It's sort of funny, if funny is the word, how Afghanistan has remained in the headlines. One assumed once the US finally left, coverage would fall to at least the imperceptible level it was during the 20 year occupation. More likely, it would fall to the level before the US occupation, basically nonexistent. Though in the 1980s, during the Soviet occupation there was a coverage “surge,” but it wasn't about terrorism. No, this was the last set of the four decades great post-World War II red fear wave breaking across the American media landscape – you know, first Kabul, next Brooklyn.
Surprisingly, and maybe it's just we're still too close, Afghanistan remains in the news. There's no analysis about what was wrong from the beginning, instead it's all about how Afghanistan is collapsing – food, shelter, education, just name it. Never connected, the quite obvious points, these problems were all acute during the years of occupation, graphically illustrating the failure of the entire enterprise. Indeed just the opposite is implied, the problems all a result of the American pullout.
There's plenty of powerful unscrupulous forces in Washington DC very upset about the US pullout. Frankly, getting out of Afghanistan was far and away the best thing Joe Biden ever accomplished or is likely to accomplish. The waste of blood and dollars in Afghanistan was simply criminal, but that waste in dollars was billions in profits, making there way into a small group of individuals' pockets. Their now entirely unfounded worry, US withdrawal means a decline in profits. The true worry for America should be Afghanistan was another example of completely unaccountable power and their next massive blunder is only a matter of time.
The late 1940s saw the institution of the American National Security State, which Dwight Eisenhower quite incredibly warned of a dozen years later. It has seen nothing but unimpeded growth since, despite the fact, their actions and thinking have led to nothing but one mistake after another. Now, the failure has come home.
The main pillar of self-government is to hold power accountable. This is no longer part of American politics. Accountability of the National Security State's actions have only played a role in two post-World War II elections, both dealt with the Iraq fiasco. The first was the 2006 Congressional elections, the second was the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, both were transitory, lasting no longer than the elections themselves.
Both elections revealed a few things. First, despite the war being the #1 issue in 2006, the Democratic leadership did everything they could to run from it, leaving, despite their victory, scores of Congressional seats on the table. Next, the emergence of something new in American politics, the Republican party, in opposition to the electoral survival of many of its Congressional members, remained completely united in supporting the Iraq occupation, and there were more than a few Republican voters against the occupation from the beginning. Finally, in the 2008 presidential primaries, the eventual Democratic nominee ran loudly on his opposition to the 2003 Iraq occupation, followed immediately by rhetorical cartwheels explaining that didn't mean he was against the National Security State, such they say is his political eloquence.
Certainly, the Republican establishment is in no way more pro-war or servants of, and these are Ike's words, the military industrial complex than the Democrats. That's fake news. After Vietnam, the Republicans stuck the anti-war label on Democrats. The result was all those who did their best to avoid going to Vietnam, when gaining and holding power, ran fastest to supporting the National Security State. With Afghanistan gone, bellicosity is now stoked against the Russians and Chinese
A few years back, I asked a Republican friend, “When are you people going to start paying for all these wars you support.” His answer, a bow to unaccountable power, “Debt doesn't matter,” a politics now held by most Americans. One of the greatest levers of holding power in check is keeping account of the funds. I guess that’s considered quaint today. I'd also add, debt does indeed matter, it's only a matter of timing. As Hemingway said about bankruptcy, “It happens gradually, then suddenly,” so too fiscal accountability for any state.
The lesson against a republic establishing a professional military, opposed to a citizen military, was clearly laid out two-thousand years ago when it felled the Roman republic. James Madison warned at the Constitutional Convention, “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.” In today's America, both are firmly entrenched. To do anything about it would require a Gorbachevian policy of imperial abdication, a dismantling of the military industrial complex, and a return to a drafted citizen armed forces. Holding power accountable, citizen's work, is essential to self-government. Funnily enough, again if funny is the word, Americans once found purpose and value in being citizens, today, few could even tell you what being a citizen means, something about rights, certainly nothing about responsibilities.
"Holding power accountable, citizen's work, is essential to self-government."
The thing is, people here have been largely conditioned to a state of learned political helplessness. They aren't going to ramp up their citizenship until they believe it could make an meaningful difference.