Wait, What...Did the Taliban Just Endorse a Presidential Candidate?

And This was Just ONE Crazy Thing in a Truly Weird Week Amid a Dangerous Election Season!

Oct 15, 2020

Imagine, if you will, a world in which an enemy America has fought for nearly 20 years allegedly endorses a Presidential candidate only weeks prior to the election, and no one seems to have noticed! While the Taliban leadership later walked back talk of an actual “endorsement,” the statements documented by CBS news definitely indicates a stated and public Taliban preference for a Trump victory. President Trump has long promised to end America’s long war in Afghanistan, so the Taliban’s desire to see him remain in office is logical. It should also be noted that Trump’s own military commanders say that any full withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan should only come after the Taliban fully breaks ranks with al-Qaida. Which has not happened yet.

But, when this news was first aired by CBS, it hardly caused a ripple in the United States. Has the American voter’s attention been so distracted by the recent circus that is American politics, that the original Taliban statement barely registers? Or is any news from overseas, even from an active warfront, so inconsequential to the average American now?

Let’s see, what else is going on that may explain the lack of news on the Taliban front? The fallout from the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the Senate hearings of her nominated replacement, Amy Coney Barrett, dominate the news, despite the lack of any real drama as to the final Senate vote. President Trump and his family, along with many of his closest advisors come down with COVID, generating a lot of news and commentary. Oh, and let’s not forget the attempted overthrow of the Michigan State government and the plan to kidnap Governor Whitmer in the aborted Michigan Putsch by a group of heavily-armed domestic terrorists.

And as the Trump rallies played on, the COVID pandemic continues to churn across the nation, with known American deaths hitting 217,000. The U.S. is the unfortunate world leader as Americans continue to die at far higher rates than other countries.

To further add to the confusion, President Trump tweeted the lie that the Obama/Biden Administration faked the SEAL team killing of Osama bin Laden, a claim easily refuted by one of the very SEALS who undertook that hazardous mission. Well, that brings us back to Afghanistan, and the insanity of the fact that an avowed enemy of the United States publicly expressed a preference for the sitting President to win the election. What would have happened if Ho Chi Minh had publicly said he preferred Hubert Humphrey or Richard Nixon? Would Mao or the first Kim have said they preferred Adlai Stevenson or Ike in the White House? No, and if they had, that would have been the political kiss of death for the candidate they said nice things about. Today, the Taliban expresses a clear preference, whether an actual endorsement or not, and it barely registers here at home.

And we have not even touched here on the widely-known preference of Vladimir Putin for a continued Trump romp in the White House, nor the known and documented Russian interference in America’s political system.

The political chaos of this election season (indeed, of the past four years), continues to erode American democracy and American safety and security. Events around the world WILL affect Americans, whether we recognize that as a nation or not. We need to ALL pay attention, before it is too late.

P.S.

Another bit of Afghanistan-related news that really did not get the attention it deserved: This October 7th marked the 19th anniversary of the American-led invasion of Afghanistan against Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network and, you guessed it, bin Laden’s buddies and sponsors, the Taliban! And, in the same week that CBS News reported the Taliban saying nice things about Donald Trump, the U.S. military conducted airstrikes on Taliban forces that were fighting against our allies, the Afghan government’s military. Don’t let anyone fool you...the U.S. is still at war in Afghanistan, and the Taliban is still a warzone foe of the United States!

Sources and Notes:

On the Taliban “endorsement” of Trump and the allegation about bin Laden’s Death:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taliban-on-trump-we-hope-he-will-win-the-election-withdraw-us-troops/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/10/14/trump-promotes-baseless-qanon-endorsed-conspiracy-theory-alleging-obama-staged-bin-ladens-killing/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/12/us-hit-taliban-fighters-advancing-on-key-afghan-city