One journalist with a wealth of on-the-ground experience in the Middle East, and the strength to speak the truth is Lara Logan. Here is a post from her Facebook page, that outlines facts and questions that counter the narrative that is being put out there on Afghanistan.  As you read these points she makes, pray for these three things:

1. Pray for Americans still trying to get out of Afghanistan.
2. Pray for those pro-liberty Afghani citizens in danger in Afghanistan who are now being systematically executed by the Taliban.
3. Pray for Lara Logan who is courageously speaking up about this situation and others that go against the legacy media talking points.

From Lara Logan:

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Here are a few basic facts on where we are in Afghanistan to help you sort through the propaganda/spin:
– The US has the technological capability to wipe any enemy off the battlefield. This is obviously not being used – why not? Afghans know this and to them it is a clear indication that the US wants this outcome.
– There has never been a defeat of this nature in the history of the US because this one comes with the shame of betrayal, written in the blood of our allies and innocent Afghans. It has been engineered by the US and the US is pushing this forward still, in spite of the chaos and the criticism. Actions speak louder than words.
– The natural conclusion Afghans and every other US ally draws from this is that the US is weak – not in capability – but in terms of political will.
– The only thing standing between the US as the world’s superpower and the total end of US power/authority is the US itself – American political leadership on both sides of the aisle. One side hates America as much as their enemies and is driving this – the other has rolled over and/or is actively complicit – the effect is the same.
– The Taliban has broken the “peace deal” it made with the US a thousand times over so there is no deal and obviously no peace.  The US could stop the Taliban right now with the full force of the technologically advanced US military and clean up this mess.
– This would include strategic UAV strikes with UAV’s that can see through anything, day or night and bombing Taliban targets. Cut off their supply lines, infiltration and exfil routes in and out of Pakistan and elsewhere, have the US State department OPENLY DEMAND Pakistan stop supporting the proxy terrorist army, destroy in place the US weapons seized by the Taliban and whatever stockpiles remain, hand over to the Afghan govt leaders and US-trained commandos/special operations forces who are fighting in the Pansjir Valley, Baghlan, the Salang tunnel other areas etc.
– The US has a history of destroying weapons/equipment left behind – look at the OBL raid and the helicopter that was downed. If the US does not destroy it’s weapons/equipment now in place, it tells our allies and our enemies that we are willfully handing them over/giving it to them.
– The US is monitoring all Taliban communication systems 24/7. There are no surprises and anyone saying/pretending we did not or do not know something is worthless.
– The Taliban are a terrorist regime – the number two in their leadership is Siraj Haqqani whose terrorist organisation, the Haqqani Network, was declared an FTO by the US in 2012. Siraj Haqqani’s brother Anas and their uncle, have been leading the so-called “peace talks”. This means the US has been negotiating with terrorists in violation of US law. No one will hold this government to account if both Republicans & Democrats do not demand accountability.
– The same propaganda tactics are in play in Afghanistan and you need to realise some of what you see has been stage-managed for political reasons and may not be as it appears. Some surrenders were real – but deals were made ahead of time and the cameras there to capture it as if it were just unfolding spontaneously. Some Afghan leaders did NOT a surrender – they were lured into traps and arrested – but the Taliban is controlling the message. Other Afghan leaders are under house arrest and not necessarily willing participants in the meetings you see them in – Or able to say anything other than what they are told. We do not know the truth, but our intelligence agencies do. And therefore our leaders do too.
– Don’t hold your leaders to the same standard and expectations that make sense for people with no inside track, no intelligence, no real time visibility or access to foreign leaders etc. They know more than we do – for example, they know what is in the secret annexes to the so-called US “peace deal” with the Taliban. So don’t make it easy for them to lie.
– As long as the media which has traditionally been regarded as credible and still dominates information flow in this country is not doing it’s job, Americans as a whole will be denied the ability to make up their minds based on truth. Political deceit and  narratives that are false/partially true lead to bad decisions – not good ones. And the powerful propaganda gods hiding behind charities, civil society and academia etc should not be allowed to engineer the destruction of everything Americans on both sides hold dear. We can no longer allow them to “discredit” people because they disagree with a radical political agenda that is based on annihilating the US as a country and life as we have known it.
– Hispanic media is blaming the Afghans, telling it’s audience that the US a warned the Afghans months ago and they should have been prepared. That false narrative leaves out many things – such as the US pulling air support from Afghan Special operations who rely on mobility by design and cannot be effective on the scale needed to stop this invasion without that capability. At the same time, the US took the maintenance capability away from the Afghan Air Force – pulling out the contractors who keep their planes running. It also told the Taliban and al Qaeda the timeline for withdrawal, broke the morale of the Afghan security forces by announcing total withdrawal of the strategic and tactical capabilities those forces brought to the fight, did nothing to stop weapons and arms sent in by Pakistan that were flowing across the border, with US Intel agencies watching these things happen in real time.
– Also, the Taliban is not fighting alone – as Pakistan’s proxy this is really a Pakistani invasion. And their strongest allies are China, Qatar, Iran and others who have already promised international recognition and sent Taliban forces in with bucketloads of cash to sweeten the deal. Which would you choose as a local Afghan district leader already surrounded and outnumbered with no cavalry in the skies? Choosing to live one more day is not necessarily the same as surrender and this story is not over. The Afghan resistance are fighting every day but left out of the media and political narratives.
– Before he become President, Ashraf Ghani presided over the ‘disarmament and demobilization” process – but primarily took the guns/stockpiles of US allies from the north and left weapons in the hands of the Taliban. US leaders criticsed their own allies from the north more than Pakistan, who support of the Taliban was and remains the single, defining line between defeat and victory on the Afghan battlefield.
– The US media quickly echoed the narrative of US allies/warlords from the north = bad, writing many stories about their human rights abuses and so on, equating their actions to the Taliban. Al Qaeda and others who often got a pass. This was also Pakistan’s narrative and served US enemies while distancing the US from it’s allies – those same allies are now fighting once again, but so far without support or recognition from the Biden administration.
– This distortion was also echoed by human rights organisations who called out both sides but gave them parity.
– The US Military, OSD, Generals and so on all echoed the State Dept narrative on Pakistan publicly – I reported this year after a year as a correspondent for 60 Minutes. It was this: Pakistan can and should do better – sure – but they are doing all they can and things are getting better all the time”. Not only was that a lie, it led to where we are today with Pakistan engineering a complete takeover of power by their proxy.
– Not one single leader ever stopped Pakistan and anyone who does not understand what that means, can go to Arlington cemetery. There you will find many of the soldiers who died because of Pakistan’s support for America’s enemies, while our own political leaders were drinking tea in Islamabad or having lunch in DC with Pakistani lobbyists like the Podesta Group.
– That is still happening right now – while unarmed Afghan civilians are being shot outside the airport and US allies are being hunted by the Taliban and al Qaeda, the Ashraf Ghani’s lobbyist for years in DC, Claire Lockhart, is on the phone with journalists selling the narrative that serves his interests and whoever is backing him. So the President-that-fled lives to fight another day, while Americans citizens, allies and soldiers bear the burden of these political decisions and their elected, political leaders effectively do NOTHING to stop the US hurtling towards the end of American power, authority and the idea itself.
– Four US Presidents and so far not one of them did anything about Pakistan when it was obviously from day one this would be the deciding factor.
– Political “talks” with the Afghan government are about one thing only: demanding surrender and submission to the Islamic Emirate – ie: Afghan leaders must take the oath of  “bayat” – swear allegiance, the same way Siraj Haqqani swore bayat to Osama Bin Laden, and Ayman Al Zawahiri swore bayat to the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and the Islamic Emirate of the Taliban when he took over AQ after OBL was killed.
– The Vice President of Afghanistan, Amrullah Saleh, and Ahmad Masood, the son of the revered Northern Alliance commander, Ahmad Shah Masood, are among many Afghan leaders who did not surrender and are still fighting. They are and have been US allies for decades, even during the Soviet time. The US could still stand by their allies – and should. Yet all US leaders on both sides are talking about is the Taliban. Why?
– Any talk of projecting power in the world is meaningless if you allow terrorists to defeat the world’s superpower – and a defeat of this magnitude, shrouded in shame and betrayal, is more than just being obliterated militarily and politically, it is a moral annihilation that will define the very idea of America as morally bankrupt, weak and irrelevant.
– That makes every American vulnerable and the country less safe – at the very moment those in power have admitted (Mayorkis) the southern border is “lost” – and effectively wide open. This suits those who believe in open borders – obviously. It means the border agencies are reduced to the role of actors playing their part on the political stage – theatre of the absurd rather than real security. Once again those in power not only created this, this is what their policy and their actions are in practice, playing out in full view of all with little to no understanding publicly of the damage to national security, no acknowledgement of the threat by US leaders and no action to mitigate, stop or reverse.
– The idea that US enemies are not already exploiting this strategic weakness to their advantage is ridiculous – yes – but more importantly another false narrative being kept alive by the think tanks, charities and civil society organisations who are forcing the narrative to stay narrowly focussed on the immigration agenda. Assuming none of this is impacted by or related to the events in Afghanistan is yet another connection missed by US voters – why? Because their leaders and media are failing them – and the organisations we have come to trust and rely on are actively deceiving us for political reasons.
– If one of the goals here is to isolate the US so major adversaries like China can finish the job, then expect more actions that reaffirm to US allies that the world’s superpower is weak and worthless. Expect the US to be challenged on every front – from Taiwan to Israel and beyond. Multiple fronts at the same time would reinforce the strategic weakness of a nation without friends.
– If you think this is just about Afghanistan and what the Afghans did or did not do, nation building or not etc – congratulations! You have successfully been totally blindsided and deceived. This is not about staying in Afghanistan or not staying – it is simply about one thing: the American idea. Is it real or fake? Worth defending or not? Noble or worthless? Strong or weak?
– No matter how it appears, this is not simply a left vs right dilemma – this is about right and wrong.
– The Taliban did not ‘just’ acquire better weapons from they they have seized. From early this year, Taliban propaganda has shown their fighters with thermal scopes, night vision, American rifles etc.
–  Nevertheless, like the US, the advanced weapons the Taliban has now taken over are useless if they don’t use them – or in their case, know how. The US has been prevented from using their capability by political leaders/political will – the Taliban have the will but many have no idea what to do with the technology. With time that will change – the Chinese and others can show them how – teach/train them.
– You often hear Republicans say Democrats are much more organized and disciplined and stay on message – that is not just a function of discipline. It is rule by fear – Democrats who step out of line are savaged by the same machine that destroys any American who dares to exercise their first amendment rights or oppose them politically. If you want to know what the US looks like when these people have absolute power, look anywhere where tyranny and fear are the way of life instead of freedom. We’re on our way there.
– Americans are being deceived into believing disaster and defeat in Afghanistan are the only outcome at this point. That is a false choice that serves only this country’s enemies, “another foreign and domestic” – as per the constitution. Those who want the US to be weak, isolated and easy to wipe out completely will prevail if Americans allow themselves and this country to be defined by the way this is being done. Everyone can see this empowers America’s enemies only – not it’s people or it’s allies or anyone anywhere who believes in freedom.
–  The US government is preparing to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan. The Taliban is run by  al Qaeda terrorists like Siraj Haqqani and many others. Ask yourself why – on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 – the United States government is giving those responsible for the worst terrorist attack on this nation in it’s history, power, legitimacy, strategic weight, global recognition, weapons, advanced military equipment and millions of dollars, including your tax dollars.
– Why is the US handing this country’s enemies victory on an unprecedented scale, taking orders from the Taliban, prevailing on their better nature and saying stupid things on TV such as, “if the Taliban keeps their word” or “if the Taliban allows this or that” – apart from being abjectly stupid and devoid of truth, it’s real purpose is to entrench the idea that this outcome is unstoppable and the US is powerless.
– Morons in the last administration have said there was real optimism about the Taliban back then – they are as stupid as they are useless. However, those with power now who are branding every American with the lark of betrayal and moral bankruptcy are the real threat to the survival of this country because their actions demonstrate they want this outcome. If that is incorrect and they do not want this, they have the option, advanced technology and military capability to change it all in hours – literally hours. Don’t take my word for it – watch what they do and don’t do as well.
– Former US ambassadors, intelligence operators, Military leaders, Special Operations soldiers, pilots and so on – academics, policy experts, diplomats, elected leaders on both sides and more – this is a defining moment for all of you and for the American people. If you do not do all you can do in this moment to do what is right and stand up for principle, that will be your legacy handed down throughout history when the end of freedom as a way of life is taught for generations to come.
Is that what the American people want and how they want to be viewed in the world?  As traitors who stood by while their allies were slaughtered at the hands of their enemies?
Is that where Americans expected to be two decades after 9/11? Selling out to the terrorists responsible for the murder of close to 3000 innocent American people?
If “we the people” are truly the government in the United States of America, then this is your government, your legacy and your choice. And history will record this as such.
There is only one truth.

(Post from Lara Logan in Facebook. Photo by Chris Hondros via Getty Images.)

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