#StandWithJoeBiden.

ISLAMIC EMIRATE OF AFGHANISTAN: THE UNNECESSARY TALIBAN BAD HYSTERIA.

ICHEOKU says the Western world is needlessly hyperventilating over the return to power in Afghanistan of the Taliban and thus creating an otherwise avoidable panic and tension in the country and among other concerned peoples of the world. It is just a change of power and the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will not be any different to other Islamic enclaves which Western nations deal with and maintain cordial relationships with. 

The Chicken Little's "sky is falling" hysteria being generated just because another Islamic Emirate has emerged under the Taliban in Afghanistan is therefore a needless stir of emotions. It should stop and stop immediately in order to avoid creating more problems in that part of the world and by extension, for the entire world which is still reeling under the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, particularly version delta; and an economy largely in many places still comatose. 

Creating another refugee problem in Afghanistan when there are so many IDP camps in various parts of the world is not a smart move. Rohingya Muslims are largely still displaced in hundreds of thousands, so those countries seeking to now take in Afghanistan refugees should pay attention to the already existing refugees and not create more by their sponsored anti Taliban media blitz. 

The new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) should therefore be given a chance to bloom; and their new Taliban leadership given the benefit of the doubt to first prove themselves before any further condemnation. They have made promises and given assurances; and it is now imperative that they live up to their promised deliverables. Governance can never be a one cap fits all maximum decree because the Greeks who bequeathed the world democracy never intended it to be that way. 

This is the reason United Kingdom operates a pseudo monarchical parliamentary government and the United States have a republican system of government, and some other countries such as Nigeria have a direct democracy. Afghanistan should therefore be allowed to chose whatever form of governance that suits them and the rest of the world must butt out of their internal affairs domestic matter and let them paddle their canoe as they best see fit. 

If Western nations are looking for places to "nation-build", there are a lot of such places within their hemisphere needing urgent attention. For America, such a place as Haiti could use all the "nation-building" help they can get. For colonial Europe and Britain, there are so many of their colonized African countries which can use a lot of help in having their nations built back better. But a now failed mission to westernize Afghanistan under the color of "nation building" should not create such a hoopla as the world is now witnessing. They did not want it and have rejected it, so the matter should be left alone. 

But how exactly is Afghanistan any different from Saudi Arabia when compared with the rights which Taliban is accused of violating in the past and being terrorists and sponsoring terrorism. Recall that 19 of the 20 terrorists who hijacked planes and flew them into World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville Pennsylvania were all Saudi nationals. None of them was an Afghanistan national, admitted the then ruling Taliban in Afghanistan gave Osama bin Laden shelter and we were also told that the planning of 9/11 attack took place in Afghanistan. 

ICHEOKU is not holding brief for the Taliban but maintains that Western nations will be better served if they accept the reality that is Afghanistan now under the Taliban; and respect the wishes of majority of Afghanis who prefer Taliban to the corrupt and inept government of President Ashraf Ghani. We may not like what happened or the apparent humiliation of Western powers by the rag tag Taliban fighters, but it is their country and they reserve the right to do with it as they please. 

We went there to preach the gospel of democracy and help build back better their country, but they have overwhelmingly rejected the gifts. It does not matter that a few of them embrace it, but majority still rules. Joe Biden is in the White House today not because every American voted for him; so, it will be naive to expect every Afghani to be in support of the Taliban before we accept them as legitimate government in Kabul. 

Even the various mujahideen who were attacking and killing American soldiers did not stand up to the Taliban because they too are Taliban. Then add the 300,000 "well trained" and "well equipped" military who did not confront the Taliban and as Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed at his press conference, Taliban entered Kabul and took the presidential palace without suffering a single casualty. 

Throughout their incursion, Taliban did not meet any serious challenge or confrontation and it took them only 7 days to capture the entire Afghanistan, including the presidential palace. Which other army in the world has ever achieved such an incredible military feat at such a lightening speed, except that the Taliban were not challenged nor confronted because the so called national army of Afghanistan were all members of Taliban. They aided and abetted the outcome as it was a willful surrender of power by the President Ashraf Ghani led government. 

So, any one expecting something different than the outcome is naive, to say the least. Taliban rule is what Afghanistan people want because the 20 years of democracy experiment brought so much corruption, ineptitude and decay in the land and they craved the old ways. Taliban spokesman even made allusion to the homelessness which has become the new order in Kabul as Afghanis openly used drugs on the streets of Kabul. It is their country and they should be allowed to drive it in whichever direction they see fit. 

The fact that Afghanis did not want to fight the Taliban and indeed refused to fight them shows that they are all incohoot in the outcome; and therefore they should be left alone to their Taliban devices. The good news is that the Taliban have indicated interest to be an improved version of the old Taliban which the world used to know and we should be hopeful. The press conference is helpful and their effort to woo the world should be applauded, received with open hands and in turn, reciprocated. The world should accommodate them and gradually nudge them towards moderation like Turkey or Dubai styled Islamic enclave; but they must not be pushed away through retaliatory sanctions and diplomatic isolation. 

They have indicated their interest to play and the world must indulge them. They want to be on the dinner table, the world should put them on the invite list and then educate them on the etiquette of the dinner table, that instead of shovel and rake, spoon and fork are the ideal cutleries. Yes, they can come to dinner but must drop their rakes and shovels and come with spoon and fork. It is called meeting them half way and that way, they will gradually be tamed and brought to the mainstream.  

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid gave assurances that Taliban 2.0 will be different from the acute Taliban 1.0 of the 90s, which memory of repression still haunts the world till this day. The spokesman said they are an improved Taliban and the world must now allow them necessary accommodation to show their cards. Therefore, it is in the interest of everyone, both the West and the Afghanis, that the created hysteria ends immediately so that Afghanis can continue to build back better their society. But causing severe brain drain in Afghanistan, through a needless panic induced evacuation, will only halt whatever progress that have been made this past twenty years and will eventually torpedo Afghanistan and drive it back into the once failed state which it was back in the 90s. 

The evacuation of Afghanistan citizens should be halted immediately and in its place exact pressure on Taliban to respect the rights of their citizens. It is their country and they owe it as a duty to help save it from total ruination. Instead of draining their much needed brain power and general manpower, the West should plug into its contacts in the Arab and Islamic world to help put a leech on the Taliban and encourage, supervise and stir them towards moderation. They are likely to become better over time with necessary prodding, understanding them and showing them a respectful behavior. 

Life is dynamic and the Taliban cannot survive, remaining adamant and impervious to world expectations. Nobody knew that Israel will ever mend fences with the Arab/Muslim world, so there is a possibility that the Taliban will eventually turn the corner and reform their ways in order to fit into a new world order. They have already given their word to respect the rights of women to work, media to freely operate, security and safety guarantee for everyone in Afghanistan, general amnesty for all and to ensure that Afghanistan is a terrorism and narcotics free country, among other things. 

These are sufficient assurances to earn them the benefit of the doubt; and like President Ronald Reagan once said to trust but first verify, the world must now step aside and wait for the Taliban to put their money where their mouth is. It is only if they fail to live up to their promised expectations that any condemnation or gang up against them will be justified. Afghanistan reserved the right to choose the type of government they want just like other countries of the world, the world must now respect the choice which they made. 

A new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will not be any worse than all the other Islamic enclaves of the world which the Western world deals with. The most important thing is their expressed intention to do better and the West should explore ways of encouraging them fulfill this pledge. The Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which the West deals with does not accord women rights including something as basic as the right to drive a car. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman even butchered a Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi yet the West looked the other way. 

So, why all the "pants on fire" outcry about Taliban's suppression of women's rights and freedom of the media in Afghanistan, when such freedoms does not exist in Saudi Arabia. If the West is trying to genie up hysteria to distract and refocus attention away from the humiliation of 20 years wasted effort, it is regrettable because Taliban has not done anything worst than Saudi Arabia. Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, Brunei, Libya and so many other Islamic enclaves whose "cultures" and "traditions" the West respects are not any different either; so why the effort to isolate Afghanistan? 

A "wait and see" approach on how Taliban proceeds in their second coming is the best way going forward. A more rational world should own up that the 20 years experiment on westernizing Afghanistan has failed and that Taliban is now the true legitimate government in Kabul. So, instead of the current trashing around in great trepidation that Taliban has taken over power in Afghanistan, they should focus their attention on how to manage the new situation and how to co-exist with the Taliban. 

Twenty years is a long time and a lot of changes have taken place including among the Taliban. The Taliban of today cannot be the same Taliban of of the 90s under the one-eyed Mullah Mohammed Omar. It is unlikely they will be as ruthless as they were before as present Afghanistan society might not tolerate such stringent Islamic condition without some form of resistance. 

The Taliban will not have an option but to accommodate some changes commensurate to a society that has been under "democracy" for the past twenty years, no matter how little. The West should use such opening to build more influence and use it as a leverage over the Taliban. Maintaining diplomatic and economic relations with the Taliban will be a better approach as it will help in drawing them closer and then the opportunity to cajole them to do more. 

But if they are isolated and excommunicated or pushed away by economic strangulation and/or diplomatic icing, it will infuriate them and possibly force them back into their old ways, aware that America have lost the appetite to continue the fight. The Taliban have also been traveling around the world through Qatar and other Islamic States friends of theirs, and have seen that modernity can co-exist with Islam and they will want the same for their Afghanistan as well. 

At worst, the West should treat them as a situation of keep your friends close and keep your enemies closer; but whatever happens, the hysteria should be allowed to die down. It must stop and the massive evacuation of Afghanis must also be put on hold as it is doing more harm to Afghanistan than it is helping. Those brain powers and manpower are needed for Afghanistan to help it continue to build back better. #EndThePanic.

TALIBAN: THE FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE.

“We have expelled the foreigners and I would like to congratulate the whole nation on this. This is pride, not only for a limited number of people. This is a proud moment for the whole nation. This kind of pride is rare when it can be achieved. The whole nation, after the whole history of the nation and therefore, on the base of this I would like to congratulate the whole nation and I would like to welcome you.

Freedom and independence seeking is a legitimate right of every nation. The Afghans also use their legitimate right after 20 years of struggle for freedom and for emancipating the country from occupation, this was our right and we achieved this right. And we would like to express our gratitude to almighty God for having brought us to this stage. I would like to thank God for giving freedom to this nation. The Islamic Emirate, after freedom of this nation is not going to seek revenge on anybody, we don’t have any grudges against anybody.

We know that we have been undergoing really challenging periods and crises, a lot of mistakes that were made that were an advantage to the occupiers. We want to make sure that Afghanistan is not the field of conflict, a battlefield of conflict anymore. We have pardoned anyone, all those who had fought against us. We don’t want to repeat any conflict anymore again. We want to do away with the factors for conflict. Therefore, the Islamic Emirate does not have any kind of hostility or animosity with anybody; animosities have come to an end and we would like to live peacefully. We don’t want any internal enemies and any external enemies. 

Undoubtedly, we are at a very historical stage. Our countrymen and women who have been waiting, I would like to assure that after consultations that are going to be completed very soon, we will be witnessing the formation of a strong Islamic and inclusive government, Inshallah, God willing. As the forces of the Islamic Emirate enter Kabul now this great development that has unfolded, we have not had any casualties. There have been some rioters who wanted to take advantage, wanted to abuse the situation, this was brought to our attention. We realized that that’s what was going on, but we want to assure the residents of Kabul for full security, for protection of their dignity and security and safety.

Security has been assured. God willing, day by day there will be more security. After ensuring the security, Afghanistan, especially in Kabul, there are embassies. The security of the embassies is very crucial, of crucial importance for us.

First, we would like to assure that the areas where there are embassies, there will be complete security. Therefore all foreign countries and your representatives, your embassies, your missions, international organizations, aid agencies, I would like to assure you that we will not allow anybody to do anything against you. Your security is assured. Our forces are there 24 hours around the clock to ensure your security, undoubtedly. We don’t want to see any kind of chaos, inconvenience in Kabul. 

Our plan was to stop at the gates of Kabul after capturing all other provinces, so that the transition process is completed smoothly without us entering Kabul, so that we stopped troubles and harms and damages. But unfortunately, the previous government was so incompetent. As a result of their actions. Their security forces could not do anything to ensure security and we have to do something, we have to take responsibility. So that was the reason: the abusers and the rioters. They wanted to abuse the name of the Islamic Emirate, to enter houses, or to harass the people or to steal. 

So we, therefore, instructed our forces to enter Kabul to ensure, to stop all this and to ensure security. So we had to do this to enter Kabul to stop those criminals and abusers, so that we ensure the safety and security of the people and the residents of Kabul. Therefore, the residents should be assured that your security is guaranteed.

In the same way, when it comes to the kind of circumstances I would like to ensure, I would like to assure the international community, including the United States that nobody will be a harmed in Afghanistan. I would like to assure our neighbors, regional countries, we are not going to allow our territory to be used against anybody, any country in the world. So the whole global community should be assured that we are committed to these pledges that you will not be harmed in any way from our soil.

 

We would also like to request the international community that we then recognise international boundaries and interactions. We should be treated accordingly. According to this framework, we do not want to have any problem with the international community, we’d like to act on the basis of our principles of our religion, of our culture, and we have given a lot of sacrifices. We have the right to act on the basis of our religious principles and rules and regulations, it’s of the right of Afghans.

Other countries also have different rules, different policies, different viewpoints, different approaches and policies they use and different rules and regulations. In the same way, Afghans also have the right to have their own rules and regulations and policies so that their advantage from the profit of the nation of the people, so that they’re in accordance with our values, so nobody should be worried about our norms and principles.

The issue of women is very important. The Islamic Emirate is committed to the rights of women within the framework of Sharia. Our sisters, our men have the same rights; they will be able to benefit from their rights. They can have activities in different sectors and different areas on the basis of our rules and regulations: educational, health and other areas. They are going to be working with us, shoulder to shoulder with us. The international community, if they have concerns, we would like to assure them that there’s not going to be any discrimination against women, but of course within the frameworks that we have. Our women are Muslim. They will also be happy to be living within our frameworks of Sharia.

We hope that as soon as conflict has done away with Afghanistan, we are going to build infrastructures of the economy. For this we are going to take actions for economic activities. The interactions with the international community, with other countries are going to continue. We are going to be working on our natural resources and our resources in order to revitalize our economy, for our reconstruction, for our prosperity. Therefore the Islamic Emirate is requesting the whole international community that God willing, we can very soon, actually very quickly can change the situation, the country economically.

Every Afghan wants to improve his or her life. So, the whole community, the whole society will be active in trade, in economics, and we are committed to ensure security and after that to build our society, to serve our nation. We are the servants of the nation. Before that, the benefit of the nation, both in this world and for the next world.

Once again I would like to assure the media, we are committed to media within our cultural frameworks. Private media can continue to be free and independent, they can continue their activities – with some requests for the media.

One, is that Islam is a very important value in our country and nothing should be against Islamic values. When it comes to the activities of the media therefore, Islamic values should be taken into account when it comes to the activities of the media, when it comes to developing your programmes. Therefore, the media should be impartial. Impartiality of the media is very important. They can critique our work, so that we can improve.

So you, young in the media should also pay attention to the [inaudible] so that we can serve the nation in a better way. And you should also want to work accordingly, the same way. It’s very important that the Afghans are giving a lot of importance to their national values, national unity, national consensus. The media should not work against this national values, against national unity. When it comes to ethnic differences, religious differences and hostilities, they should not be actually promoted by the media, they should work on the country for the unity of the nation to have peaceful brotherly living together.

Once again I express my gratitude to all of you for participating in our press conference. So the names are going to be read out. I’m here to serve you. We’re going to have more press conferences. So today we have maybe less time than in the future. I just came from a trip. I just want to make sure you’re not going to wait for me. So we’ll have a lot of time to discuss in the future. The questions are going to be asked now. I’m going to answer all of the questions.

XXX

The first question is from Al Jazeera. Everybody will have a chance to ask questions. Charlotte Bellis from Al Jazeera. The question was about women’s rights. The question is, what kind of guarantee is going to be provided for ensuring women’s rights.

As I mentioned earlier, we are going to allow women to work and study within certain frameworks. Women are going to be very active in the society, but within the frameworks of Islam. Women are a key part of society and we are guaranteeing all their rights within the limits of Islam.

I would like to assure all the compatriots, whether they were translators, whether they were with military activities or whether they were civilians, all of them have been important. Nobody is going to be treated with revenge. Both youth who have talents, who have grown up here, who are from this country, we don’t want them to leave. These are our assets, we would like them to stay here, to serve.

We would like to assure you that nobody is going to knock on their door to inspect them, to ask them or to interrogate them as to who they have been working for or interpreting for. So I would like to assure you that no harm is going to be [done]. They’re going to be safe. As for the contractor that was, perhaps gone missing as reported by the media, we do not have any information about him at the moment.

I would like to assure you that in your homes nobody is going to harm you, no one is going to knock on your door, no one is going to be interrogated or chased. Those who have knocked on people’s doors to inspect their houses, this are abusers and they will be chased and investigated.

Thousands of soldiers who have fought us for 20 years, after the occupation, all of them have been pardoned. Those with families at the airport waiting, if they come back to their homes, no one is going to do anything to them; they will be safe. No one is going to inspect them there, we give them confidence.

We have fought for everybody and this is for the benefit of stability and peace in Afghanistan. All factions are fathers from A to Z. God forbid, we haven’t done anything intentional against anybody. If during the war and conflict somebody has been harmed unintentionally then, this is one of the side effects of conflict for 20 years. A huge occupying force was defeated. This way it was impossible for us to free the country, and demand the country without injuries, without injuries, without harms, without being hurt. You know that some people have even committed suicide. Unwittingly, somebody does something like that. If somebody has been harmed as a result of these activities, these are, of course, understandable. They are side effects of war. But I would like to assure you, I’d like to guarantee that no harm inflicted on the nation has been intentional – they have been the side effects of war that have been technical problems, and other unfortunate side effects and incidents.

You know that the political situation changed in the city: robberies, and crimes started to emerge but we have to take actions to stop them. Within a short period of  time we managed to do so; we wanted to; we had to stop the instability. So, they have to be controlled. So, we have to come up with a set of actions with the different regions of the city. We will bring back complete normalcy and stability … for Afghanistan, we’ll never abuse any assets. Those for example, that are armed, they have to be disarmed.

I should be reminded that emancipating the country was a great, noble cause, to get rid of the occupiers, without which we could not form our government. So negotiations were taking place for 18 months, we had a strong team in Qatar. But then it was sabotaged. Some warmongers sabotaged it. This previous government actually announced a six-month plan for war against us, so for another six months, we were going to witness killings of our children, of our compatriots.

Our struggle was to form the Islamic government. Anyway, our fighters, our people who were involved in this struggle, we are all going to make sure that we can include all other sides and factions from all segments of the society. That’s been a struggle for those whose lives have been lost as a result of fighting for the enemy. This was their own fault. You could see that we managed to control the whole country in a matter of days, but we’re not arrogant for this.

We have instructed everyone not to enter anybody’s house, whether they’re civilians or military. There’s a huge difference between us and the previous government. When we form the government, when everybody sees their position, their place, then you will see. The kind of situations … is a kind of military situation. After formation of the government, everything will be more clear.

This question is based on ideology and value systems. Our nation is a Muslim nation, whether it was 20 years ago, or whether it was now. But when it comes to experience and maturity and vision, of course, there’s a huge difference between us, in comparison to 20 years ago. There will be a difference when it comes to the actions we’re going to take, this has been like an evolutionary complimentary sort of process.

Let’s talk about the law after the government is formed. They’re going to decide what kind of laws are going to be presented to the nation. This will be the due responsibility of the future governments, with the participation of all people. One thing to say – we are seriously now working on forming the government. I would like to assure you, it will be announced.

We have all the borders under our control. There is not going to be any case of smuggling of weapons. All the weapons that are being used in fighting are going to be collected and compiled and registered. Contact consultations are being carried out soon, you will be aware of it soon.

This question should be asked to those people who are claiming to be promoters of freedom of speech. Do not allow publication of all information, news, I can ask Facebook company. This question should be asked to them.

Let’s give some more time to the international media. When it comes to your first question, we have captured for the last three days in any province, there hasn’t been any case of murder, there is full security across the country. Our poet has been kidnapped – we are going to follow up with this – our poets, our talented people should not be harmed, this should be stopped. The current situation is like, resembles a martial law kind of situation. It will soon come back to normal. No one will be able to kidnap anyone.

Compare now to last week, for example; there’s a huge difference. Nobody’s losing their life anymore. We are going to have more and more security, day by day. Those who have left the country – we don’t want anybody to be out of the country. This is the country, this is our common homeland, we have common values, common religion and common nation. We would like to come under the umbrella of these commonalities. We have undergone these problems and difficulties within this public amnesty, general amnesty, so no animosity is going to be followed up.

We are assuring our countrymen and women and the international community, we will not produce any narcotics. In 2001, if you remember, we had brought narcotics content production to zero in 2001, but our country was unfortunately occupied by then and the way was paved for reproduction of narcotics even at the level of the government – everybody was involved.

But from now on, nobody’s going to get involved, nobody can be involved in drug smuggling. Today, when we entered Kabul, we saw a large number of our youth who were sitting under the bridges or next to the walls and they were using narcotics. This was so unfortunate. I got saddened to see these young people without any faith in the future. From now on, Afghanistan will be a narcotics-free country but it needs international assistance. The international community should help us so that we can have alternative crops. We can provide alternative crops. Then, of course, very soon, we can bring it to an end.

I should mention that Afghanistan will have a strong Islamic government. What the name is going to be, what the specifications are going to be, let’s leave it to the political leaders. They are now conducting serious consultations in this regard, but we can assure you that it will be an Islamic and a strong government on the basis of our values and will not be against the values and benefits of our people.

We will do our most to make sure that everybody is included in the country, even those people against us in the past, so we are going to wait until those announcements are made. Government agencies will be able to start working again very soon. When it comes to women, of course, they will be able to work within the frameworks of our Islamic laws for example in education, in health, in prosecution. Of course, women are needed, they are going to be able be working.

Foreign fighters, one point that Afghanistan soil is not meant to be used against anybody. I should assure the international community, anyone who means to use our land against other countries, we are not going to allow them at all. The government is being formed. The problems are being resolved, our leaders are involved. We are going to announce everything in the next few days, such as that the situation is under control now for a better government. 

The first question about foreign fighters, is that we will not allow any foreigners who wish to harm or threaten the security of the country’s space in Afghanistan. And we have assured this. As for your second question, as for the government setup, we are still working on it. It will be in stages.

Can women continue to work for the media in the same way as in the past?

Just wait and see what the future government is going to say. Our laws, when it comes to media and other essentials are going to be such that everybody should be able to work but within the framework of the Islamic Sharia laws, because currently we can’t actually present you with everything clearly. Just wait for the government, for the laws to be promulgated, and then we will of course be able to observe those laws and regulations.

The question is whether you’re in touch with Dr Abdullah, Hekmatyar and Hamid Karzai. Let’s just say, that very soon we will be witnessing the formation of the government, announcing the government. We will do our most to make sure that we are in touch with all sides, with Dr Abdullah, with others, we have been communicating with them. We’re continuing our communication with them we will do our most to make sure that all Afghans are included. Nobody should be left out, or anybody with interests to serve the nation, they’re not going to be ignored. So the future government will be inclusive. As to when our leader is going to enter the country, enter Kabul, I should mention that very soon. The decision will be made. The government will be announced and all problems will be solved.

We should wait a little bit more, because it’s like an emergency at the moment, we will make sure that everybody’s included, and we’ll have a proper and healthy government.

The question is about the relations with the rest of the world, because as I mentioned before, Afghanistan wants to have very good relations with everybody. In order to revive our economy, in order to ensure prosperity, in order to come out of this current crisis that calls for having really good relations with neighboring countries, with other countries, we are doing our best to make sure that we are communicating with neighboring countries within the framework of international diplomatic frameworks and on the basis of good neighborly agreements and mutual respect.

Thank you so much for coming here. We don’t have enough time, unfortunately, thank you so much for coming. Have a good day.”

IT IS THE RIGHT DECISION - JOE BIDEN.

"Good afternoon. I want to speak today to the unfolding situation in Afghanistan, the developments that have taken place in the last week and the steps we’re taking to address the rapidly evolving events. My national security team and I had been closely monitoring the situation on the ground in Afghanistan and are moving quickly to execute the plans we had put in place to respond to every constituency, including any contingency, including the rapid collapse we’re seeing. Now I’ll speak more in a moment about the specific steps we’re taking, but I want to remind everyone how we got here and what America’s interests are in Afghanistan. We went to Afghanistan almost 20 years ago with clear goals. Get those who attacked us on September 11th, 2001, and make sure Al-Qaida could not use Afghanistan as a base from which to attack. Again. We did that. We severely degraded Al-Qaida in Afghanistan.

We never gave up the hunt for Osama bin Laden. And we got him. That was a decade ago. Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been nation building. It was never supposed to be creating a unified, centralized democracy. Our only vital national interests in Afghanistan remains today what it has always been: preventing a terrorist attack on American Homeland. I’ve argued for many years that our mission should be narrowly focused on counter terrorism, not counterinsurgency or nation building. That’s why I opposed the surge when it was proposed in 2009 when I was vice-president. And that’s why as president I’m adamant, we focus on the threats we face today in 2021, not yesterday’s threats. The terrorist threat has metastasized well beyond Afghanistan, El Shabaab in Somalia, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula on the loose in Syria, ISIS attempting to create a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and establishing affiliates in multiple countries in Africa and Asia.

These threats warrant our attention and our resources. We conduct effective counter-terrorism missions against terrorist groups in multiple countries where we don’t have permanent military presence. If necessary, we’ll do the same in Afghanistan. We’ve developed counter-terrorism over their rising of capability that will allow us to keep our eyes firmly fixed on the direct threats to the United States in the region and act quickly and decisively if needed. When I came into office, I inherited a deal that president Trump negotiated with the Taliban. Under his agreement, US forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1st, 2021, just a little over three months after I took office, US forces that were already drawn down during the Trump administration from roughly 15,500 American forces to 2,500 troops in country. And the Taliban was at its strongest militarily since 2001. The choice I had to make as your president was either to follow through on that agreement, or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban in the middle of the spring fighting season. There would have been no ceasefire after May 1.

There was no agreement protecting our forces after May one, there was no status quo of stability without American casualties. After May one, there was only a cold reality of either following through on the agreement to withdraw our forces or escalating the conflict and sending thousands more American troops back into combat in Afghanistan, lurching into the third decade of conflict. I stand squarely behind my decision. After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces. That’s why we’re still there. We were clear-eyed about the risks we plan for every contingency, but I always promised the American people that I will be straight with you. The truth is this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. So what’s happened. Afghanistan’s political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight.

If anything, the developments of the past week reinforced that ending US military involvement in Afghanistan now was the right decision. American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves. We spent over a trillion dollars. We trained and equipped an Afghan military force of some 300,000 strong, incredibly well-equipped, a force larger in size than the militaries of many of our NATO allies. We gave them every tool they could need. We paid their salaries, provided for the maintenance of their air force. Something that Taliban doesn’t have. The Taliban does not have an air force. We provided close air support. We gave them every chance to determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to fight for that future. There’s some very brave and capable Afghan special forces, units, and soldiers.

But Afghanistan is unable to mount any real resistance to the Taliban now, there is no chance that one year, one more year, five more years or 20 more years of US military boots in the ground would have made any difference. Here’s what I believe to my core. It is wrong to order American troops to step up when Afghanistan’s own armed forces would not. The political leaders of Afghanistan were unable to come together for the good of their people, are unable to negotiate for the future of their country. When the chips were down, they would never have done so while US troops remained in Afghanistan, bearing the brunt of the fighting for them. And our true strategic competitors, China and Russia, would love nothing more than the United States to continue to funnel billions of dollars in resources and attention into stabilizing Afghanistan indefinitely.

When I hosted the president Ghani and chairman of Abdullah at the White House in June, and again, when I spoke by phone to Ghani in July, we had very frank conversations. We talked about how Afghanistan should prepare to fight their civil wars after the U S military department, to clean up the corruption in government. So the government could function for the Afghan people. We talked extensively about the need for Afghan leaders to unite politically. They failed to do any event. I also urged them to engage in diplomacy, to seek a political settlement with the Taliban. This advice was flatly refused. Mr. Ghani insisted that the Afghan forces would fight, but obviously he was wrong.

So I’m left again to ask of those who argue that we should stay: How many more generations of America’s daughters and sons would you have me send to the fight Afghanistan’s civil war when Afghan troops will now? How many American lives is it worth? How many endless rows of headstones at Arlington National Cemetery. I’m clear on my answer. I will not repeat the mistakes we’ve made in the past. The mistake of staying and fighting indefinitely in a conflict is not in the national interest of the United States, nor is doubling down on a civil war in a foreign country or attempting to remake a country through the endless military deployments of US forces. Those are the mistakes we can not continue to repeat because we have significant vital interest in the world that we cannot afford to ignore.

I also want to acknowledge how painful this is for so many of us. The scenes we’re seeing in Afghanistan. They’re gut-wrenching, particularly for our veterans, our diplomats, humanitarian workers, for anyone who has spent time on the ground, working to support the Afghan people, or those who have lost loved ones in Afghanistan, and for Americans who have fought and served in the country, served our country in Afghanistan. This is deeply, deeply personal. It is for me as well. I’ve worked on these issues as long as anyone. I’ve been throughout Afghanistan during this war, while the war was going on, from Kabul to Kandahar to the Qunar valley. I’ve traveled there on four different occasions. I’ve met with the people. I’ve spoken to the leaders. I spent time with our troops and I came to understand firsthand what was and was not possible in Afghanistan. So now we’re focused, focused on what is possible.

We will continue to support the Afghan people. We will lead with our diplomacy, our international influence and our humanitarian aid. We’ll continue to push for regional diplomacy and engagement to prevent violence and instability. We’ll continue to speak out for the basic rights of Afghan people, of women and girls, just as we speak out all over the world, I’ve been clear that human rights must be the center of our foreign policy, not the periphery, but the way to do it is not through endless military deployments. So with our diplomacy or economic tools and rallying the world to join us, well, let me lay out the current mission in Afghanistan.

I was asked to authorize and I did 6,000 us troops to deploy to Afghanistan for the purpose of assisting the departure of US and allied civilian personnel from Afghanistan, and to evacuate our Afghan allies and vulnerable Afghans to safety outside of Afghanistan. Our troops are working to secure the airfield and ensure continued operation of both the civilian and military flights. We’re taking over our air traffic control. We have safely shut down our embassy and transferred our diplomats. Our diplomatic presence is now consolidated at the airport as well. Over the coming days, we intend to transport out thousands of American citizens who’ve been living and working in Afghanistan. We’ll also continue to support the safe departure of civilian personnel, the civilian personnel of our allies, who are still serving Afghanistan. Operation Allies Refugee, which I announced back in July, has already moved 2000 Afghans who are eligible for special immigration visas and their families to the United States.

In the coming days, the US military will provide assistance to move more SIV eligible Afghans and their families out of Afghanistan. We’re also expanding refugee access to cover other vulnerable Afghans who worked for our embassy, US non-governmental organizations and Afghans who otherwise are at great risk in US news agencies. I know there are concerns about why we did not begin evacuating Afghan civilians sooner. Part of the answer is some of the Afghans did not want to leave earlier, still hopeful for their country and part of it because the Afghan government and its supporters discouraged the US from organizing a mass exodus to avoid “triggering, as they said, a crisis of confidence. 

American troops are performing this mission as professionally and as effectively as they always do, but it is not without risks. As we carry out this departure, we’ve made it clear to the Taliban that if they attack our personnel or disrupt our operation, the US presence will be swift, and the response will be swift and forceful. We would defend our people with devastating force if necessary in our current military mission, with shortened time, limited scope and focused on its objectives: get our people and our allies as safely and quickly as possible. And once we have completed this mission, we will conclude our military withdrawal will end America’s longest war. 

After 20 long years of bloodshed, the events we’re seeing now are sadly proof that no amount of military force would ever deliver a stable, united, secure Afghanistan, as known in history as the graveyard of empires. What’s happening now could just as easily happen five years ago, or 15 years in the future, you have to be honest. Our mission in Afghanistan has taken many missteps, made many missteps over the past two decades. I’m now the fourth American president to preside over war in Afghanistan, two Democrats, and two Republicans. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth president. I will not mislead the American people by claiming that just a little more time in Afghanistan will make all the difference, nor will I shrink from my share of responsibility for where we are today and how we must move forward from here. I am president of the United States of America, and the buck stops with me.

I’m deeply saddened by the facts we now face, but I do not regret my decision to end America’s war fighting Afghanistan, and maintain a laser focus on our counter-terrorism missions there and other parts of the world. Our mission to degrade the terrorist threat of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and kill Osama bin Laden was a success. Our decades-long effort to overcome centuries of history and permanently change and remake Afghanistan was not. And I wrote and believed it never could be. I cannot and will not ask our troops to fight on endlessly in another in another country’s civil war, taking casualties, suffering life-shattering injuries, leaving families broken by grief and loss. This is not in our national security interest. It is not what the American people want. It is not what our troops who have sacrificed so much over the past two decades deserve. I made a commitment to the American people.

When I ran for president, I said I’d bring America’s military involvement in Afghanistan to an end. While it’s been hard and messy, and yes, far from perfect, I’ve honored that commitment. More importantly, I made a commitment to the brave men and women who served this nation that I wasn’t going to ask them to continue to risk their lives in a military accident that should’ve have ended up long ago. Our leaders did that in Vietnam when I got here as a young man. I will not do it in Afghanistan. I know my decision will be criticized, but I would rather take all that criticism than pass this decision onto another president of the United States, yet another one, a fifth one, because it’s the right one. It’s the right decision for our people, the right one for our brave service members who have risked their lives, serving our nation. And it’s the right one for America. Thank you. May God protect our troops, our diplomats, and all the brave Americans serving in harm’s way." - Joe Biden.

AFGHANIS ESCORT US AIR FORCE PLANE OUT OF KABUL AIRPORT.

ICHEOKU says the photo of the day which has now entered into the pantheons of greatest photographs ever taken. It is iconic and generations yet unborn will look at it and say what led to it and how was the situation not managed better in order to avoid such an outcome. The Kabul airport photograph now compares to the Marines raising of American flag photograph in Iwo Jima, the Napalm naked girl of Vietnam and the Beatles on Abbey Lane, just to mention a few. #TheKabulPhoto.

BROKEN EGG AFGHANISTAN IS JOE BIDEN'S OMELETTE: YUMMY AMERICAN BREAKFAST.

ICHEOKU says supports Joe Biden's resolve on the complete withdrawal of all American troops from Afghanistan, but rejects the attempt to put some blame on President Donald John Trump for an Afghanistan upturned by the Taliban. Joe Biden has been canceling everything and anything with Trump's name and signature on it, and could have also easily canceled whatever agreement which President Donald John Trump reached with the Taliban on Afghanistan withdrawal. But he chose otherwise and did not do so. Rather, he fully embraced the agreement in fulfillment of his own election campaign pledge to finally end the Afghanistan war by bringing all the troops back home and proceeded to do so. 

Therefore, whatever happened in Afghanistan under Joe Biden's watch was entirely of his own making as the buck squarely stopped on his desk and nobody else. It was under Joe Biden's watch that Taliban took back their Afghanistan which was previously taken from them by the Americans in 2001 and so is the story, period. The Taliban merely took back what belongs to them and nobody, not even Joe Biden, should be blamed for the fate which finally befell Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan made their choice in choosing the Taliban over the government in Kabul, otherwise the 300,000 "well trained" and well equipped" Afghanistan soldiers would have easily defended their country against the 75,000 rag tag Taliban fighters. But they did not because they are all Taliban and prefer their medieval lifestyle as opposed to Western civilized lifestyle. 

Everybody should therefore butt out and let Afghanis carry on with the type of governance which they prefer and have chosen. They made their choice abundantly very clear by openly welcoming Taliban back to their country's seat of power in Kabul.  We should therefore not cry them a river or pretend that we are more Afghanistan than Afghanis, or that we love them more than they love themselves or that we know best what type of governance is better for Afghanistan. They had twenty years of experimenting a civilized Western form of governance and to choose which type of government they prefer, and they have chosen their medieval Taliban. It was not for lack of trying or that America finally did what they should have done since 2011 following the Osama bin Laden killing, but that Afghanis are strongly convinced that Taliban style of governance is best for them and in their best interest. 

So, it would not have mattered if America extended its stay by another twenty years or indefinitely; did not enter an agreement with the Taliban on withdrawal ofamerican troops from Afghanistan; or did not even announce the withdrawal date. The outcome would have remained the same, the Taliban would have still returned back to power. It is entrenched in Afghanis' DNA as they were born and programmed that way, and no Jupiter would have effected a different outcome short of completely wiping out every Afghani above the age of 30 years and then take a chance at retraining and reprogramming those left behind. President Donald John Trump rightly said that winning the war would have required the killing about ten million Afghanis but he chose not to kill that many people. To this, ICHEOKU adds that the number would actually have been double the assessed figure if there were to be any chance of ever building a new nation of Afghanistan with a fully purged Taliban mindset. 

But since killing this millions of Afghanis was not possible nor an option and former President Hamid Karzai unceasingly berated America each time there is some collateral damage, accusing America of genocide and war crimes, it was good that America cut their losses and beat it fast out of that country. You cannot help a people who do not want to be helped as it is clear that twenty years of persuasion did not move a needle in them. So, with them moving back to their Stone Age life, it will make it one less place for the world to worry about with the dwindling of resources and developmental aids facing the world. Taliban is the majority party in Afghanistan and they proved it with the easy manner with which they routed the country, with their members in the Afghanistan national army surrendering to them as they pushed to Kabul rather than fight them. Needless to add that the embedded Taliban in the Afghanistan national army were even also killing American soldiers who were training them. 

Therefore, ending the outrage that was the extended stay in Afghanistan was a thing whose time came since in 2011, but which Joe Biden finally, courageously and resolutely fulfilled. He should be commended and supported for doing the right thing and what is in the best interest of American people. No amount of blackmail will tarnish Joe Biden's legacy on this issue or cajole him into sending American troops back in Afghanistan to continue fighting an unwinnable war with the Taliban, especially when their fellow Afghanis refused to fight them because they are the same family members. It is their country, their people and their Taliban; let them deal with themselves as they see fit. So, to hell with anyone who is blaming Joe Biden for finally manning up, backbone firmed and doing what should have been done ten years earlier in 2011. Afghanis do not want to be civilized and prefers their ancient lifestyle, and the world cannot do anything further but to indulge them. 

Sadly enough, the same foreign media and some domestic pundits, who were attacking America for "killing innocent women and children" in Afghanistan, are the same people who are now pillorying America for ending the "killing or innocent women and children of Afghanistan" by withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan. They are piling pressure on Joe Biden to force him to reverse course, but thankfully, Joe Biden is not President Donald John Trump who is easily swayed by such armed chair criticism and "opinion polls". Joe Biden is fully resolved and completely convinced in the rightness of his decision to end that war and majority of American people approve and stand firmly with him. Having such a firm resolve is the benefit of his political longevity and he will be rewarded with additional votes should he run again in 2024 because of this. It is the right thing to do and he did it, despite the pressure and for it ICHEOKU is grateful and thankful. 

The world should take solace in that Taliban is just another form of governance and should accept the unshakeable fact that they have come back to power In Afghanistan. They were there before 9/11 and being there now should not make a whole of difference, if any. They should be accepted as the choice of majority of Afghanistan people, who cheered them on as they rolled through the territories and regional capitals of Afghanistan right into the presidential palace in Kabul. They met little to no resistance as they rolled, which shows that the Afghanis are on their side and supported their move against the President Ashraf Ghani's feeble government in Kabul. The world should bring them closer and work with them, in order to encourage them not to allow their territory to become a breeding ground for terrorists again. But should they open up their geographical space for terrorists to incubate, any attack linked to Afghanistan should be responded to with overwhelming fury. 

So, until such an event occurs, the world must now cool down, recognize that there is an incontrovertible  change of government in Kabul. A new sheriff is in town in Afghanistan and to deal with them in all matters affecting and concerning Afghanistan, is what they must do. For those who are saying that they will not recognize a government which fought its way into power, ICHEOKU says will like to remind them that there are so many governments in the world which similarly fought their way into power, including through military coups. Uganda's President Museveni Yoweri, Myanmar's military junta and Mali's Assimi Goita are few examples. There are also so many other governments in the world that were not democratically elected such as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, North Korea etc; yet the world still deals with them. How is the Taliban any different since "Taliban-ism" is just another form of government in addition to democracy, theocracy, monarchy, dictatorship, republican etc. #AshrafGhaniFled.

HAITI: A NATION CURSED, TORTURED AND TORMENTED?

"Slowly, strongly and for very long seconds the earth shook in Haiti on 14 August, 2021 around 8:30 am"; and in its aftermath, 304 people perished and 1,800 others were injured, and several buildings including hospitals and churches were damaged and destroyed. 

ICHEOKU says this was how a commentator described the latest earthquake to hit Haiti barely one month after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated inside his own bedroom in his own home in Port-au-Prince. So, how much can any nation really take and absorb being hounded by so many forces, including Mother Nature and some Western nations which are still punishing it for daring to declare their independence from France and humiliatingly defeating the French army. 

Haven't Haiti suffered enough already that the Western countries should have some compassion on them and help them to, in fact, finally and truly get on their feet. It is not about getting "back" on their feet because they were never on their feet; it is about making it possible for them to at last finally get on their feet standing. Even resettling them somewhere should also be an actionable option as Canada is under populated and America still have so many swaths of uninhabited lands. Better still, if only African countries had their acts together, resettling Haitians in motherland African continent would have been the best possible solution to their never ending back to back catastrophes which continues to plague the Caribbean Island nation. 

They did not ask to be taken out of Africa forcibly and dumped in their present location 400 years ago when slavery was abolished, but it is the hand which fate had dealt them. But it is a fixable problem which resettlement can solve if only there is the will to do so. Although some of them might buck at such an offer, but at least let those willing to be relocated be moved out of the Island and in that way help have a permanent fix to the recurring disasters which have rendered the country nearly paralyzed and completely dysfunctional. It was only in 2010 that a devastating earthquake struck the country, killed 300,000 people, injured 250,000 more, destroyed nearly all the meagre infrastructures. They are still suffering the effect as funds raised to help them rebuild met some unsavory end in the hands of the Clintons who were appointed to supervise it. 

They are reeling from that 2010 earthquake and other disastrous hurricanes when their president was assassinated last July 7th, 2021 and now a little over one month later, August 14, 2021, the Island nation has once again been pulverized by a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake. An earthquake stronger than the 2010 but which have so far killed only about 10% of the casualty figure of 2010 as more bodies are likely to be unearthed underneath the rubbles. From the Haitian government update, 304 bodies have been recovered with many more feared still buried and trapped underneath the rubbles; 1,800 people sustained all manners of injuries, many buildings including hospital, churches, hotels and homes were damaged and destroyed as well.

ICHEOKU says it is about time a constructive solution is found to mitigate the recurring decimal that is Haiti on its back, lying prostrate, with no hope of ever attaining greatness because each time they try to get up, one disaster always comes calling to abort whatever effort that was being made to stand the country up on its two feet. Even their presidential palace which was damaged in the 2010 earthquake and later demolished has not yet been rebuilt, eleven long years after. It was most likely for this reason, that the killers of President Jovenel Moise easily had their way penetrating his private home in Port-au-Prince. It would not have been that easy killing a president inside a presidential palace except it was a palace coup carried out by the same presidential security guard charged with his protection details. 

Be that as it may, the usual sloganeering which always follows disasters in Haiti is no longer enough. It cannot remain the usual refrain of "recovering as many survivors as possible" and "helping Haiti to rebuild", because it never happens and once the news cameras are turned out, such promises go out the window. Haiti's life by its nature is forever "a challenging time" and has remained so throughout its existence. Therefore the usual handouts is no longer sufficient in addressing the Haitian problem. Even their ancestors' blood being strong to keep them rising right back up following every disaster is equally no longer enough. More needs to be done towards finding a lasting solution to the Haiti's problems. In some cultures, divinities and oracles would have been consulted to see what curse Haiti is under as not even their co-island neighbor, Dominican Republic, sees anything near half the problems of Haiti. 

Something needs to be done about Haiti because the country has suffered enough and needs to be helped. Please dear God, if the people of Haiti did something terribly wrong before thine eyes or are being punished for the iniquities of their forebears to the third generation, show them mercy and forgive them for they have suffered enough. To our Haitian brethren and friends, our prayers are with you as you face yet again another disastrous wrath of Mother Nature, an unwanted gift which keeps on giving bountifully. If only America could invest even half of the resources it spends in "building nations" in far away countries, thousands of miles away from the American Western Hemisphere, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan, in its "backyard", Haiti will not be in such dire strait it is in. The rickety structures in the Island not built to standards also does not help matters when earthquakes and hurricanes strike. 

But regardless, a country already supine can only get more desolate with each disaster pelting it, making it impossible for it to ever get up. Unfortunately, Haiti's black lives does not seem to matter either to BLM or Western powers, particularly the United States of America, which does not pay as much attention to the countries in its immediate backyard of the Caribbean as it expends thousands of miles away. It is about time America started worrying more about countries in its neck of the wood and help them stabilize fully. Imagine what the $700 million spent on the soon to be abandoned Kabul building could have done in Haiti. But no, Haiti does not matter and if at all, not enough to be worthy of such an investment despite that charity is supposed to begin from home; and the Caribbean is nearer home to America than Kabul or Baghdad. It should not be only when a country "sponsors, harbors and trains" terrorists that they should matter and deserving of some "nation building".

It is sad how that Caribbean Island nation of Haiti has been treated or rather neglected by successive United States of American governments, American companies and the general American business community. Imagine how many Haitians who will be fully gainfully employed if all the American companies shipping jobs overseas to China and India had redirected their offshoring activities into Haiti. Imagine the transformation that would have been seen in Haiti if the American government decided to do some real "nation building" in Haiti as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan. Haiti deserves better and if they are intentionally being blackballed for disgracing the French army, it is time to let the past lie in the past where they belong. America should lift the discrete sanction against Haiti and treat them as a neighbor and member of the Western Hemisphere under America's supreme control. May the souls of the Haitians' earthquake dead now rest.

NO IMPEACHMENT FOR CUOMO, HE IS "NO LONGER IN OFFICE": HOW ABOUT TRUMP?

ICHEOKU says the New York State Assembly said that it is suspending or rather dropping the impeachment investigation against Governor Andrew Cuomo because it is no longer necessary to impeach a governor who has resigned his office and that the legislature does not have authority to impeach an official who no longer holds office. According to them, the constitution of New York State bars impeaching a governor who has already resigned from office; and the language of the constitution did not contemplate impeachment when removal from office is not the central issue for determination. 

Therefore, the impeachment inquiry against Governor Andrew Cuomo is no longer needed and will be dropped because the purpose of impeachment is "to determine whether or not he should remain in office", a matter which is now moot and overtaken by his resignation. The Democrats running the place now tells us that New York State's constitution does not allow the legislature to impeach an elected official who is no longer in office. Yet, the same people want us to believe that the United States of America's constitution is somewhat different from New York State's constitution in matters of impeachment and "specifically" allows the impeachment of a president who is no longer in office. Definitely interesting. 

ICHEOKU says, it is yet another clear example of the double standards of the Democratic Party's liberal left, making it up as they go, and as it suits their objective. According to Senator Kennedy of Louisiana, these people will have no standard at all if it wasn't for double standards. Now, that Governor Andrew Cuomo has resigned his office, probably all his sins are immaculately washed away and everything is now honky dory. But President Donald John Trump served out his first term in office and was no longer in office when the same Democratic Party still impeached him just because they can (could). It is very sad to watch the Democratic Party invent, choose and pick, and selectively apply laws as it suits their political machination. 

As every unbiased person knows, impeachment operates only as a disqualification tool against an official from remaining in office and also in more egregious cases, sometimes bans the said official from holding any future office. It therefore necessary follows that once an office holder who is impeachment-targeted is no longer in office, either by resignation or completion of term, that impeachment loses its sting. This is right with Governor Andrew Cuomo as presently correctly determined by the New York legislature; and it was also right with then President Donald John Trump. The only difference was that the Democratic Party decided to weaponize impeachment against the later just to damage him politically. It is wrong to use laws for political purposes and/or as a means to specifically achieve a desired end, regardless. 

Anyway, ICHEOKU says will stay tuned to see how the Cuomo scandal eventually finally and fully resolves itself. It is likely that his resignation will be the magic silver bullet which will take care of all business since the primary objective of the gang up against him was to prevent him from challenging Joe Biden in the Democratic Party's primaries in 2024. They have harpooned him and his recovering from the grave wound will be difficult, if not impossible. Now that the book of impeachment, suspended or forever, has been closed, lets see if all other intended actions against him will be similarly put on ice, shelved. It is the Democratic Party machine and they do not show mercy in dispensing their poisonous brew. Governor Andrew Cuomo drank it and have gone into coma and the prognosis is not good.

IS AFGHANISTAN LOST? WHO CARES.

ICHEOKU says in answer to the question shouted at Joe Biden, who really cares if that desolate, tribal-treachery infested country is lost or not. But even as a devil's advocate, lost to who anyway since the Taliban and the government in Kabul are all Afghanis. They are merely two sides of the same coin, two contending ideological opposites battling for the soul of Afghanistan as is normally obtained in any two political party country. So, what use is it anyway and for what benefit is it to America, saving Afghanistan. They only know how to live in ruination and preferably so; so to ruination let them return of their own freewill. People who are largely caves and mountains rural dwellers, who prefer their ancient ways of doing things, should be allowed to exercise their God's given right and freedom to do so, case closed. 

There is no use trying to impose a modern civilized western society on them, so, the West should indulge them and allow them to revert to their ancient ways. Enough of the expenses in blood and treasure in a place which does not deserve it and where the supposed beneficiaries, the Afghanis, are rather an ungrateful people. Recall that their former President Hamid Karzai, a closeted Taliban, accused American troops of committing war crimes and genocide against the Taliban. America has done more than enough protecting them and if it is not good enough for them, so be it. Like Joe Biden rightly said, it time for Afghanis to defend themselves and Joe Biden spoke for most people, including ICHEOKU.

Although ICHEOKU does not usually agree with Joe Biden, not a fan; but his putting his feet down on the matter of complete withdrawal of United States of American forces from Afghanistan is one foreign policy decision which he got absolutely right. It has nothing to do with partisan politics or the continuing disagreement with the manner he was installed in the White House last November 3rd, 2020. It is a commendable decision made in the best interest of every American, particularly those whose wards, sons and daughter, moms and dads, are in active service who have been rotating in and out of Afghanistan this past 20 years. It is also a good decision as it will stop the bleeding on America's treasury which have seen $2 trillion already melted away. 

Although those who lost their loved ones in Afghanistan might be tempted to ask, why now and not much earlier before their loved ones were killed. To these Americans, ICHEOKU says there is never a time specific when to cut losses, but the important thing is that it was eventually done. Their loved ones did not die in vain as they died fighting for their country, admitted the mission objective was murky at best and not clearly spelt out. However, those who died before Osama bin Laden was killed, died absolutely for a reason; they were actively searching for the 9/11 terrorist mastermind who was eventually located and summarily dispatched to go meet his 70 virgins. That was when the "mission accomplished" would have been declared and the troops pulled out immediately back home. 

Anyway, it is always better late than never and the fact that it was eventually done and being implemented is enough consolation. The decision will save more American families from experiencing such tragic loss of their own loved ones in that damnable place and avoidable war. ICHEOKU says America will stop getting into all these otherwise avoidable and needless wars the day the military draft will be re-instituted, so that everyone in America will begin to have a dog in any resulting fight. That way all those Washington DC war profiteers will be more circumspect before lobbying for any war somewhere around the planet, aware that their immediate family members, sons or daughters, will be in harm's way and possibly fall victim to an enemy's bullet or IED or other forms of bombing. 

But the less privileged of the society constitute the bulwark of the soldiers and wasting 2,218 of them in just Afghanistan alone appears to be no "big deal" to these war profiteering and mongers in Washington DC; and you wonder if the departed loved ones agree and share that conclusion. An Afghanistan war that has cost American taxpayers $2 trillion, killed 2,312 American soldiers including a general, gravely wounded 20,66 other soldiers, many of who can never make full recovery to once again rejoin society as full functioning members of the society; is a war too expensive and which should have been ended a long time ago. So, it does not matter anymore if Afghanistan is lost or not, as that was not the primary mission objective of sending the troops into Afghanistan in 2001. 

America did not go into Afghanistan to win or conquer Afghanistan. They went to find Osama bin Laden and they found him and killed him, case closed. Every other thing after that were mere propaganda spooned to continue milking the cow of American treasury by the war profiteers. It  will be good if a commission is raised to investigate the Afghanistan war, both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Freedom's Sentinel because they reek of abject failure and corruption. A matter made even worse because some sources claim that about 40% of the $103 billion spent on reconstruction in Afghanistan went into private hands including insurgents, Taliban, war lords and government officials. It is also possible that similar statistics could be unearthed in the trillions of dollars spent on the war itself; begging the question, who got them?

ICHEOKU says where is the Afghanistan military and police force who American people were told "have been very effective in fighting the Taliban insurgent?" If they existed, why were they surrendering in droves to the Taliban without even, in some cases, firing a shot in defense of their homeland. Why are some of them even choosing to be executed by the Taliban upon surrender, rather than fight and die in defense of their country? Did managers of the war purposely lie to the American people about the progress of the war objective in order to keep the spigot of the treasury open and continuously flowing dollar bills into the war effort? Did they also lie about the preparedness of Afghanistan military in order to cover up the billions of dollars wasted in "training and equipping" them? 

Is it possible that they did not care at all whether or not Afghanistan military were trained and equipped and ready to face the Taliban, as long as it provided them an avenue to continue making money and turning profits for their war corporations masters. If an American military trained Afghanistan military could so easily, without any serious resistance, fold up like cardboard in the face of the Taliban, what does it say about the quality of military training which they received? Was it that they were not trained properly or that those who were trained are members of Taliban which explains the easy with which they routed the real Afghanistan military. Which one is it, because the quality of America military training is now implicated and thus indicted as a result of the rapid collapse of the Afghanistan military which they trained. 

Who is to blame; the teacher or the student or did the teacher teach the wrong student? How could anybody explain the speed at which the Taliban is sweeping across Afghanistan, with the Afghanistan military deserting their duty posts, surrendering their arms and weapons, including US Humvees which the Taliban are driving around and into battle fields. Only a commission of inquiry can ferret out these answers and therefore one is called for. Congress should set up a commission of inquiry to look into what went wrong with Afghanistan. Twenty years, two trillion dollars, General Joseph Harry Greene killed, thousands of other war dead and wounded Americans, yet 300,000 American trained Afghanistan military could not defend and protect their country against less than 70,000 Taliban fighters. This cannot be flushed down the toilet and forgotten by accepting the impending, inevitable complete and total collapse of Afghanistan; otherwise, what was the point? It is a shame.