The Great Facade by D.L. Jones 

This article is dedicated to MG Harold J. Greene and LTC James J. Walton, both of whom were Killed in Action (KIA) in Afghanistan. One was my boss and mentor; the other a dear friend.  

August 15, 2021

August 15, 2021, will be a date that no U.S. combat veteran of Afghanistan will ever forget, nor will any combat veteran of the Five Eyes Alliance, or of Germany, nor should any citizen in the West.  

Many are comparing the fall of Kabul (and Afghanistan) to the Taliban to the Fall of Saigon (and Vietnam). One thing is for sure: political scientists and historians in the West will be writing about Afghanistan for the next 50 years as they have about Vietnam.

This article is solely the private thoughts of one combat veteran of Afghanistan. I do not speak for nor do the views expressed here represent those of the U.S. Government, the State Department, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Army, or the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. I do not pretend to be a subject matter expert on Afghanistan nor the region. I am simply writing because I must. My conscience forces me to write. If you find this article of value then retain what is true and good about it for yourself and share it with others. If you disagree with it, then ignore and discard it.    

Afghanistan is The Great Facade

Afghanistan is The Great Facade. The fall of Afghanistan is not the fault of President Joseph Biden. Partisan Republicans attacking the President are simply perpetuating The Great Facade or Great Lie to the American people. If fault is to be laid for our failures in Afghanistan, it should be laid at the feet of the Neoconservatives (Neocons) who created the policies of Afghanistan and sustained this "House of Cards" over the last 20 years. The Neocons have infested the Department of Defense and State Department. Therefore, there has been a continuity of Afghan policies across many Presidential administrations and across party lines.