We're Still Saving Our Afghan Allies
We Couldn't Do It Without You
Before we get started, I’m happy to announce we have some GCV+F gear.
https://gcvfriendsmerch.creator-spring.com
We’ve got t-shirts, mugs, hoodies, stickers, and much more!
Big shout out to & for making this happen!
Howdy,
It’s the last week before the election. How’s everyone feeling out there? I don’t know about you, but I have no clue who will win—and nobody really does. I’m dismayed at Harris’ national polling average but buoyed by the likelihood of women outvoting men.
At GCV, we’ve had a rough couple of months. I won’t rehash everything, but everyone is worn out. Yet, despite all of the heartaches, we’re continuing to rack up victories.
But wait—-there’s more!
On Tuesday, I received this fantastic news from an Afghan who I helped get out. He’s one of my closest Afghan brothers. Not only is he receiving his green card, but he’s going to join the Air Force!
I’m confident he will rise through the ranks and become an exemplary Airman for the world’s greatest Air Force.
But wait, there’s more!
A few seconds after receiving the abovementioned text, I received this incredible message from another of my Afghan brothers. Both of these men’s families have very close ties to GCV. With their green cards, they’re on their way to becoming American citizens.
And last night, I received this picture from Ahmadullah, my last combat interpreter, who you and
helped rescue from the Taliban.
His little girl is here because of you. She will become an American citizen because of you. I’m forever grateful.
The Afghan War nearly destroyed me. You can tie a direct line from it to multiple stays at the Looney Bin and a failed marriage. I won’t lie; some days, I wonder if I made the right call, dedicating my life to upholding our promise. However, news like this fuels my fire and keeps us going.
I also want to thank all of you for reading and supporting our work. These four people and their families wouldn’t be in this country without your support. Our victory is your victory. We are all in this together, Zmaa Andiwalaan (My People).
I’m so honored to serve alongside you and the incredible team at GCV, which is filled with Afghan refugees. Everyone who works at GCV is either an Afghan combat veteran, worked in Afghan evac, or is an Afghan refugee. Our executive director and executive assistant are Afghan refugees. The editor of Stories From My Brother is an Afghan refugee. Our most popular writer,
, is an Afghan refugee.If you haven’t become a paid subscriber, consider doing it. Inflation is a son-of-a-bitch, but for a measly $30 a year, you help us attract more writers, produce more podcasts, and, more importantly, help us get more of our Afghan allies out.
Yes, we’re still working behind the scenes to uphold our promise. And that wouldn’t be possible without you.
Thank you.
The Weekly Wrap
Even though we now publish stuff only for paid subscribers, everything published this week was accessible to all.
We had a new episode of Voices of the Resistance, our series inside of Stories From My Brothers, with an American hero, John Safi.
Over on Voices From the Field, one of my old troops, Captain Jared Clemens, had an excellent essay on the Air Force’s need to accept risk to combat near-peer competitors (AKA, China).
General Brown used empowerment and trust together because he understands that risk requires trust. If leaders do not trust Airmen, they will be less inclined to empower them. If Airmen do not trust leaders, they will be unwilling to accept risk. Therefore, to effectively empower Airmen and delegate, as General Brown states, the Air Force must be willing to take more risk at all levels and begin to change the way it views risk and the changes risk demands.
Over on Never Trump From the Jump, I pushed back on the call for flag officers to come out and speak on the election.
I understand that everyone is ramped up for this election. None of this necessarily means that these men and women are bad people or that they served dishonorably. Nearly all of them served their country for 30+ years and have sacrificed more than anyone, myself included.
Nevertheless, the generals should stay on the sidelines and stop doing political endorsements. It would be nice if they all banded together and took responsibility for the wars they lost, fought for better treatment of veterans and active duty members, and tried to raise awareness for our Afghan allies. But that’s not going to happen.
The generals will not save us, ladies and gentlemen. They can’t even win wars anymore nor take care of their formations. Until they do that, nobody should give a damn who they endorse for president.
I also wrote two feature articles for the site. One on the Doha Agreement and one on Barnett Rubin, the Taliban apologist.
In the end, it was Trump who wanted to invite the Taliban to Camp David. It was the Trump administration that signed a surrender agreement with a genocidal terrorist organization that killed thousands of Americans. It was the Trump administration that legitimized the Taliban by holding direct negotiations with a group drenched in American blood. And it was the Trump administration who routinely denigrated our allies who had fought for 20 years.
Like so many pro-Taliban apologists, Barnett R. Rubin (@BRRubin) has all the proper credentials. He’s a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for International Cooperation at New York University and received his PhD & MA from the University of Chicago. He’s written a lot of books, most of which are as dull as watching grass grow, but feel free to check them out. He also worked for the Obama administration (but, of course) and played a pivotal role in their failed attempts to make nice-nice with the Taliban.
Other Publications
I wrote a little something, something over at
for Morning Shots.On Saturday morning, the Israeli Air Force conducted a complex and successful series of strikes against targets in Iraq, Syria, and Iran. More than 100 aircraft, including the IAF’s advanced F-35 joint strike fighter, struck Iran’s integrated air defense network as well as three bases where the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps develops missiles, explosives, and some nuclear-weapons-related technology. All of the IAF’s aircraft returned without incident. Iranian sources reported that four soldiers were killed in the strike; no civilians appear to have been harmed.
I also appeared on
’s Generation Jihad, along with the GOAT, Thomas Joscelyn. We took a blow torch to the New York Times’ despicable fluff piece on Sirajuddin Haqqani.Our Friends
I recently stumbled upon a great Substack called
. Most of their stuff is very academic and centers upon Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian military theorist who underscores all American military doctrine. As a Clausewitz fan, I devour this stuff regularly. I highly recommend this substack, especially their recent article on the 6 January coup.As the election nears, therefore, we ought to look carefully for attempts to create the destabilization needed to justify an illegal seizure of power. Alleging fraud can be a means of presenting the conspirators as the guardians of orde, rather than a destabilizing forcer. An election creates inherent uncertainty as to where legitimate authority lies until a winner takes power. In this case, we may take some comfort that the threat is no longer a “self-coup,” and is therefore much more difficult to accomplish. Unfortunately, that is not enough to rest easy. A coup does not need to succeed to cause tremendous damage or to open the floodgates of civil strife. It is for this reason I have chosen to write on the Therefore, let Principiis obsta (“resist beginnings!”) be our guide, and—like a cancer—let us identify and excise a coup plot early, before a mob nears our Capitol or fake electors are appointed.
I also recommend you subscribe to
, a wonderful, insightful, and very funny substack.I constantly hear from more ordinary anti-Trump evangelicals a general lament about the state of American society, our “toxic politics” (the implication being that both sides are equally to blame), all the "lostness" out there, the increasing alienation of most Americans from “good Christian values,” the infection of the church by the values of "the world." There's little reflection on how evangelicalism itself--including its core theologies, particularly related to scriptural interpretation--has made its devotees susceptible to the kind of corruption and delusion Trump has unleashed.
The Future
Ok, sports fans, we’re down to the last two months of the year. While we will still publish both podcasts, we will throttle back publishing articles daily. I’ll write a few times a week, sometimes more if it suits me, but everyone here needs some time off to hang out with their families.
I need to focus on finding a new house and finishing my memoirs. With that in mind, please provide us with some grace as we focus on our families for the remainder of the year.
As always, thanks for your support. You’ll still hear from us, but less regularly.
Will and friends, go bruh! Interesting substack recommendations—I subscribed to both.
Great news. And look me up if you’re ever in the Pacific Northwest. I’m a Texan who moved to Seattle years ago. Would love to host you here.