TRUMP PROMISED TO GET AMERICA OUT OF AFGHANISTAN. ANOTHER BROKEN PROMISE. - Hallo friendsGOOD OF CONEX NEWS, In the article you read this time with the title TRUMP PROMISED TO GET AMERICA OUT OF AFGHANISTAN. ANOTHER BROKEN PROMISE., We have prepared this article for you to read and retrieve information therein. Hopefully the contents of postings Article health, Article news, Article sport, Article tips, Article treatment, We write this you can understand. Alright, good read.

Title : TRUMP PROMISED TO GET AMERICA OUT OF AFGHANISTAN. ANOTHER BROKEN PROMISE.
link : TRUMP PROMISED TO GET AMERICA OUT OF AFGHANISTAN. ANOTHER BROKEN PROMISE.

TRUMP PROMISED TO GET AMERICA OUT OF AFGHANISTAN. ANOTHER BROKEN PROMISE.

22 DEAD IN KABUL INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL ATTACK

The news of the Taliban's attack on Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel on a hill overlooking Kabul brought back memories to me.  I know this hotel very well.  Or let's say I knew this hotel back in 2002 when it was still a burned out, bullet scarred shell of what it once had been.  Back then, of course, even though there was no heat and gaping holes in the sprinkled the facade belied a luxury destination, the hotel had guests.  So soon after the U.S. invasion Kabul hotel accommodations were at a premium and folks simply grabbed whatever rooms they could find.  I was staying in what had been a fairly upscale neighborhood on the western edge of Kabul that had suffered great damage from years of shelling.  Approximately one out of every fifth  house had been rushed back into service to supply housing for all the incoming foreigners post 9-11.  Ours had a fresh coat of bright blue paint and hissing gas heaters strung together with plastic tubing on both floors.  On my first trip I was there in November so the days were sunny, bright and comfortable but temperatures at night dipped below freezing and we covered ourselves with those five pound Afghan blankets to keep warm despite the best efforts of our daisy chained space heaters.

But back to the Intercontinental.  I don't even remember why I grabbed a taxi to transport me to the top of the hill where the hotel stood.  I think it was to meet someone from the Afghan government.  But I'm hazy about it.   The view of Kabul and the surrounding countryside from the hotel's location was and is magnificent.  The hotel itself  - not so much.  The exterior walls were pockmarked with hundreds of shell hits very much like nearly every other building in Kabul.  The Olympic sized swimming pool set out in the lawn was a yawning, empty concrete hole with trash collecting at the bottom.   Inside,  the lobby, at least, was decent.  None of the stores that had once displayed luxury items was open.  What there was were a couple of young kids who had set up shop in the lobby itself with goods - candy bars, cigarettes, lighters, pens and pencils- their overlords apparently having bribed the hotel staff to allow them to be stationed there.  In its previous life, the Intercontinental had been Kabul's premier venue for conferences and social gatherings of import and was the scene of countless weddings of Kabul's elite.  It was no more.

As I recall there was some sort of local meeting of Kabul officials taking place and I do have vague memories of poking my nose into one of the bombed out hotel's conference rooms to see a bunch of men covered in layers of wraps and coats sitting around a large table with space heaters ranged on top of the table hissing out heat.  I befriended one of the youngsters who had set up shop in the lobby.  He took me on a tour of the hotel including the upper floors where rooms had been blasted open to the elements and had suffered severe damage from constant shelling.  There were rooms, occupied, that had serendipitously escaped severe damage and were serving as accommodations with three or four of those five pound Afghan blankets to preserve warmth at night when temperatures drop stationed at the foot of beds ready for night service.  The scene was not exactly your brochure ready scene of five star hotel luxury and service yet this was still Kabul's most famous hotel.  But at the time it was still Kabul's premier hotel.

CHICKEN STREET KABUL

I have been unable to verify that the Kabul Intercontinental Hotel was once a part of the uber-luxury Intercontinental chain with their dedication to wealthy upper class clientele and sycophantic dedication to customer service at all costs.   But the Kabul Intercontinental certainly fits all the criteria.  I travelled to Kabul four times in the years following the 2001 Twin Towers and Pentagon attacks.  My firm had been selected to design a new United States Embassy in Kabul on the grounds of the existing embassy.  It was a plum job and one that we were delighted to take on.   I was only too happy to take my skinny body to Kabul, Afghanistan.

My personal recollections about Afghanistan are irrelevant.  But what is relevant is the United States take on Afghanistan and just what exactly is our diplomatic response to whatever is happening there.  One of the overriding themes I came away with from my time in Afghanistan is the futility of American diplomatic "efforts" when it comes to Afghanistan.  Afghani's are nothing if not resilient.  They have stymied yet outlasted every invading power who thought they could impose rule.  This includes the Greeks, the Persians, the Turks, the British, the Russians and now us Americans.  For thousands of years Afghanistan has been at the nexus of invading forces and yet not a single one has successfully managed to cow the country into submission.  Why?  Who knows.  Maybe it has to do with the Afghani people who bow to rulers but who will not let anyone dictate who they are. Afghanis are not sycophants like Trump minions but are deeply patriotic folks who simply put neighborhood connections before international politics.   But I would bet that it comes down to the patience, perseverance and patriotism of the Afghan people who understand that even in an arch ruling overlord situation they will take the local exit, thank you very much. 

They know full well that the Brits or the Ruskies or the Turks will be gone one day and there's no need to get all excited about being ruled by an outside force.  We'll just keep on living every day and try to ignore as best we can all the idiocy that our foreign interlopers have imposed upon us.  This is what I found in my Afghan days.  This, as hoary as it might sound, was the predominant view of the Afghani folks I talked to all over the country.

U.S. EMBASSY KABUL

No country, no Western power, no colonial  overlord has been able to  reign in Afghanistan into adhering to Western ideals and values.  I can't say why.  All I know is that Greece, Turkey, England, Russia and the United States have failed to control Afghanistan.  Have failed to reign in what seems to be the indomitable spirit of the Afghan people.  Yes, the Taliban is once again spreading it claws over the entire country from the Pakistan border to the Western border with Iran.  But this is Afghanistans' common heritage:  absorbing the shocks of febrile rule and yet continuing to thrive.  I remember taxiing out to the countryside one day and remarking about how beautiful was Afghanistan.  And the country is wreathed in natural beauty.   But this was while dodging the little red flags marking underground mines ready to blow off one of my legs at a touch.  Somehow this is Afghanistan- a country steeped in natural and human beauty with a landscape criss crossed with land mines. 

Donald J. Trump, as candidate for president, called for the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan.  Donald J. Trump as President is sending more U.S. troops there deepening our commitment.  He's authorized adding another 1,000 troops to the 9,000 already there.  It won't work.  We've been stuck in Afghanistan for sixteen years now, our longest war by far.  We haven't won.  We aren't on a pathway to winning.  We have lost.  We have no strategic interest in Afghanistan.  It's just not a country that matters to us.  It's time to just bring our troops home.  Period.

EMBASSY,  EMBASSY HOUSING KABUL 

Take Care Everyone!

AFGHANISTAN'S CASH CROP 

THE AFGHAN COUNTRYSIDE

Twitter Ads info and privacy

Thus Article TRUMP PROMISED TO GET AMERICA OUT OF AFGHANISTAN. ANOTHER BROKEN PROMISE.

That's an article TRUMP PROMISED TO GET AMERICA OUT OF AFGHANISTAN. ANOTHER BROKEN PROMISE. This time, hopefully can give benefits to all of you. well, see you in posting other articles.

You are now reading the article TRUMP PROMISED TO GET AMERICA OUT OF AFGHANISTAN. ANOTHER BROKEN PROMISE. with the link address https://coneknews.blogspot.com/2018/01/trump-promised-to-get-america-out-of.html

Tweet

Subscribe to receive free email updates: