#al-qaeda
For 18 months, as ISIS advanced, the US did nothing to stop them
Collusion with terror: For 18 months, until the Russian Air Force entered Syrian skies, the US did absolutely nothing to stop ISIS from taking over swathes of Syria and Iraq
In 2017, #US and allied Kurdish forces bombarded the city of Raqqa, the bastion of #ISIS in #Syria and the de-facto capital of the terror groupâs self-proclaimed caliphate.
Concurrent to this, US forces conducted massive air strikes on the Iraqi city of #Mosul, to support Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces against ISIS there too.
But the US-led campaigns in Mosul and #Raqqa falsely suggest that the US and ISIS were implacable enemies. These battles created the perception that the US was committed to fighting #Al-Qaeda and its various splinter groups, in a continuation of the so-called âWar on Terrorâ begun by the Bush administration in the wake of 9/11.
However, a closer look at events in both Iraq and Syria paints a very different picture: The US and its allies, both directly and indirectly, colluded with ISIS to attain specific geopolitical objectives. The terror group that captured the worldâs attention in 2014 was in fact a vital and valuable tool for US policy planners.
Evidence of this is rife. In June 2014, when ISIS fighters swept across the Syrian border to first capture Mosul, the largest city of its caliphate, the US military monitored the ISIS convoys crossing from Syria using drones and satellite systems, but took no action to bomb them.
#politics #iraq #hypocrisy #terrorism
https://thecradle.co/Article/Investigations/15142
It is one year since the #Taliban stunned the world and took control of #Kabul way ahead of government estimates. In 2021, #Moscow responded to the news with a mix of calm and schadenfreude for its Western counterparts on the ground. Moscow then visibly took on the role of âpragmatic facilitatorâ for the Talibanâs consolidation. The Talibanâs anti-Western alignment, lack of allies abroad and desperate financial situation have all given #Russia (and China) leverage over the de facto Kabul government. That in turn gives #China and Russia a chance to ensure a development favourable to their regional interests. Indeed, the immediate aftermath of the takeover prompted many to speculate that China and Russia would jump at the opportunity to exploit the countryâs mineral #wealth, unencumbered by a Western presence.
https://ridl.io/russia-and-the-taliban-one-year-since-the-takeover/ #women #isis #war #al-qaeda #afghanistan #tashkent #crisis #turkey
