012efe9-c4cd-48df-8c2b-7484e2f17231.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top

Operation Freedom Sentinel’s Lead Inspector General Report to the United States Congress - Jan 1, 2021 - March 31, 2021

https://media.defense.gov/2021/May/18/2002654296/-1/-1/1/LEAD%20INSPECTOR%20GENERAL%20FOR%20OPERATION%20FREEDOM'S%20SENTINEL.PDF

New York Times: The Afghan Military Was Built Over 20 Years. How Did it Collapse So Quickly? https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/13/world/asia/afghanistan-rapid-military-collapse.html

Politico: ‘It May Never Happen’: The $88 billion gamble on the Afghan army that’s going up in smoke  https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/13/afghan-army-pentagon-504469?nname=playbook&nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&nrid=00000162-2ae0-de85-a9fb-2ff86dc90000&nlid=630318

Reuters: In desperation, US scours for countries willing to house Afghan refugees https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/desperation-us-scours-countries-willing-house-afghan-refugees-2021-08-13/

AP: Afghan women fear return to ‘dark days’ amid Taliban sweep https://apnews.com/article/religion-taliban-7ab054c063e4ea1c14be9e4811f42982

Washington Post: Biden has wanted the US to pull the plug on Afghanistan for years. Doing it has consequences. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-afghan-pullout-taliban/2021/08/13/73837d0a-fb98-11eb-943a-c5cf30d50e6a_story.html

BBC: Who are the Taliban? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11451718

BBC: Afghanistan: Why is there a war? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49192495

Al Jazeera: Kabul the day after the Taliban Takeover in Pictures https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2021/8/16/in-pictures-kabul-the-day-after-the-taliban-takeover

The Washington Post: Behind the Taliban’s ties to al-Qaeda: A shared ideology and decades of battlefield support https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/taliban-al-qaeda-afghanistan/2020/12/07/79d4bddc-3414-11eb-9699-00d311f13d2d_story.html

Takes:

David French on Why We’re Losing Afghanistan: https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/why-were-losing-afghanistan

Jonathan Rauch: The Afghanistan War was a (partial) success https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-afghanistan-war-was-a-partial?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo1NDU0Njk4LCJwb3N0X2lkIjozOTY2NTE1NSwiXyI6InNMenh0IiwiaWF0IjoxNjI4NTM3ODE3LCJleHAiOjE2Mjg1NDE0MTcsImlzcyI6InB1Yi02MTU3OSIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.KzvU3xgrWwEXqzOr1AAZRoN3l_dNnvPnb9P4vBBUmkk

Jonah Goldberg, Dishonor in Afghanistan: https://gfile.thedispatch.com/p/dishonor-in-afghanistan?r=2xybg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=copy

Michael Kugelman: What went wrong in Afghanistan? https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/8/16/what-went-wrong-in-afghanistan

Richard Haas: America’s Withdrawal of Choice https://www.cfr.org/article/americas-withdrawal-choice

Jasmine M. El=Gamal on Twitter https://twitter.com/jasmineelgamal/status/1427263732997033988?s=21

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