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Saturday, August 28, 2021

ANOTHER LESSON FROM AFGHANISTAN

by George Salamon


“The United States could have left Afghanistan in the hands of a new generation, not the Taliban. But they didn’t invest enough in strengthening institutions and empowering new generations in urban areas who really wanted to rebuild the country and take over the reins. In 20 years, you could have transformed Afghanistan and that generation.” Journalist Adriana Carranca to Isabela Dias, Mother Jones, August 20, 2021. Photo: Gozargah school in Kabul in 2008. Courtesy of Adriana Carranca via Mother Jones.


As the sun sets on
yet  another place 
sought for America's
empire, one thing we
did not sell successfully
was democracy, the other
thing we couldn't buy
triumphantly was peace.


George Salamon thinks America has not yet stsarted learning from history, its own and that of other countries and peoples. George lives and writes in St. Louis, MO.