President Biden’s remarks on leaving Afghanistan August 31, 2021.  Here’s some commentary about it: Just Above Sunset: Some Explaining.

More About 9-11:  post of September 6, 2021

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I’ll click ‘publish’ on this when August 31 begins in Afghanistan, 9 hours before Minnesota.  The intention of this post is strictly to encourage each reader to assess his/her personal feelings about the 20 years – a generation – since 9-11-2001; then to also personally reflect on how he/she commits to approach the 20 years upcoming.

Previous recent posts relating in whole or part to Afghanistan: August 16, 19, 26, 28 2021.  Access through archive section at right.

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Remembering 9-11-01, some thoughts from 20 years ago:

Personal communications as saved by myself between September 10 and 24, 2001, appear here (12 pages): Sep 10 to 24 2001.  Except for the first two pages from Sep 10, 2001, I only include content that specifically relates to 9-11.  At that time, my normal e-mail traffic was a family letter I tried to do every two weeks.  9-11 quickly erupted into a communications frenzy – people needed to talk.  Some years ago I printed out the first 100 days of such dialogue, which filled two business envelope boxes.  These were donated to, and accepted by, the Minnesota Historical Society for posterity.

Referring to specific pages in the attachment: page 3) The three photos referenced can be seen here (scroll down, this space also includes my comments from a year after 9-11-01; 4) my sister Mary Ann’s comments.  She was at the WTC 4 days before 9-11; 5-7) first person survivor from the towers written immediately after escaping; 8) from a church bulletin, note comment about bullying; 11) “perhaps the most important…”; 12) note the Priests comments in a church homily the Sunday after 9-11.

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My grandson, Spencer, is an active duty Marine, though not in Afghanistan.  He was one and a half on 9-11-01, recently turning 21.  Those Marines killed at Kabul were largely in his cohort.  When he was in high school I prepared a simple page on the human cost of war to the United States.  The data is of 2016, and he and his teacher found it of interest.  It is here: War Deaths U.S.002

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Just Above Sunset for August 30 f you wish a good collection of opinions about the carnage at the Kabul airport.  If nothing else, read the last sentence.

Joyce sends on “Innocence and Folly” from The Weekly Sift.

COMMENTS: Check end of post for more.

from Mary: May as well ‘weigh in’!  Somehow I can not quite understand why this Afghan exit had to become such a big deal…don’t folks know how to fade out of the picture?  I will give some of the dubious credit  for the lumps to the 24 hour news cycles and the Monday Morning experts.  Human Rights aside – maybe they should not be – but we can not think that we can fix everything!!  We were uninvited and unwelcome and long ago outlived our usefulness in fixing this tribal society – there is and always will be plenty to do in the USA should Americans want to accept a real challenge…we live in a world of health care and infrastructure and education challenge and shady slimy stuff getting in the way of too many political decisions.   Afghanistan – Another sad example of the futility of revenge.

Dick in response:  I have been noticing over the last few years in particular a conscious and deliberate effort to make the United States a “tribal” society too.  Take your pick: urban/rural; race; women/men; religion…division has been useful to some operatives; not to a United country, and we will pay the price.

from Jermitt: Powerful read!  There is no way to leave a country after “losing the war”, without criticism and perhaps bloodshed.  Yes, perhaps a mass evacuation may have started earlier, but who would have forecasted the folding of the Afghan military.  No one.  I believe Biden had only one reasonable option and he did what was best for all the allies and the U.S.