Also, why is overt racism just casually being dropped in this thread?
Because the US lost a war there - not at all gracefully, and to a faction with ideological tendencies which are offensive to most of this forum’s bloggers.
The Taliban, at points, seemed more popular than the States (perhaps they were, by the end), so “we had the hearts and minds”/“we betrayed a largely sympathetic population” don’t really work to mitigate this. Widespread acceptance of the Taliban has to be confronted by people who’ve never considered it before, inviting revulsion. The refugees are not really as visible as the Vietnamese boat people, so aren’t as effective a counterexample.
Poll
