Afghanistan: America’s $4 Trillion Mistake
The nation of Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban at a pace that has many western leaders scratching their heads in wonderment. A couple of weeks ago, the State Department was warning that Kabul could fall within 6 months. A few days later, the date was switched to 90 days. After it was revised to 72 hours, the downfall of Kabul only took 8 hours.
President Ashraf Ghani greeted a Taliban delegation at the presidential palace after signing an agreement to resign and transfer power to the Taliban. According to the Russian embassy, he then fled the country with four vehicles and a helicopter full of cash.
The Afghanistan military had a force of over 300,000, with an annual budget of $3-4 billion, equipped with Humvees, Mobile Strike Force Vehicles, helicopters, A-29 fighters, and advanced weapons. It crumbled to the Taliban’s lightly armed forces of 75,000 men.
As Afghan cities were falling like dominoes, the Pentagon was singing the praises of the Afghanistan military. “They have an air force, a capable air force,” something the Taliban does not have, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said. “They have modern equipment. They have the benefit of the training that we have provided for the last 20 years. It’s time now to use those advantages.”
The downfall of Afghanistan reminds me of when ISIS militants took control of the city of Mosul in June of 2014. It only required 300 fighters to capture a city of 2.5 million people. During their three-year reign, ISIS committed many atrocities. By the time the Iraqi military liberated Mosul, large areas of the city were completely destroyed.
In both cases, Islam is the cause of the defeat. When you have a demonically controlled people fight against another group of demonically controlled people, you will see the outcomes that often defy simple logic.
Islam doesn’t even work well in oil-rich nations. I recently watched the video that pointed how much the United Arab Emirates is a mess. The Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building, and it’s not linked up to a sewage system. Each morning, 30 tanker trucks line up to pump out tons of human waste. Hundreds of homes that were built on fake islands are all slowly sinking into the Persian Gulf.
The workers in UAE are mostly the equivalent of slave labor. The people with the money are rich because they get welfare from the government. So when the oil runs out, the whole system will collapse. The old joke about when the oil runs out, sand will be the only export is not even true. The sand in the Middle East is too dirty to be of any use.
I have a non-Muslim example of how demonic influence destroys a nation. The people of Haiti follow a version of Roman Catholicism that is infused with voodoo rituals and beliefs. Haiti was founded by a large portion of the population pledging their allegiance to Satan for independence from France. This pact with the devil is the only way I can explain why this nation is the poorest nation in the Western world.
The Biden administration has had to face criticism and anger over the scale of just how fast things have deteriorated. Many of the images coming out of Kabul look very familiar to the fall of Saigon. Biden made America look bad by our military leaving the country with its tail between its legs. Every President going back to President Bush deserves some blame for staying in this hell hole.
It was foolish for us to think we could bring stability, security, and ultimately, prosperity to the people of Afghanistan. We invaded the country because we thought it was the headquarters of the group that carried out the 9/11 attack. It turned out most of them came from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
We only lost about 2,500 soldiers in the war, but we have taken on huge financial burdens. We have thousands of people who received injuries that will lead to medical bills of $1 trillion over their lifetime. Since we spent an average of $100 billion per year on the Afghanistan war, that amounts to $2 trillion. If you add up the compounding interest on the debt for 20 years, our total bill for this Afghanistan folly will be around $4 trillion.
The Bible proves itself time and time again that scripture is the only way to understand world events. Secular planners thought they could turn Afghanistan into a productive democracy. I doubt they admit their error, but it’s clear to me that they were wrong.
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
–Todd
“Only on evil”
Looking around today’s cultural/societal landscape, I searched my cerebral, biblical files of recollection for one brief reference that might best speak to where this generation stands on God’s prophetic timeline. The thought almost immediately landed upon things surrounding the book of Genesis—particularly, on the following:
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)
We don’t have to stretch our powers of observation very far to grasp that we are indeed in a time that this scriptural pronouncement fits. But the above reference seemed still a bit too general in its indictment. I searched for refinement of that judgment through God’s Holy Word.
Next these words came to mind: God hates certain things. As a matter of fact, there are seven things He specifically hates:
These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. (Proverbs 6:16–19)
We can look at these one at a time in order to determine if they fit the cultural/societal characteristics of our current national environment.
- A PROUD LOOK
With the possibility that some might be offended, I question whether this generation is affected and infected by this particular characteristic. The Internet and social media sites give this generation countless venues via which to put forth pridefulness. Many present “proud looks” on their accounts, sometimes boasting and even being untruthful about their accomplishments.
- A LYING TONGUE
During the past years, we’ve witnessed an entire news media that has put forth some of the most egregious lies imaginable. Our society and culture, although wise to the lies being perpetrated by mainstream media and the many alternate websites, nonetheless are swayed in what direction to take. They are easily persuaded by the smooth, lying tongues of media masters.
- A SCHEMING, WICKED HEART
This can be seen by organizations and political office holders that champion anti-God ideologies in order to win votes, thus to feather their personal nests with large contributions from those who buy their influence.
These concoct and pass legislation that often goes against God’s order for mankind—for example, changing laws that formerly governed perverted activity, and even pedophile activity to make such evil acceptable rather than wicked and even illegal.
- FEET THAT RUN SWIFTLY TOWARD MISCHIEF
I can see this in those within America’s political processes who construct total fabrication against their opponents. And the next thing God hates is akin to it.
- A FALSE WITNESS OF SPEAKING LIES
Again, we see this through the political process. And, of course, this sort of devious activity takes place throughout the business world, and is rampant today in the personal sense.
- SOWING DISCORD
We’ve watched as the nation has been torn apart. America is split almost down the middle in political ideology. I’m convinced that the educational system has worked feverishly to bring about this schism. The nation has, in this sense, sown to the wind. It is soon to reap the proverbial whirlwind, because of allowing the anti-God educators to plant seeds of discord. A house so discordant, so divided, cannot stand, Jesus said.
Perhaps you noticed that we skipped one particular matter God hates. I believe it to be the most troubling societal/cultural sin of all, one that’s especially egregious in the Almighty’s holy eyes.
- HANDS THAT SHED INNOCENT BLOOD
Is there any among us who are innocent? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, the Bible says. So, who are the “innocent” referenced in this condemnation?
For the Loving God to say He “hates” is perhaps an infinite concept that’s beyond my ability to grasp. But I believe that babies in the womb and very small children fit this category of “innocent.”
This nation is, I think it can be accurately said, among the guiltiest of shedding innocent blood, of slaughtering tiny innocents, even in the place they should be most protected—in their mothers’ wombs.
But now this sin God hates so much becomes even more horrendous, as the following news item validates.
Various abortion programs at the University of Pittsburgh have been getting the school slammed in recent days, with accusations it assembled a tissue bank holding hearts, legs and brains from unborn babies who were cut up and stored.
But one of the more horrific accusations has now come from the Centers for Medical Progress, which charged that the organs are removed from the unborn babies’ bodies before they are dead.
The CMP explained that the school has admitted that “ischemia time” that it cited in an application for federal tax money for its abortion program “refers to the time after the tissue collection procedure.”
The CMP explained, “Ischemia starts when the organ (the kidneys primarily in Pitt’s GUDMAP project) is cut off from blood circulation. The NIH defines ischemia as ‘lack of blood supply to a part of the body.’ The university states the fetal organs do not undergo ischemia—lose their blood supply—until ‘after the tissue collection procedure.’”
Officials in 1 state altered spoiled ballots to count them, the report says.
“This means the organs are still receiving blood supply from the fetal heartbeat during the ’tissue collection,'” CMP explained.
“Pitt is now admitting to news media that the aborted babies are still alive at the time their kidneys are cut out for NIH grant money,” explained CMP chief David Daleiden. (Bob Unruh, “Race-based aborted baby-parts operations reminiscent of Kermit Gosnell scandal,” WND, August 5, 2021)
Jesus said that the time just before His Second Advent will be just as it was in the days of Noah. The antediluvians’ thoughts were “only on evil continually.”
At this moment, babies—the only truly “innocent” among us, because they are not accountable for their sinful nature at this point—are being slaughtered by the thousands. Their blood cries out to the God of Heaven who loves them. Can it be any wonder that He literally “hates” this most heinous evil imaginable?
Abortion is the nation’s number-one national sin, I am convinced. The souls of these tiny, innocent ones must even at this moment—like those martyrs described in Revelation chapter 6—be crying out.
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? (Revelation 6:10)
This world system that eagerly sheds innocent blood is on the cusp of paying an eternal price for this wickedness. But the individual sinner, even who has been involved in the satanically driven abortion industry, can escape the wrath of God to come.
- Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
- Romans 10:13” “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
—Terry
—Terry