The New York Times has a 4,000 words long piece about the war on Afghanistan. It tries to explain why the Taliban won the war.

How the Taliban Outlasted a Superpower: Tenacity and Carnage

It is also a remarkable attempt to ignore the factual history:

[The Taliban] have outlasted a superpower through nearly 19 years of grinding war. And dozens of interviews with Taliban officials and fighters in three countries, as well as with Afghan and Western officials, illuminated the melding of old and new approaches and generations that helped them do it.

After 2001, the Taliban reorganized as a decentralized network of fighters and low-level commanders empowered to recruit and find resources locally while the senior leadership remained sheltered in neighboring Pakistan.

That is simply wrong. Between the end of 2001 and 2007 there were no Taliban. The movement had dissolved.

The author later acknowledges that there were no Taliban activity throughout those years. But the narrative is again skewed:

Many Taliban commanders interviewed for this article said that in the initial months after the invasion, they could scarcely even dream of a day they might be able to fight off the U.S. military. But that changed once their leadership regrouped in safe havens provided by Pakistan’s military — even as the Pakistanis were receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid.

From that safety, the Taliban planned a longer war of attrition against U.S. and NATO troops. Starting with more serious territorial assaults in 2007, the insurgents revived and refined an old blueprint the United States had funded against the Soviets in the same mountains and terrain — but now it was deployed against the American military.

Even before the U.S. invaded Afghanistan the Taliban had recognized that they lacked the capability to run a country. They had managed to make Afghanistan somewhat secure. The warlords who had fought each other after the Soviet draw down were suppressed and the streets were again safe. But there was no development, no real education or health system and no money to create them.

When the U.S. invaded the Taliban dispersed. On December 5 2001 Taliban leader Mullah Omar resigned and went into hiding within Afghanistan. For one day the Taliban defense minister Mullah Obaidullah became the new leader. From the The Secret Life of Mullah Omar by Bette Dam:

Cont. reading: NYT Writeup Of U.S. War On Afghanistan Ignores U.S. Atrocities

The case of the death and resurrection of the Russian journalist Babchenko in Kiev is even more surreal than it seemed so far. According to Ukrainian sources and court documents the whole hoax was part of an attempt to raid and take over a private company. 

Babchenko himself and the man who was hired to "kill" him had cooperated with the main branch of the Ukrainian national security service (SBU). The "operator", who is accused of having hired the "killer" for Russia, appeared in court. He claimed to have cooperated with the Ukrainian counter intelligence agency, which is side branch of the national security service. The accused "operator" is an executive of a private joint venture and has been under pressure over claims against his company. There are indications that the whole stunt may have been staged to get him "out of the way" to then take over the company he leads.

The suggestion is that high levels of the Ukrainian security services staged the whole affair not only to blame Russia but also for someone's personal gain.

In 2017 Arkady Babchenko, despised in Russia for his open hostility against its people, came via Israel to the Ukraine. He was welcome in Kiev for his anti-Russian position. Babchenko found a job with ATR, a Crimean Tatar TV station. The fine-print on the ATR website says that it "was supported by the Media Development Fund of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine".

On May 29 the Ukrainian government claimed that Babchenko had been assassinated. As usual the death of a journalist hostile to Russia was used by NATO aligned media to blame Russia, the Kremlin and Putin. That there was zero evidence that Russia was involved did not matter at all.  A photo of the allegedly killed Babchenko laying in his blood emerged.

Crisis actor Arkady Babchenko – bigger

The very next day the General Prosecutor of the Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko and the head of the National Security Service (SBU) Vasyl Grytsak (also written as Hrytsak) held a press conference and presented a very alive and happy Arkady Babchenko. He had not been shot at all. The whole hoax, it was explained, was launched to find the people behind an alleged assassination campaign originating in Russia. In this official version the Russians hired some Ukrainian "operator" who then hired the "killer" to assassinate Babchenko. The hired killer told the police about it and the hoax of Babchenko's death was staged to find the culprits behind the plot.

All those western "journalists" who had believed Ukrainian government claims without any evidence and wrote unfounded accusations  against Russia were not amused. The Ukrainian government exposed them as the mere propaganda tools and fools they are. The "journalist"  Babchenko himself, interviewed by Bloomberg's Leonid Bershidsky, comes off as a naive and rather dim light.

Yesterday the "hired killer", one Alexey Tsymbalyuk, went public. He is a Ukrainian nationalist who had fought against the the Russia supported entities in eastern Ukraine. He has since become an orthodox priest.

Cont. reading: Ukraine – The Babchenko Hoax Was Part Of A Corporate Raid

For b reals exhaustive coverage of Somalia and other Africa issues.

The previous Africa thread is here.

Posted by b real in the older Africa Comments thread a video that shows a white civilian training TFG2 soldiers (at 1:40) in Somalia. There is more colonial meddling Former Somali army officers to meet for UN-backed talks in U.S. capital. Only if such foreign intervention ends Somalia will have a chance to find peace.

More Africa news in the comments.

As b real documented in the older Africa Thread, there are currently lots of weapons moving into and around Somalia. Al-Shabab is bringing up 'tanks' to Mogadishu and another showdown with the induced government and its supporting UN troops may come soon. In the north unknown low-flying planes were observed above Garowe, the capitol of the semi-autonomous Puntland.

Unknown aeroplanes which are said to be low flying have been spotted tonight in various residential areas in Garowe [north-eastern Somalia], Puntland region. The true identity of these planes are not yet known, however, some have said that they belong to the American Navy based along the Somali coast and particularly Puntland and are fighting piracy and terrorism in the Horn of Africa.

One of the planes flew at a very low range and could be seen by residents of Garoowe who are concerned about possible military operation that might be carried out by these planes along the Puntland coast.

Low flying planes at night is a bit curious. Reconnaissance drones tend to fly high. Someone delivered something overnight by parachute?

More on Africa in the comments.

Comments on the informal coast guards at the Horn of Africa and other issues …

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Note:
You can always access b’real‘s most recent Africa comments in the second top box in the left column.

The antecedent thread to this one is here. A really interesting read.

Pirates, natural resources and Africom …

The antecessor thread is here.

On the left side of the homepage is a new category box titled 'b real's Africa Comments'. b real posts lots and lots of Africa news items in the comments here, mostly on the countries around the Horn. One can not find such a collection elsewhere and his work deserves a permanent link from the homepage.

There will be a new thread for Africa Comments when the older one has 50 or so comments. The newest one will always be the top one linked in that category box. Of course everyone is welcome to add relevant thoughts, news or cheers for b real in those threads.

So what are all these navies really doing around the Horn of Africa? We are told they are there to protect against piracy. Somali fishermen tell a very different story.

From b real's latest item in the older thread.

SOMALIA: Getting tough on foreign vessels to save local fishermen

NAIROBI, 2 April 2009 (IRIN) – Somalia has revoked fishing licences for foreign vessels and is planning a new law to regulate fishing in its waters, a minister told IRIN on 2 April.
…
Abdullahi Sheikh Hassan, head of a fishing cooperative in the southern coastal town of Merka, told IRIN that livelihoods were being destroyed. "Fishing is the only thing we know and without it we have nothing," he said, adding that lack of support, combined with the foreign fishing vessels, was ruining fishing communities.
…
Reports of crews of foreign-owned ships harassing and intimidating local fishermen had been made by Somali fishermen.

"They are not only taking our fish, but they are also stopping us from fishing," said Mohamed Abdirahman, a fisherman in Brava, 200km south of Mogadishu. "They have rammed boats and cut nets.”
He said a number of Somali fishermen were missing and presumed dead after encounters “with these big ships”.

Abdirahman said the number of foreign ships in the south had increased after they were chased from the north by pirates. He said the foreign ships were now being protected by the navies of their countries and “do whatever they want to us”.

Cont. reading: Africa Comments (1)

b real continues to give us fascinating and disturbing insight into U.S. machinations in Somalia. Skim through this thread's comments and you will learn quite a bit on how the empire manipulates the various parties of the conflict and the media reports on it.

What did the Illyushin 76, operated by Aerolift and chartered by Dynacorp, carry when it went down in the Victoria Lake during a flight from Entebbe, Uganda, to Mogadishu, Somalia? Who financed the 20 or so flights it did this month alone?

b real helps us to first ask, and then to find answers to those questions.

Somalia is not your problem? Well – we pay for these misguided empire policies through our taxes now and we will have to pay when the usual backlash will appear near to us.

The U.S. supported Ethiopian army has finally retreated from Somalia and the Al-Shabab group has taken the city of Baidoa, the seat of the U.S. installed provisional war-lord government.

Meanwhile a lot of military ships are cruising the Somali coast to prevent the Somali coast guard/pirates from taking cargo ships for ransom. Even the Japanese are joining the party.

Economically this does not make any sense. With more of 20,000 ships passing the Gulf of Aden each year, a few captured ships will slightly increase the insurance premium for passing the area. But that hardly justifies to have over 20 expensive navy ships with thousands of sailors protecting it. There were 293 acts of piracy worldwide last year. Only 111 of them took place at the Somali coast. Yes, the area is important for world trade, but others with even more pirate action are too without getting this much attention.

Is this just a show of force by everyone to impress competing nations? Maybe.

The U.S. has so far not taken any real action in the area. But that may well change. The John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group is on its way to the area and it carries a very unusual number of helicopters.

The new wing configuration has two full squadrons for a total of about 19 aircraft, with their leadership aboard, all under the carrier air wing and strike group commander. These helicopters are heavily armed and will take over missions such as anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and supporting SEALs or other special operations troops.

I doubt that a carrier with so many helicopters is the best platform to fight piracy. A few smaller ships with one or two helos each could cover a much bigger area. But a carrier strike group may well be an asset for land attacks on targets in Somalia.

Steve Clemons muses about such an endeavor:

In the period between President Obama's November 2008 victory at the polls and his taking office on January 20, 2009, members of Obama's transition team began talking to military planners about various options that might be available for dealing with Somali pirates.
…
But the source recounted to me that those asking for the development of these option plans seemed more focused on whether a low-cost, low loss-of-American lives action could be quickly taken in a strike against pirates because of the need to demonstrate that Americans could still strike hard and achieve their military and political objectives.

The source worried that in my source's opinion, there was perhaps not
enough consideration of what it might be like to potentially open yet a
third active military front in that region.

military front."Kill some people to show the world Obama has balls? Sure, but patrolling against pirates is not an "active military front." Special operations on ground targets would constitute one.

So I expect the fighting piracy theme will now be used as a fig leaf to justify attacks on Al-Shabab and other groups that might take power in Somalia against the wishes of Washington DC.

For lack of intelligence such attacks by the U.S. will fail to hit these groups but kill a lot of innocent people. Nothing new here. Just another "crappy little country" again throw against the wall.