The Afghan people continue to receive aid through NGOs, albeit at a greatly reduced scale. And Afghanistan continues to trade with its neighbors. Despite public calls to outlaw opium production, that has not been the case, which provides an illicit and covert money supply for Afghans and the Taliban. If you're asking about the frozen funds designated for Afghanistan, we don't see that getting released any time soon.

This is a response to a troll question who deleted his comment after my masterful response. It's all sarcasm for anyone looking to pile on.

Kyle - We never said it would be better if Trump was in office and I personally despise the dude. Trump did orchestrate the Doha Agreement which started the end of the whole thing. Obama and Trump could have withdrawn any time and they both kept it going for either money and/or watered down intelligence reports to Congress. We regularly discuss how war is a racket on the podcast and most of our guests do, too. Personally I applaud Biden for finally pulling the plug, but it should have been done from Bagram which would have minimalized chances of casualties. And I don't like golf either, that's all Zach.

We didn't say things would be better if Trump were still in office. We have discussed many times the pipeline from general officer to PMC board seat member.

Zach - First, thanks for following. As for your question, I'm not sure if anyone can relate to the reality of an everyday Afghan except for Afghans. We have an understanding of some of their cultural views and practices, and may even understand why they make certain decisions. But we can't say we have the same lived experiences. I think we saw the middle ground of the country if we saw it at all. Most of our time was relegated to being on a base or in an airplane. As for languages, everyone picks up a phrase or two, but for the most part we were heavily reliant on translators. Kyle does know Russian, which is more useful than one might initially think.

Kyle - I always wanted to destroy the earth and kill innocent people. Sometimes I’d find M1 Abrams tanks in the motor pool and start them up just to let them idle and burn fuel. Once they taught me the startup procedure for the F16s id let them idle, too. Severe psychopathy and other diseases of the DSM V restricted me from most other jobs, but a few lies to the doctor at MEPS and they put me right into military intelligence. Of course now that I left the military industrial complex I am homeless. I use public libraries to do research for and record this podcast. I rob people and panhandle to get by. Thanks for the question.

Kyle here and that’s a great question. US occupation spurred the creation of many cell phone networks. Most Afghans, with the exception of the most rural, have cell phones and SIM cards. In 2016 3G was fairly rare except in the very populated areas. I’m not sure if the Taliban is working to restrict internet access or prohibit certain sites, but I can assure you Afghans on all sides of the conflict are very active on Twitter, but you need to follow the English speaking Afghan accounts which generally lead you to the Pashto and Dari posters if you’re not familiar with the language.

Education was slightly improved under US occupation for those in more populated areas. It expanded middle and high school to girls. Despite this, most estimates place literacy rates around 40% which is well below the world average. Illiteracy was very much taken advantage of by corrupt Afghan military and police commanders who were literate. Now the Taliban has banned girls from attaining education beyond elementary school, but there is infighting within Taliban leadership about this. Hope that helps and take care.

This is Zach. I supported pulling out of Afghanistan. With that said, the way it was done was absolutely horrendous. After the Doha Agreement was signed, it was open season on ANDSF. The longer we stayed, the worse off things would have become. President Obama campaigned on leaving Afghanistan only to do an about-face when he entered office. President Trump campaigned on leaving Afghanistan and kicked the can down the road. Our belief is that military leadership kept telling them the war was winnable. President Biden's share of the blame comes from not having a withdrawal plan. With the Doha Agreement signed in February 2020, he had plenty of time to get a team together to work on such a plan. You can't campaign on your foreign policy expertise and then not have a plan. Per the Afghanistan papers, the war was essentially unwinnable after 2004.

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As for money, our podcast makes none. We do this for catharsis. And I have a borderline unhealthy infatuation with golf.

Kyle here - thanks for the question. I was 100% in support of withdrawal from Afghanistan. It was clear, probably around 2011, that US nation building had failed. I think Biden should be applauded for pulling out of Afghanistan, but withdrawal should have been conducted from the more defensible Bagram Airfield as opposed to HKIA. I find it despicable that the leaders in charge of conducting the withdrawal are still in charge despite the loss of life and clusterfuck that was the withdrawal.

As for saying the war is your only life experience, I’m sure it wasn’t and it wasn’t ours, either. If you’re accusing us of profiting from it, I can assure you we make no money doing this and it only costs us money with server space and recording software. There are no ads for square space or blue apron. For sure I made more money in the war after I got out, but only for a short time until I became a sort of hippie and near-pacifist. Went back to school and work in a totally unrelated career field. We do this as a way to stay in touch and bring on experts to talk about a topic that doesn’t get a lot of play in the mainstream news cycle. Kind of amateur-hobbyist journalism and history. As for hobbies, I like to fly fish, write, play video games, mandolin, practice jiu jitsu badly, and read. I can assure you I don’t identify very strongly or at all with the vet bro community which is often obnoxious. Take care, man.

Kyle here - it largely depends on who you ask. When the prior government was overthrown you saw a lot of citizens trying to escape. There was a recent story where a rumor went around that Turkey was needing volunteers following the earthquake and Afghans showed up to the airports in droves hoping to be selected to go to Turkey. Those rumors about seeking afghan volunteers were false.

But the Taliban has both a loyal following and a great portion of the population that exists almost beyond the idea and reach of any kind of central government. A lot of the educated Afghan populace and certainly any Afghan with ties to the coalition’s military force don’t want to live under Taliban rule. For most, life will continue as it always has with subsistence farming in their local community. Even under the former government the rural Afghan’s life was almost unaffected unless caught in the war. Even when the US was there, the Taliban were the de facto rulers in much of the country. It’s just speculation, but the backlash you see against the Taliban government largely comes from Afghans with access to news and social media and telecommunications and the internet. Much of the population just wants to be left alone.

TL:DR: it depends on who you ask and for most life will go on as before.