Pompeo: We Won In Afghanistan!

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is feelin’ good:

If you read the story, it turns out that by “delivered” Pompeo means only that we kicked al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan, something we did back in 2002. So this is perhaps not as impressive as he thinks it is.

Still, this is a case where Donald Trump might be doing something that only he could do. It’s been obvious for a long time that there’s no good reason for us to remain in Afghanistan, but it’s also been obvious that if we leave the Taliban is likely to take over. No US president is willing to accept that, so we’ve hung around for years accomplishing nothing of any consequence.

The obvious solution has always been to declare victory and go home, but neither Bush nor Obama quite had the chutzpah to do that. Trump does. Not only that, but if the Taliban does eventually take over he’ll loudly blame it on Obama and decline any responsibility. This will lead to hundreds of chin-stroking explainers and think pieces (“Did Obama Lose Afghanistan?” “Is the Taliban Really That Bad?” “Why Afghanistan Was Never Winnable,” etc.) and unanimous support from conservatives. Trump will get away with it in a way that no other president could.

Which is fine. It would be nice if Trump’s moronic bluster finally accomplished something useful.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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