Lots of Indian tech CEOs. This is just the world in 2021.
Category: Popular
Open Thread – 11/19/2021 – Brown Pundits
Modi?
Open Thread – 10/29/2021 – Brown Pundits
Please make sure to subscribe to the podcast. We’re still posting things and sometimes there isn’t a blog post associated with it.
Open Thread – 10/18/2021 – Brown Pundits
What’s going on?
Open Thread – 10/02/2021 – Brown Pundits
My Substack post on caste is finally up. Thanks for your patience.
The podcast released three episodes in three days. An interview with Wahid Majrooh, Former Minister of Public Health of Afghanistan. Another with Pashtana Durrani, an Afghan activist. And of course the one with Shazia Ilmni. Just subscribe on Apple and Stitcher.
Open Thread – 09/17/2021
I’ll probably be writing a piece (free) for my Substack on caste so that people can use it for a reference. The lie that it was “invented by the British” seems pretty pervasive and will spread in the next few years for various ideological reasons, so it is useful to always remember the truth even as the lie becomes regnant. Falsity always collapses, but it takes a while.
Open Thread – 09/04/2021 – Brown Pundits
What’s going on? We’re out of Afghanistan!
What do Hindu nationalists think of the Taliban? Do they envy them?
I saw theses on some Instagram political meme pages (don’t ask, Herald and Newsline aren’t around and this is how satire gets passed around once the world and the economy make magazines un-viable) and I was left with some questions.
My query was:
Are Hindu nationalists jealous of the Taliban’s success?
How do they really feel about the Taliban taking over Afghanistan?
Afghan National Army Lieutenant General Sami Sadat
Below is an opinion essay in the New York Times by Afghan National Army (ANA) Lieutenant General Sami Sadat. LTG Sami Sadat,only 36, is one of the most loved and respected men in all of Afghanistan. He demonstrated remarkable success as the commander of the 215th Maiwand ANA Corps before being recalled to Kabul. The ANA lost over 70,000 Killed in Action (KIA). Including the MoI (Ministry of Interior) ANP (Afghan National Police), NDS (National Directorate of Security) and Arbekai the total Killed in Action was probably well over 100,000. The exact number is not known since the Afghanistan MoI and MoD (Ministry of Defense) have both classified the numbers since 2010 because they were afraid it would harm morale. In 2020 alone ANDSF KIA was likely over 15,000. I have been told that many of the ghost soldiers in many ANA battalions were actually KIA being kept on the rolls so that their salaries could support their families.
Posting LTG Sami Sadat’s NYT essay for those who can’t read it through the pay wall:
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GUEST ESSAY
I Commanded Afghan Troops This Year. We Were Betrayed.
Aug. 25, 2021
By Sami Sadat
General Sadat is a commander in the Afghan National Army.
For the past three and a half months, I fought day and night, nonstop, in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand Province against an escalating and bloody Taliban offensive. Coming under frequent attack, we held the Taliban back and inflicted heavy casualties. Then I was called to Kabul to command Afghanistan’s special forces. But the Taliban already were entering the city; it was too late.
I am exhausted. I am frustrated. And I am angry.
President Biden said last week that “American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.”
It’s true that the Afghan Army lost its will to fight. But that’s because of the growing sense of abandonment by our American partners and the disrespect and disloyalty reflected in Mr. Biden’s tone and words over the past few months. The Afghan Army is not without blame. It had its problems — cronyism, bureaucracy — but we ultimately stopped fighting because our partners already had.
It pains me to see Mr. Biden and Western officials are blaming the Afghan Army for collapsing without mentioning the underlying reasons that happened. Political divisions in Kabul and Washington strangled the army and limited our ability to do our jobs. Losing combat logistical support that the United States had provided for years crippled us, as did a lack of clear guidance from U.S. and Afghan leadership.
I am a three-star general in the Afghan Army. For 11 months, as commander of 215 Maiwand Corps, I led 15,000 men in combat operations against the Taliban in southwestern Afghanistan. I’ve lost hundreds of officers and soldiers. That’s why, as exhausted and frustrated as I am, I wanted to offer a practical perspective and defend the honor of the Afghan Army. I’m not here to absolve the Afghan Army of mistakes. But the fact is, many of us fought valiantly and honorably, only to be let down by American and Afghan leadership.
Continue reading Afghan National Army Lieutenant General Sami Sadat
Open Thread – 08/20/2021 – Brown Pundits
I might as well mention that I’ll be doing a Pathan genetics and history room on Clubhouse in a bit over 5 hours. Clubhouse is now open to anyone on all major platforms.