The first segment does a good job of putting the reports about civilian "collateral damage," i.e., noncombatants killed in US military operations, into thze context of how difficult it is for the US to win over local populations in guerilla wars like that in Afghanistan. U.S. Drone Strike Kills Multiple Civilians In Kabul:
Making imagine-if-it-happened-to-us points can be tricky. But they do a good job of it in that segment. If the police in an American city took an action against someone they considered dangerous and numerous civilians including small children was killed, the media would be asking lots of questions and highlighting the distress of the survivors.
In the following segment, they stress the importance of pressing the Biden-Harris Administration for much more transparency about what their counterterrorism strategy is for Afghanistan going forward. Are they intending to keep up drone strikes based somewhere outside the country against ISIS-K, which both the Taliban and their Pakistan allies consider enemies? Would such strikes only be in retaliation against attacks on Americans? Will they cooperate with the Taliban government in Afghanistan on those strikes, which to some extent would make the US a military ally of the Taliban? Will the US supply clandestine aid to groups opposing the Taliban government, one of the most significant of those groups at the moment being ISIS-K?
U.S. Military SILENT on Future Forever Wars:
I try to avoid quoting recovering Republican neocon Jennifer Rubin, who has become a favorite of many Democrats. But I'm making an exception here for her column, Biden tells some hard truths few want to hear Washington Post 08/29/2021. She gives a talking-points-style refutation of many Republican and mainstream-media takes aimed at prolonging US participation in the Afghanistan forever war. She won't get an criticism from me on this point, for instance: "We need some sober reflection on the folly of overeager interventionism."
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