Howdy,
I was supposed to get this to you earlier, but . . . I failed. It was a tense situation at FOB Selber, as I misplaced my wallet while trying to get my daughter to swim class.
Don’t worry. We started the day with a brisk 3-mile run. I pushed her in her stroller while wearing my weight vest. We’re quite the pair. Of course, she handled everything a lot better than I did.
Anyway, I want to highlight two people today:
and Kevin Rardin. Kevin wrote a great essay about his journey to Afghanistan and his mission to rescue his interpreter.It’s August 2024, three years since the fall of Kabul and twenty-three years since 9/11. What did it all mean? For years, I thought I knew. Now, I’m not so sure. My feelings about my country and its leadership have changed forever. I was once one of those people who regularly fly our flag. When the last planes left Kabul, I folded my flag and put it on a shelf in my storage room. It’s still there. I don’t know when I’ll fly it again.
When Kevin passed the bar, I bet he never thought he’d be helping rescue stranded Afghans left behind enemy lines.
But it was men like Kevin who stepped up when the United States government — not the troops or those rowing inside the agencies—shit the bed (that’s a technical term). Without men like Kevin, thousands of Afghans would’ve perished.
Also, if you’re not aware, my BFF,
, appeared in the Associated Press’ cover story. OMFG!She now hosts a podcast called “Shoulder to Shoulder: Untold Stories From a Forgotten War” with a retired Air Force veteran that she met during the evacuation. They talk to guests like a Gold Star mother and an Afghan interpreter who lost his legs in a bomb blast.
She wants people outside the community to know that the work of helping Afghans during the withdrawal and all that has happened since has been its own front line in the war on terror.
“What I hope that people will understand one day is that these are lifelong conditions,” she says. “So even people who leave the volunteer work, even if you never speak to another Afghan again, this is going to sit with you for the rest of your life.”
Kate Kovarovic is an American hero. I would follow her into war any day. You know why? Because I have already served in the trenches with her. What she did during that first year after the fall of Afghanistan—legendary stuff, folks.
Kate K juggles a full-time career, writing, and trying to deal with me—which is a herculean task. Everyone here is so very proud that she’s finally—at long last—being recognized for being a courageous leader.
The Weekly (w)Rap
USA Today wrote an excellent profile of Ahmadullah, my last combat interpreter, who risked everything on a promise I made a dozen years ago.
Selber said that the way things ended in Afghanistan broke his heart. But he hopes his efforts to help Karimi and others help him heal.
Earlier this week, Karimi called Selber with welcome news. He’d received his coveted “green card,” making him a permanent resident – a fitting coda to a friendship that Karimi credits with saving his life.
“I don’t have words to tell him thank you,” Karimi said.
I must admit I had a couple of solid articles over at The Bulwark. On Thursday, I had some comments on Trump’s latest nonsense.
THE ENTIRE EPISODE is a depressing reminder of how rotten our civic hygiene has become. While Trump’s record and the Biden-Harris record on Afghanistan are nothing to brag about, both Hamid and Shir Zad expressed worries about a second Trump administration.
“I hate Biden,” Hamid said, “But I don’t trust Trump, especially that [Stephen] Miller person. He doesn’t like Muslims.”
I also had some initial thoughts on the Afghan War Commission.
The Afghanistan War Commission is just one step in a much-needed examination of why a generation of veterans toiled in a forgotten land only to have their country betray them and their allies. Unless the commission is willing to speak truthfully about what happened, how it happened, why it happened, and who was responsible, it’s just wasting time.
We had a great conversation with Joanna Naples-Mitchell, a human rights attorney. I think we’ll be hearing more from her very soon.
Next week’s episode with legendary combat interpreter Nasirullah “John” Safi is exceptional. Check out the clip below.
We will have a new Stories From My Brothers episode out next week. We should have some clips out soon on our new Twitter page.
My brother,
, had an excellent essay in ‘Voices From the Field.’I’m prouder of that building and the work that went into giving Dylan a permanent legacy on Ft. Eisenhower than almost anything else I’ve done in the Air Force. I know the military names a lot of things after former service members—tanks, Ships, Buildings, Gazebos, Armored Fighting Vehicles, Airplanes, and other things. There are many buildings like Bautista Hall across the DoD.
That building, though, that one is for Dylan, and I’m REALLY proud of that.
One of our Afghan writers, Tasal, who is writing behind enemy lines, had my favorite article this week.
, of course, wrote another excellent essay.Years have passed, and Gulbashra has still not recovered from that horrific incident. All three brothers are buried in the same graveyard and beside each other. She visits the graves every day and asks for forgiveness for her sons from Allah, and she sits there for hours, takes a bit of the sand with herself, and goes home.
I keep thinking about the Taliban leader who made this rule. Didn’t his mom talk to a doctor when he was born? I’m sure she did. So how can he say other Moms can’t do the same? It doesn’t make any sense.
Helai wrote one of her best essays since becoming a contributor.
returned with another insightful article, this time on Moral Injury.Then, a hard thud hit the door of my class and destroyed all the peace. Very violent and scary men entered with guns ready to fire. I looked at them, then at my students; fear was everywhere; it was clear from my students’ eyes that they took refuge in me and that my presence had given them a sense of security.
This is why I now advocate for moral injury to be included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the premier professional reference for formal mental health conditions. I want veterans to be seen AND understood.
The GOAT Returns
Our friend,
, brings out the M240B and aims squarely at America’s intelligence community. And, as always, he brought receipts.When it comes to Afghanistan, the US military and intelligence community have done little to cover themselves in glory. Sure, the CIA and military have scored numerous tactical successes by killing hundreds if not thousands of key Al Qaeda, Taliban, and other terrorist leaders in the country, as well as in neighboring Pakistan. But regarding the strategic picture, they continue to fail the American public.
The humiliating withdrawal and immediate loss of Afghanistan might be enough evidence for my assessment. So could CIA Deputy Director David Cohen’s comments earlier this week that stem from ignorance, terrible intelligence, or political motivations. Cohen argued the Taliban is an effective counterterrorism partner against Al Qaeda, of all groups, and that Afghanistan is not serving as a launchpad for jihadist attacks (despite the Islamic State's attacks this year in Iran and Russia, as well as a host of plots directed at the West). However, his comments are merely the latest in a string of bad analyses and decisions over the last two decades plus.
Let’s take a walk down memory lane and recall some of the more significant intelligence failures. This list is by no means comprehensive. The items below are merely some more egregious examples of how US intelligence, the military, and the State Department got it wrong.
Ok, party people, we’re taking a hiatus next week to celebrate Labor Day. We’ll still publish our podcasts, and I might write a thing or two, but nothing else!
Until Next Time.
Dear Will,
You are an amazing voice that is doing more than I can imagine to never let our country forget Afghanistan! It means more to me than you know. Thank you for your relentless effort to get the important message out that what we did in Afghanistan mattered. How we left Afghanistan mattered. The horror and chaos that our allies suffered matters. And we must never let that happen again. Thank you brother for using your voice (and writing skills) to tell so many important stories!
The article on the Afghanistan War Commission is one of your best yet. Solid. I learned a lot.