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Afghanistan: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
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- 게시일 2022. 08. 13.
- John Oliver discusses what’s happened since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, how their ongoing crisis has even more to do with our decisions than you might think, and how to properly modify the verb “feel”.
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엔터테인먼트
I work in refugee resettlement in the US and for the past year, I have worked exclusively with Afghans. What a year it has been. I was talking with one of my clients today, an 18--year old girl and she said "it was one year ago the taliban took over Kabul. It was a normal school day for us. I had a math test. I still don't know how I did on the test." I couldn't help but laugh because her humor was dark but she coped with it and her, along with the hundreds other I've been working with this year, are wonderful people. Thank you for highlighting Afghanistan.
That's just the tip of the iceberg, we Afghans who managed to come to US are the lucky ones, compared to those still stuck there with an uncertain future. I do want to thank the assistance and help of Americans like you, we really really appreciate it. Thank you !!
That’s an incredible story. I hope something swings in good fortune for them soon, far fetched as it may be.
Comedian in the making
I’m not going to pretend I have any idea what life is like for them now, but it is just heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time to think about what women and girls are going through. The thought that girls who have grown up in the last decade or so were able to go to school and grow up in a world where deciding their future and making something of their lives according to the freedom to make their own choices was a possibility for them, that they could look at their future and decide what they wanted it to be, and achieving it was a possibility, and then basically overnight having that taken from them and seeing them oppressed once again.. It’s just too much. And none of us, anywhere, who are fortunate enough to have been born in a land where we are free to determine our own lives should be ok with it.
I am grateful you exist, and for what you do. I think it’s incredible. It’s important and it matters. But I will never stop hoping and waiting for the day that the rest still suffering there, having watched all future possibilities dissolve for them, to be helped and have those future possibilities rightfully returned to every one of them.
My company was subcontracted last year to give aid to Afghan refugees. Let me tell you that this was human suffering unlike anything I've seen in my lifetime. I'm a grown ass man and i still tear up when I think about the absolute horror stories that were shared with us. On a brighter note, i showed the afghans respect and they gave it back ten fold. Absolutely amazing people. And if you're not acquainted with Afghanistan's history and culture i highly recommend the reading. Absolutely fascinating.
I know it's not the right place for jokes but I love reading this as "I'm a grown ass-man."
@Onkel Pappkov 😂😂
Thank you for you wonderful words about the people of Afghanistan. I live in North America and it has been gut wrenching for me to see what has happened in the last few years not to mention the past 40 years to my country and people. I was born in Afghanistan when Russians invaded, things have been tough for a long time but things are extremely dire right now. People are starving, they can’t get care, it’s horrible.
@artemisqueen2 i feel so bad for those still trapped under Taliban rule. I have a friend who's whole family is still there.
Yeah, i hear you. I have family there. Aside from the concern about the future of girls and women, i am very worried about people and kids starving. Its been very hard for me to watch.
I can't express enough my appreciation for John Oliver's and his staff's work.
I just want to say I know that there's a lot of shake up's going on at HBO MAX and there canceling alot of shows 📺 right now but I hope this show keeps going on for many years because nobody else is talking about the things he's talking about God Bless him
And as an Air-Bud fan i also appreciate the hard work John and his team did exposing the horrible treatment of Norman Snively at the hands of the Fernfield Police Department. #FreeNormSnively
He brings in many many MANY viewers, I think he's fine
I feel this show has lost its form for a while now and I think it's on its last season or 2
@Matthew Selby Seems about as funny, informative, and interesting as all the previous seasons. That's just me, I'm not sure of the viewership. Sure, the quality suffered due to covid, but I feel that it's in full form now.
@Kalen Me too but I'm still in shock 😲 over Trevor Noah leaving Comedy Central I didn't know that his ratings were bad 😞 maybe 🤔 he can do show on Hulu or Netflix seems like more fellow Democrats are doing streaming now
I cant help but wonder what happened to some of the afghans that I served beside back in 2010 and 2012. Not just the ANA guys we trained and who fought alongside of us, but the terps who risked their lives (and their family's lives) to help us. The visa program was/is an absolute mess, a bureaucratic nightmare of a process. I'm sure they didn't all get out beforehand. One of our biggest fuck ups, in my opinion, was the fact that we left a bunch of our HIDE (biometric scanners) devices behind, giving Taliban access to the private info of pretty much EVERY single Afghan citizen who assisted ISAF and American forces in the last 2 decades. There is a 100% chance the Taliban have used that information to punish these people, if not kill them. It breaks my heart.
Why do they let the scanners?
Oh, my god. That is AWFUL. Wow….
I always, always learn something important, at least a few strategic facts if not a game-changer, when I watch Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Thanks for what you folks do! It's important.
“Things are going worse than you may know” should be the official slogan of this show.
Why do you post 10 different comments under the same video?
@Iptomtom because I can? I’m allowed to express multiple thoughts just like you’re allowed to scroll past them if you don’t like what I’m saying.
That should also be the official slogan of my life. Lol
@Jim R hard same.
For real
"The math doesn't work" line described the situation perfectly. Also the woman saying "your sanctions will kill us faster than the Taliban restrictions"
This is the obviously the point of those conservative politicians, not some kind of mistake that you can correct by a proper analogy or clever quip. If Afghans are dead, they can't be a threat, or continue to be Muslims (which is the same thing in republican/democrat right-wing heads). Especially a child that is dead will not grow into a terrorist or into a Muslim. Can't argue with that.
If you think about it, American, Russian, Chinese, Israeli or other conservative politicians always chose this approach and it's working. So why are people expecting any change?
And yet people always want to go with embargoes, sanctions, or blockades over a lot of other measures. This is somehow seen as a compromise to be tough, but not as aggressive as something like war.
It's a tough balance to make and I don't envy anyone whose job it is to weigh these decisions between an evil government or the fate of millions of lives.
"I look like a Pokemon whose final evolution is a graphing calculator" this is now one of my all-time favorite LWT jokes. Absolutely brilliant.
Thank you so much for being the voice of the Afghan people. Things are going worse than you may know please DO NOT forget us!🙏🙏
We should help
@Batman Savage Exactly, thank you.
Watching Trump criticize the withdrawal when he was the one who signed it, and then everyone agrees with him when he blames Biden? That shit will never stop infuriating me.
My heart breaks for the afghan people... what a horrible situation 😔💔
As an Afghanistan citizen, I really appreciate your show and showing what is going on in my country.
Thank you so much
if only the army we spent two decades building there didn't crumble in days. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink..or fight to sustain it's freedoms.
💙
R u still in Afghanistan?? Or you living somewhere else now.
Great, great piece, John. Brilliant summing up of this horrifying, heartbreaking and heinous situation. Thank you.
Thank you John for finding such a brilliant way to wake us up. You are and always will be a TRUE Humanitarian Hero for me.
This is too heartbreaking for us to actually comprehend what's happening to this people.
This episode was filled with regrettable laughs and smiles. I wish I had the power to help
Wow that was so powerful. John you are giving voice to the... I was going to say voiceless / unrepresented but it's even worst than that... The misrepresented. Amazing, you and team should be proud of yourselves to cover so much of these important topics
I just wanna say that man who sold his kidney to feed his daughter's is an incredible father. im honestly speechless...
As a father it's not even a question of doing it or not. You just do it, whatever your child needs. I'm heartbroken over the pain and suffering so many children and their parents are faced with on a daily basis. Fuck.
I appreciate this show for addressing the tough topics. Doing nothing does seem to be the most politically easy course of action, so I hope we get some courageous people in power who are willing to thread that needle.
By withholding aid and resources, not only will the US be directly responsible for the deaths and suffering of millions, but by cutting off those innocents, we probably will foment more anti-west sentiment in the region, which could drive more people to acts of terroristic violence.
Beautifully said
Was a student in a diplomacy Masters for three months last year and became so disheartened about the apathy surrounding me when it came to see U.S. positions on various human atrocities around the globe and how diplomacy didn't seem to solve anything that I left (there were other logistical reasons to but that was a factor as well); I'd watched the mental health and monkeypox videos posted from two weeks and last week but wasn't so sure if I liked this show enough to keep watching. To see the fervor that John has in resolving issues - as incremental as it may be to fully solving them - has made me a fan for life of his show. So long as you keep posting, I'll keep watching! Take care until next week, John and the HBO staff
FY! Friendly regards! I just wanted to design a nice and secure letter that I would have loved to have finished in the procedure for the reply to your comment that is an invitation for me to join the communication group with you on KRclip. But I I will testify and probably not lie, that that notification that got me wasting my time on occasion.
I hate that I have no Ketamine left and will be be medicated with some wild synthetic stimulant, I can barely enjoy
Go back and watch some of the older stuff too. Some are more time specific like corona virus or certain elections. Many are important information that is worth being talked about like lethal injection, prison systems, and such.
That baby. 😭 Just the whole scene. The whole situation. We still need to work to get people who helped Aotearoa New Zealand out. We have let them down so hugely. And it's heart breaking.
They're donating their kidneys while the country is running out of painkillers??? Ouch! This is a whole other level of... crisis and despair. But I feel like the whole world is on fire in so many places right now, that even the whole world itself wouldn't know where to begin solving its problems and how, despite the solutions offered in this video.
Thanks John Oliver for this video. The people of the US need to know that Afghans need help and the US is responsible in one way or another.
No salaries for critical workers is definitely a really bad sign - you'll lose a whole generation of skilled workers as they turn to whatever jobs are available with no guarantee of the old infrastructure coming back. Even worse is the disillusionment that comes from that - basically a guarantee for more radicalization.
At the same time is the US not supposed to cut of the taliban from those funds, this show sometimes makes valid points but overlooks the reality
@Forza Martini I believe that anything that harms many innocent people should never be done without a well calculated plan in mind, which the US clearly does not have.
How could it get more radicalized?
It breaks my heart to think about. I can't even imagine the absolute hell they live in. Even the service people who believed they were sent there to help people have to see it was all for power and greed now, not for anyone's safety or democracy. It's a staggering failure if you think we went for those reasons, but if you think about who profited- they got what they wanted out of the conflict. They always do. And everyone else paid the price for it. I'm dreading another class because I'm burnt out, but other girls and women can no longer dream of going to school. I can't even imagine how hopeless that feels, and not enough men over there see it as a problem
"The math doesn't work" line described the situation perfectly. Also the woman saying "your sanctions will kill us faster than the Taliban restrictions"
@awnx ruyv The Romans were enslaved by Jesus because of water
"Doing nothing" isn't "A swing and a miss." It's "Watching a strike go by."
This was more like swinging, hitting a bunch of innocent bystanders in the skull, and still missing the ball
Oh man this was a particularly tuff one to watch! I love how John is still up there cracking jokes, I need to take a page from his book on keeping it light!
You are a great man for shining light on the true hardship of others. Keep it up 💪
God bless you, John Oliver, for covering this. My heart breaks for them while I uselessly sit in my NYC apartment and fill my belly. May God guide us all to be just in our actions, including in our spending.
As an Afghan, I really appreciate John and his team for bringing up this topic yet again! Thank you ❤
How do you feel about his US soldier wife?
I don't I think it's nice gesture but if they won't stand up to the talibán were just feeding the new generation of talibán fighters
W🤯W! Afghanistan people who played both sides of To destabilizing their own country are able to cash 💸 💰 out here in americaKKK on the backs of u.s. taxpayers!
I think the solution to Afghanistan's problem should come from within.
The U.S poured hundreds of Billions into the country and made no significant difference.
Can't be asking countries in recession for further Billions now.
If ya'll don't handle it yourselves, then no one can. Heaven helps those who help themselves!
I can't even imagine the suffering the people of Afghanistan have experienced over the last 50 years or so. So much upheaval and oppression and poverty, in a seemingly never ending cycle.
The reason the US won't help Afghanistan is simple: if the US sends help and it goes wrong, then the US will be blamed for it. But if they do nothing and the situation worsens, they can blame the Taliban for that.
Does bring some sadness and i a bit of tears seeing how parents are willing to give up their baby to American soldiers so that their child may have a better future elsewhere. Goes to show how valuable our democracy is 🇺🇸 and how far people are willing to go to get it.
“Feel badly” is acceptable in spoken English, and arguably in formal written English as well. You can “feel bad” and “feel badly,” just like you can “feel good” and “feel well.” Now, granted, “feel badly” (much like “feel poorly”) mostly has connotations of _physical_ discomfort rather than emotional, but its use in English is acceptable-even in the context of emotional feelings
so sad when I saw that the girls were no longer in school and now the kids that have to stay there, I feel so sorry for the citizens bc It wasn’t right how they were left.
I never miss "depressing story hour" with Giles the limey toucan.
I never miss "I just wanted to see a comedy show and now I am sad with Johny Joy-killer"
I never miss “I came here for a giggle and left crushed by the horrors of humanity” with Dr Xenon Bloom
I like how the doctors are saying they budgeted to keep their salary but have $0 to buy supplies and necessary medical equipment.
The equipment heals the patient, all the doctor does is put it in the right spot and how much of it to use, if there is no medication then all they are some dudes with a really good theory on how to keep you alive but can’t run any tests
If you think of these actions in the framework of "how do we profit from this?" Then just bailing out makes sense. It's never about the people. It's always about profit.
You know I see the Afghan withdrawal to that of the Bay of Pigs. The President (Biden and Kennedy) had to finish what the previous administration (Eisenhower and Trump) started, and they had to take the blame for how badly it went.
Up until the 14 minute mark I was thinking ok, that's pretty horrid but im sure they can weather the worst of the storm. Then he started talking about the guy selling his kidney and I realised just how absolutely fucked that is. How can anyone survive that when those are your choices
I agree, people may die, but then that would allow the people to see their government for what it is... failing the people, and revolution and uprise can begin. If we prop up their failures then that may not happen or take much longer. I realize that people will suffer and die, but it could be argued more people would suffer a longer time with support. Terrible situation regardless.
I'm glad that the show is doing follow-ups of the crisis in Afghanistan, to remind people that the problems do not end just because we turn away from it.
Also, I am glad I am not the only one upset about the Baby-Sitters Club being cancelled. I loved that adaptation and the heart that went into making the show.
@Vera Mae But at what cost?
The way Netflix pays for the production of exclusive shows leads to high cancellation or cessation rates of even popular and good shows after one or 2 seasons. They pay a small amount for the first season, slightly larger for season 2, then it balloons for a season 3 and beyond. Since they produce an entire season at once, and keep such strict metrics of viewership, they know when a show does well, but cancel it anyway to fund a lot of cheaper garbage or seasons 1/2 of other shows (filler for the platform). It's a pretty indefensible position by their leadership considering their revenue and profits. Netflix may have been the original leader in the streaming industry, but they threw it away. I'm well aware what the greedy corporate monopolies that own a lot of classics did by denying intellectual property to Netflix and also disapprove: everyone was making money with streaming services as distributors and customers were happy. Now it's nickel and diming unhappy customers and a real creativity drain with the endless churn of 98% bingable garbage. I would never pitch a show to Netflix. Or Fox. Surprised Spielberg signed on to do ten movies.
I am glad that they are looking back at afghanistan, but I wish they had covered it when it happened.
Also, I really wish they would cover the crisis in Ukraine
The western countries muss study carefully why the effort to bring democracy to Afghanistan has failed catastrophically after 20 years. A healthy change of political system can only be internally initiated, not imposed on.
So basically there’s no hope for change?
@animalia555 Well, let’s put it that way: the best example of forced change was and is, as far as I am aware of, Germany, and that took a world war, decades of occupation and an immense amount of funding and relied heavily on actual established German politicians to basically carry the message.
It also didn’t exactly start from nothing.
Germany was already a highly civilized ( I mean that literally, civilization comes from civitas, city, progress of a society ), highly complex society, leading in many of the forefronts of technology on the face of the earth at the time and it even had some previous democratic traditions… Can you form coal into a diamond? Sure. But it takes a lot of pressure and is not an easy task. Sometimes, nothing happens at all and often, it eventually fails and crumbles. Afghanistan is currently not a raw diamond, or coal, it is overall an underdeveloped fragment of an eventual potential. Basically, if civilization is a scale, Afghanistan just collapsed from severely underdeveloped with some potential to basically no potential at all for the immediate moment.
Not to say that it won’t find economic progress of some degree but many dictatorships tend to have extremely weak growth and this country seems to head in that direction.
Could it be actually developed? Of course. But the cost and involved time and effort would be enormous.
Other places have far, far more potential right now.
I think that's an oversimplification, or to put it another way, the US never intended to bring democracy to Afghanistan. The US wages wars because being at war is profitable for the US military industrial complex. It's why leaving Afghanistan was a shock--who abandons their cash cow?
@cam We got involved in World War II for economic reasons as well. And before someone says "Pearl Harbor" that was just the excuse needed for active fighting. Even before that we were already heavily involved in the logistics side of things with stuff like lend lease
EXACTLY EXACTLY.
India has been the largest donor in Afghanistan among the countries in the region, doling out about 3 billion dollar. India is the fifth largest donor for Afghanistan in the world. India's help to Afghanistan has been diverse, ranging from building infrastructure to sending teams of medical staff and food
When I lived in a very small t own in the middle of nowhere, there was a cash shortage too. We had a simple solution: Barter and social credit. Items like food can be traded for other items or services. If you don't have anything right now, agree how much of a debt is owed, and pay back later. Even our utilities were firewood, and well access, so we bartered that too. It wasn't a problem (except at tax time, or when you wanted to travel to a bigger town that expected cash).
There was a somewhat similar situation in Ireland in the 1970s. There were strikes leading to banks being closed for over half a year and they paid using cheques. Once they ran out of official cheques they made their own ones out of any paper or cigarette cartons and slapped on postage stamps to "legitimize" them. There was ofcourse the risk that a cheques wouldnt clear, so businesses (like bars) had to rely a lot on trust and relations with their customers.
We had the same thing in the Soviet Union. People had money, but often there wasn't anything to buy with it. Vodka was the best currency you could have, as every adult got an allotment, which for many wasn't enough. Not drinking had it's perks.
Sanctions on countries are either diabolical foolishness or outright cruelty. Snapping all ties with a regime is a form of aggression and one can never broker peace through aggression
Thank you for keeping the focus on Afghanistan John Oliver. This is absolutely horrific.
John's team should have dug a little further into the amusement park bit. The Taliban burned it down after they were done using it for their own enjoyment. There were several video clips on it. It would have been a great metaphor for them being happy they took over the country only to watch it collapse under their rule.
I’m speechless. That is what I meant with egoistical children of the war, they don’t look or behave like adult men in my eyes. I was watching so many interviews with them but the impression remained.
If the government that US had placed in "power" previously was so capable and running the country well then all that aid previously provided to Afghanistan (most likely on Afghanistan's own tab through world bank) would have been used towards sustainable changes that would be endured under Taliban rule as well. If the company I worked for or the engineers I had spoken to are any indication of what was happening with the aid money, the funding was mostly used to keep people occupied and their attention diverted while the US stole natural resources from the country. The only difference is that under this regime the US has to pay a higher price in robing the country of its natural resources and for that they choose to have millions of innoccent people die. Anyone that speaks the languages of the country know that the current "Taliban" unlike the last leadership speak Pashto or Dari verses Arabic (non-Afghan language). This means that our US government is not even open about the change in leadership and the current supposed enemy perhaps to ensure that the same fear of retaliation similar to 9/11 can be harnessed for them to act in inhumane manners. Being an Afghan-American woman breaks my heart. Firstly, I hate that I have to live the life of a refugee and deal with the bullshit of being treated like an outsider when I had no choice in coming here (and no, I owe no one but god any thanks because I likely ended up here only because some.Afghan leader fighting on behalf of US contracted for us to be able to be refugees in US but if that same person did not collude, then there may have been a better chance of having peace in my home country). Secondly, because both countries are filled with misogynistic greedy bastards except the US group claim to be better than the Afghan ones because they have had a little bit of more time in power for people to find ways to sustain at least some rights without them shitting on it again and again.
Great episode but curious if there was a follow up to Sri Lanka. The debt trap they ended up in seemed to be fueled by international agencies and a move to green production reducing yield (also a lot of debt to China didn't help)
Ps: Not so fast on China blame. 10% of SriLankan public debt. That’s equal to the World Bank & lower than Asian Development Bank…both supposed to be development oriented lenders, on paper.
my parents were refugees and they agree with that lady; sanctions hurt civilians much more than the intended recipient
Oliver making a joke about Trump being incoherent considering who's in the White House now is the funniest part of this episode.
One other issue is that _not_ sanctioning the Taliban would only give legitimacy to other terrorist cells who could take over other regions. Perhaps governments should find a way to deliver aid to the people of Afghanistan while bypassing Taliban “officials”.
“Yell what hurts into this bag, then leave” sounds a lot like the American healthcare system tbh… except you then get charged over $1000
$2000 if the Yell Bag was in the same building as an MRI machine.
Nah, you'd get charged 300 dollars for the right to scream into the bag.
Facts
Oh look at Mr. Fancypants over here who has a bag that's in his network..
@Woad25 ikr. I'm in Romania and we lived 5 years in USA.
Took us about a moth for doctors tell my husband he ripped a knee tendon, meanwhile he walked around with a ripped ligament heavily sedated to get all the approval papers from romanian insurers. but it did not cost us thousands of $ like it would have in US.
also he had to have some tooth implants and they are 1/3 or 1/5 o US prices. salaries are lower here as well, but as an immigrant in US we made less than 1/2 of citizens so our quality of life in US was not much better.
So much respect to Oliver for talking about this
I had the thought that if they needed female medical professionals, they could keep schools open for girls & women who plan to be that. Then I thought that they'd end up with a lot of girls & women ostensibly planning to be medical professionals.
Part of the problem is the distrust with the Taliban and the actions of the Taliban on its people. One way to stop this is being the bigger man and building trust by stopping the extremist bullshit some people want to do or want and send some food, aid, and build some development aid too. We need to treat them as people and help them.
I love how John says “we” even though he grew up in Britain. Glad he feels welcome
He's a UK-US Dual citizen,
My "favorite" thing was they interviewed a Taliban member about education of girls. He contradicted that girls are allowed to continue their studies, only they're required to attend a designated schools. Then he was asked, how many of those schools there are. His answer probably won't surprise anyone: They didn't designate them yet.
could you really expect anything different from a deeply misogynistic culture? they don't want to change and instead of spending billions of dollars over there we should fix our own culture and society and infrastructure
Where was this in the video? I must've missed it.
@Kit C
Look, I don't want to start an argument but...
Are the taliban then only ones with "culture" over there?
I'm pretty sure the women who have been forced out of jobs, education and any freedom they had, do not want to be a part of this misogynistic culture, and I'd be willing to bet a good amount of men would agree with them.
I understand the instinct of washing ones hands and walking away from problems "over there", but many of the problems over there stem from actions of US.
And even if they didn't, we are talking about people here. Everyone gets one life, and dooming thousands of lives as "not your problem" is just heartless.
Righteous people do the right thing, even if it may endanger them.
Just FYI, John, 38 million is the same number of people as there are Deaf and Hard of Hearing US citizens; almost as many citizens as populate California or Canada, and close to the number of both Latino Americans - largest non-white US demographic group, and African-Americans.
The number of DHH US citizens, at 38 million, is also larger than then entire African American US population when they won US Civil Rights laws for voting in 1964.
Thanks for captioning all your KRclip and other web published videos! Good work!
Are you comparing DHH populations of 1964 with African American population or today’s DHH population with 1964? Of course the two sets of numbers wouldn’t match. There’s almost a 60-year gap between the numbers. As compared to your NY and California numbers which also are different today compared to 1964 (par example) .
Maybe you also should include that Afghanistan went from a population of around 20 million when USA entered the country in 2001 and when they left it in 2021 it was about 40 million,.
Uncontrolled population growth is a major reason for why the gdp per capita in many poor regions doesn't change.
Had Afghanistan rather had a stable 1 child policy they be in a much better place than their current condition.
Currently they don't produce enough food and roughly half the population risk serious malnutrition. Any help will most likely just prolong the inevitable fact that too many people live in Afghanistan.
LWT, could you please do a segment on the UN. I feel that the UN’s role in world affairs could be much greater and is actually the right way to address situations of injustice rather than US intervention. Also, I am wondering what LWT’s take on the situation in Ukraine is. TIA!
There was literally no scenario in which the pullout of a country we had been occupying for decades was going to go well. I guess you can refer to it as a fuck up, but the original fuck up was being there and staying as long as we did. There was genuinely no way to effectively manage our complete withdrawal and leaving troops for even longer would have been counter to the entire end goal. Their government that we propped up took their money and ran which was the entire reason the Taliban was able to move in so quickly and with minimal resistance. Again there was never going to be a "right way" to end our occupation.
German Bundeswehr Veteran here with 1 Afghanistan Tour and 1 Tour in Kosovo with KFOR (6 Years total including one Shrapnel Wounding). What you said is exactly the common sentiment we Germans had from the get go.
Our Politicians only sent us there to appease the US basically. Everyone in the Bundeswehr and even in Politics knew that one day the US would leave including everyone they dragged along and Afghanistan will turn back into Pre-US-Invasion Afghanistan. And that's exactly what happened.
Sadly many Lives were lost in this more or less useless "Mission", including among us Germans.
The only good thing coming out of this were how many Afghans who didn't want to live under Islamic Law managed to leave the Country and settle elsewhere, including in Germany protected by our Presence. But thats the only good thing coming out of it.
Let's all hope the USA doesn't continue such Excursions in the Future but picks actually good Reasons to use their Military and drag it's Allies along
Prost & Cheers from Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps
Should've left them in longer or at least enough to evacuate who we wanted to
@Joe Blow We were there for over 20 years, most of my life. But yeah one more year woulda done it...............
The only "right way" I could think about was if they restructured the government to be able to work in their absence, a process that would probably take as long as the occupation itself took, but even that would have its difficulties.
“Food, but no money to buy it with”
So the Irish famine then. Or the Bengali famine. Or basically every other famine of colonial occupation.
And then you have Venezuela, "money" but no food
what do you mean colonial occupation? there was no wealth being extracted from the country - resources were being brought in by the Americans and westerners. On the contrary the American occupation was part of a state building mission intended to bring stability to the region.
The Afghan people themselves displayed a lack of interest in being democratic or a partner to the west and their government fell apart in mere days after the Americans left. They were happy to take our money and were dishonest in their intentions with it. Popular support was clearly with the talibs...
I believe aid should be provided because fundamentally 'haves' should always help 'aggression
Sounds like we have learned nothing
From a purely military viewpoint, the result in Afghanistan was kind of as bad as it gets. Too much achieved to leave, too much screwed up to stay. It's a refrain you can hear from many who served there - that they felt like going back there, do something, save what was built, and at the same time, knowing that it was senseless at this point.
"Too much achieved to leave, too much screwed up to stay."
Just so true. But, the Afghans gave up in 15 days to the Taliban. The Russian's vichy government held out longer than ours did by 3 years.
We were unwilling to do what we needed to do to defeat the Taliban because we aren't cartoon villian evil and that's what it would have taken.
Having written and edited thousands of pages in my life, I thrilled John used linking verb.
The unfortunate matter is that the aid was not cut off as punishment but rather because the legitimate government fell and there are no diplomatic ties to the new government which is further complicated by the fact that they are a terrorist organization. We simply need new diplomatic channels and those take time even on a good day.
I really can't imagine having to make a choice to sell one of your own children to feed the others. Americans really take what we have for granted...
Some Americans had to make that choice during the Great Depression
Except under rare conditions, people don't starve because there's no food- they starve because they can't afford the food there is
They should have left but not like that They could have taken the time and did it properly - there’s more than one way to do things. They could figure out a way to give the money directly to the food vendors and they ( the vendors ) can distribute out the food evenly
There is more than one way
I'd recommend everyone go watch the documentary "This is What Winning Looks Like". Released in 2013, it manages to spell out exactly why the US was always doomed to fail in Afghanistan.
Everyone knew. We were keeping a corps on life support.
On the nose with this recommendation
Hmmm
Lololol. Just watched it today somehow. Funny timing
The general saying they had the wrong info is a joke and after watching that documentary
Good old 2019 with happy endings and doubts about the future.
Now every LWT show ends with a bad joke or an ethical dilemma.
We managed to work with the Viet Cong after they took over Vietnam, and now Vietnam is an economic powerhouse, a great place to live, and a friend of America. It seems to me we already have a model we can follow here.
That took a few years.
This educated military personnel who didn't see a instant replay of Vietnam deserve to have whatever degree they earned withdrawn and to be fired.
Those images from Afghanistan still make me want to cry... I still wonder what happened to that baby and if it's ok...
Baby was reunited with relatives
After the video of that guy selling his kidney to feed his daughters, laughing at john's jokes became impossible for me
I have friends who were training the Afghan army. They were already talking of extreme corruption, entire nonexistent units whose salaries were pocketed by high ranking officials, equipment theft, infiltration by Taliban, being fired at by the soldiers they were training. And NATO high ranking officers refusing to hear the truth.
A lot of that sounds like the same problems that are in Russia.
Iraq is certainly in a better place than Afghanistan.
@Tevo77777 «A lot of that sounds like the same problems that are in Russia»
This.
I did a year over there training the Afghan army, and that was the exact problem. The only thing that seemed to help was our very presence. It seemed as though there was no hope of training a military and standing up a legitimate government.
Well the 97% plunging into poverty could be caused by the loan payments the Taliban has taken through institutions like World Monetary Fund, World Bank, etc which would mean it's European and US influences possibly still wreaking havoc on Afghanistan financially. Many countries in the western Hemisphere especially island nations suffer from these loan payments.
Here is an idea...do not take a loan!
@JM 1 Then how will the afford to buy grain on commodity markets?
Trying to wait out the Taliban is like waiting for corporations or the super rich to finally make good on the trickle down theory.
13:49 you can hear the sound of tears accumulating in John’s eyes.
John does a great job of explaining all sides of the situation , obviously "do something" isnt really a solution but thats not a journos responsibility
I like when the transparent funny parrot-like English man takes something already horrible and explains why it's more horrible. Most the time he destroys something we thought was un-f@ckabke
So glad you brought up what the US is doing in Eastern Congo. Y'all really should do a segment on that sometime soon
a few years from now we'll find out we found a reason to train and arm a new enemy.
How about what the US is doing to the US?
500k jobs.
1.5 million new people.
It's not sustainable.
@JaysSavvy it's the dam republicans
This hurts me so much. I have never felt so bad for a country I have no attachment to
When even fellow Tailiban members are speaking out against the violation against women's rights, like.
Holy shit.
All the unmentioned countries in this article get respect for not raising a finger or caring for humanity at all.
Very glad you brought the point that Trump started drawing us out first and though we needed to draw out or we would be there forever he started it but not mad that he did
If the resources are so abundant compared to the liquidity start giving it away spread it out to the people that need it so they aren't wasted
I can’t watch this yet. One year ago and every day since has been so devastating. Been trying to get six families out that I worked with via an American NGO years ago. Nearly the entire world has closed their doors. A few families made it out, though - one to Russia, one to Pakistan (though they face deportation) and two to Iran.
They qualify for US immigrant visas, but they had to get out while USCIS drags along at a snail’s pace. How embarrassing that Russia & Iran were their only options.
Service for the Murican empire no longer guarantees citizenship.
Best wishes for your work! It is a total disgrace how the world left them on their own.
The fact Russia… Russia is one of the only two options is absolutely sickening. The US caused this problem and red pills are gunna throw a fit that they NEED somewhere to go and don’t want it to be here is just sooo gross.
Thank you for what you are doing.
@D.H. Hey Russia isn’t that bad, a little cold. but it’s not like, third world. They probably love it
Most of our country lacks empathy. They are not in the situation that Afghanistan citizens are in and never have been. So, they don't care. Most don't step up when they have sympathy and we all know most politicians lack both sympathy and empathy, along with most of our citizens.
I don't really know how to feel about this... As a human of course I feel terribly sad this is happening. I also think the US has a lot of internal work to do. And perhaps if I'm a US congressman or woman first my priorities would change.
I say that knowing how awful it sounds as a human. I want people to know that hunger is not uncommon inside of any cities in the USA. Depending on your economic background this country can be very different for you.
Rewatching this I forgot about the rat Hitler joke and I choked on my drink lol
It's so nice to see Rat Hitler bringing so mu much joy to the world.
"I look like what Matt Damon should've looked like in Good Will Hunting".....that was pretty good John Oliver 🤣
Love how he admits that government can’t do anything right while simultaneously supports more government
This is not how I thought I would find out the babysitters club was canceled and I am devastated atop the clusterfuck that is the US actions with Afghanistan
Its been my favorite show since I found it. Ive watched it so many time and showed so many other full grown adults and they all loved it. Wanting to see the babysitters club is why I kept a Netflix subscription
It's been more than 20 years, it's time for the public to forgive Dave Coulier.
Had Afghanistan as a people fought against the Taliban, there would have been more support and aid sent to aid the people. But as we saw, the army that the US spent trillions in arming, training, etc. just walked away without a fight. That’s pretty discouraging. It’s a terrible thing that is happening in Afghanistan but I would rather see money and aid be sent to counties like Ukraine that are actually standing up against oppression.
Can you please cover the animation industry…how people still treat cartoons as just for children and how Warner Bros/Discovery scrubbed some shows into obscurity. And animators getting fucked over
Let's face it! The only way the Afghanis can rid themselves of their 'oppressors' (if this is what they truly want) is through civil war. I believe that that is what we had hoped would happen, but, obviously, it didn't. No amount of aid is going to topple the Taliban, or relieve the people's suffering. As much as I like John Oliver, this particular subject really does seem to be beyond his reach. In fact, it's pretty much beyond anyone's reach - other than the people's! I'd love to hear other folk's ideas...