Biden just announced the upcoming withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan

View in browser   April 14, 2021 President Biden announced today that he will withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, 20 years after the attacks that sent US forces overseas in the first place. Unfortunately, the decision is far from a victory. As my colleague Dan Spinelli wrote last month in his investigation into the coalition urging Biden to withdraw troops from Afghanistan: Advocates for a full withdrawal have the visibility and resources to mount a sustained campaign. What they lack is a like-minded ally in Biden's inner circle and, more potently, a defense against the notion that a US withdrawal will be devastating for the progress made by Afghans over the past two decades, especially for women... The United States has dumped roughly $2 trillion into Afghanistan and lost more than 2,200 American soldiers fighting the Taliban. For all that effort, the war has only produced a "modicum of success," as Milley memorably put it last year, while serving as a reminder of the US government's habit of lying to its own citizens about its activities overseas. Even with broad frustration with how the United States has conducted the war, some US and Afghan officials fear that ending it could be worse. No more Americans will die on active duty in Afghanistan after withdrawal, but the United States didn't accomplish what it set out to do—defeat the Taliban. The Afghan government is precarious, and the Taliban is likely to return to power. Still, Biden administration officials say the Taliban does not pose a significant threat to the US.  "We went to Afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago," Biden's prepared remarks read. "That cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021." —Abigail Weinberg Advertisement   “Dearest Beyoncé”: Myanmar Activists Beg American Brands to Help Them End the Military Coup Ever since soldiers seized control of the country, hundreds of activists have been killed. BY SAMANTHA MICHAELS SPONSORED POST   Farmers on the Front Line: How They're Responding to the Global Food Crisis Sparked by COVID-19 With the pandemic affecting food supply, farmers are finding new ways to keep feeding the world. THIS CONTENT WAS PAID FOR AND SPONSORED BY HEIFER INTERNATIONAL.   One trial can't change American policing BY NATHALIE BAPTISTE Why Puerto Rico statehood is so much more complicated than it is for DC BY AJ VICENS It's time to treat gun violence as a public health crisis BY MATT COHEN A new bill wants the EPA to shield drinking water from "forever chemicals" BY PIPER MCDANIEL Advertisement   America's Wealth Gap Is Much More Obscene Than You Had Imagined And it's a problem for everyone.   Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. Donate SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE How Do You Laugh With a Saxophone? Look to Red Holloway. Little, if anything, is laugh-worthy in the news right now. But the catharsis, joy, and recharge of laughter are available if you do some digging. The year is 1964. The setting: a festival in Antibes, France. The band is 21-year-old George Benson on guitar, Brother Jack McDuff on organ, Red Holloway on saxophone, and Joe Dukes on drums. The music is scorching. The laugh isn't yours—it's Holloway's. Minutes in, he replicates a bursting laugh through his horn, a familiar technique in improvisational swing of the era but rarely accomplished with such expressive vitality on video. The laugh is teed up, and Benson gets in on it, circling his arm behind Holloway during the laugh, and fashioning another sound on guitar that you're bound to recognize. You can see, hear, feel, or imagine how much tension and release are coded in these moments, designed for a crowd but deployed for themselves. Here is Benson’s recognizable riff, right after McDuff’s organ. And here’s Holloway’s laugh. Are they playing the licks for the crowd or themselves? Yes. —Daniel King Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by forwarding it to a friend or sharing it on Facebook and Twitter. Donate Subscribe This message was sent to franchmaverickk.secretwords123@blogger.com. To change the messages you receive from us, you can edit your email preferences or unsubscribe from all mailings. For advertising opportunities see our online media kit. Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today. www.MotherJones.com PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755