I remember how I felt on 9/11/2001, as I watched in horror as the twin towers burned and collapsed. I remember wanting revenge. Plain and simple I wanted to bring justice to those responsible for such evil and cowardly acts of terror.
Then, a short time later, on the ground in Afghanistan, we were given the opportunity to help bring payback to the Taliban.We were not there to bring the Afghan people out of their third world ways, or to build a free society. We were there to collect payment due for the loss of American lives inflicted on 9/11. Period.
But as the days went on, something began to change in my mind. As the Taliban retreated and became fewer and further between, I found myself paying more attention to the Afghan people. They cheered for the Americans who were crazy enough to stand up to their oppressors, and the children were now happily playing outside, smiling and waving as we went about our business.
It was then that a new feeling started to replace the anger I was holding onto: Hope.
It soon became clear to me that the Afghan people now had so much more than before our arrival a short time ago.
With the Taliban (who once owned and occupied the cities and surrounding areas) dead or hiding, the Afghan people could begin to live their lives without fear. They could now decide for themselves what to teach their children, and their daughters could attend school for the very first time in a lifetime. They could decide what books to read, they could fly a kite. Things that seem so trivial and entitled to westerners and Americans were so very shiny and new to these people. They were extremely grateful and happy with their newfound freedoms.
After a few more years, we went on to give them an elected government, as an alternative to being ruled by an iron fist. The Afghan people had come so far so fast, and we were glad to give them these amazing gifts. And through all the American blood, sweat, and tears- we hoped we had done enough to create a new democracy on the planet.
But now, 20 years on, just weeks from the 20th anniversary of 9/11, we are leaving Afghanistan, and it appears as though our extraordinary efforts may have been in vain.
It’s difficult for me not to feel a sense of failure, with the speed of the capture of the Afghan capital Kabul, and the fleeing of their President from the country. It seems as if those who we have given their freedom to are simply not willing to fight for it, and that to me is truly sad.
Many Americans gave their lives. Many more Americans have returned home from Afghanistan with serious physical and emotional disabilities. Daily reminders of the battles they fought in the streets, villages, and mountains of Afghanistan.
Once again, under Taliban rule, there will be no more freedom to vote, to practice a different religion, to love the person they choose to. Females once again will be treated no better than animals. It’s infuriating even to think about.
But remember what the Taliban did when Americans first arrived. When they realized they were outgunned, they fled. They blended in with the population. They hid. They planned and they organized in secret. They took to the caves and they waited. They knew if they played our game they would lose every single fighter they had, and they would lose quickly.
The Taliban did what Afghans have done for centuries, and while this seems strange, even cowardly to westerners, guerrilla type fighting is very effective against larger forces and technologically advanced invaders. Afghanistan has been playing the long game throughout history, and they are exceedingly good at it. No empire that has tried to lay claim there has ever succeeded. Not one.
And so, the Taliban took the lessons of their predecessors and used them to their advantage. They waited.
Now, 20 years later with the American withdrawal, the Taliban have come back, to take back what we took from them. The major difference is that NOW, after two decades of American military presence, Afghans have had a powerful taste of freedom. They have seen true happiness in their children’s eyes, and felt great pride in standing up their own government. For better or worse, we have planted a seed in Afghanistan. The seed of freedom. That seed may yet grow to become a towering tree of liberty.
But here’s the stone cold truth about freedom. Something so precious as freedom cannot simply be given to others. It must first be earned if it is to be cherished, and then carefully handed down generation to generation, as it has been here in America. It is said “To those who have fought for it, freedom has a flavor that the protected will never know”.
I believe this to be true.
The Afghan people will now need to decide for themselves what their freedom is worth to them. Those who witnessed first hand the taste of freedom are the vast many, and the Taliban are the very few. As of now, the Taliban have control once again, and that is one hell of a tough pill to swallow. But again, the tiny seed we have planted there may still become a giant tree, in time. And it may take a long time. But remember, Afghanistan plays the long game. And they are exceptionally good at it.
Do not be surprised to see the Afghan people taking a play straight out of the Taliban playbook. They can wait, and shine the light of freedom in dark places, and use that light to read to their children about freedom, and teach their daughters how to read and write in secret, until the time is right for that tiny seed to become their very own magnificent tree of liberty.
No one can predict the future, and things are far from easy to be happy about right now. It’s hard to say what happens next, or how it might end for the good people of Afghanistan. But as for me, after seeing what I’ve seen, I’m always gonna bet on freedom to win out in the end.
De Oppresso Liber.
About the Author:
Cadre Aaron Hand served as an Army Ranger in Mogadishu (1993) and a Green Beret in Afghanistan (2001). He is currently an RN for the DOD and lives in Tennessee with his family.
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.
It is possible that certain designer steroid drugs could escape detection as a outcome of they are constructed to be less
detectable. However, the World Anti-Doping
Agency works with many laboratories to develop exams to
enhance detection of performance-enhancing medicine in the physique.
Corticosteroids are produced within the adrenal gland located above the kidney.
This might be one of the best stack ever for Cutting Stack Review and Benefits
– it actually was for me! All three compounds mix to deliver a hard and ripped physique, they usually can do that at pretty loose doses thanks to the incredible means they all work together.
For a 12-week cycle, you can run Anavar for the entire cycle at 40-60mg
daily. Primo can begin low at 400mg weekly and be increased to 600mg from week 5 onwards.
These esters differ in structural shape and dimension; they function only to determine the rate at which the testosterone
is launched from tissue. Typically, the shorter the ester chain, the shorter the drug’s half-life and quicker the drug enters the circulation.
Longer/larger esters usually have an extended half-life and are released into the circulation extra slowly.
As Quickly As within the circulation, the ester is cleaved, leaving free testosterone.
Anavar could have a negative effect on ldl cholesterol, inflicting a gentle to reasonable enhance
in blood strain. Nevertheless, we find this antagonistic
effect to be significantly much less troublesome in comparability with the cardiotoxicity of different anabolic steroids.
Relying upon the type, anabolic steroids may both be
injected into the physique or taken by tablet.
Secondly, Resveratrol is a superb supplement to invest on as a
end result of it may possibly manage blood stress massively – much less blood strain additionally means higher restoration as properly.
You should do a full PCT, the whole shebang, make positive you cover all the pathways and make sure
you’re wholesome publish cycle. If you’re actually seeking to get great fat loss results, combining
Var with T4 (Levothyroxine) can actually accelerate fats loss whilst minimizing muscle loss.
Maintain in thoughts T4 comes with its personal host of side effects and other
precautions.
Testosterone enanthate or cypionate are preferred
injectable esters due to their longer half-lives, which
means users don’t need to inject as frequently as a fast-acting
ester like propionate or suspension. Thus, male
sample baldness, zits vulgaris, and prostate issues are
extra probably to develop. Testosterone is predominantly
administered by way of intramuscular injection; nonetheless, it’s also out there orally (known as
testosterone undecanoate). Dianabol can additionally be liver poisonous, being
a C-17 alpha-alkylated steroid, thus having to pass by way of
the liver to find a way to become active.
Additionally, trenbolone is not estrogenic (failing to aromatize), making it a
dry compound and thus a really fascinating cutting agent.
Trenbolone’s androgenic ranking of 500 vs. testosterone’s a hundred demonstrates its raw energy in this regard.
Trenbolone is arguably probably the most highly effective steroid obtainable to bodybuilders, inflicting speedy changes in body composition that take
place within the first week of use. Androgen receptors are present
in fats cells, and thus, when stimulated, lipolysis increases (4).
Bodybuilders typically opt for the injectable form, with it being
considerably cheaper and more potent than oral testosterone.
This is as a end result of of its exceptional muscle-building
and strength-enhancing results (similar to Anadrol), but with slightly fewer unwanted
side effects. For each athlete who decided to start using anabolic
drugs, the primary course is very important.
If health outcomes are to enhance, it’s time that this hidden epidemic be
exposed. Though gaining muscle and losing fat could appear healthy, anabolic steroids have many
adverse health effects. These embody infertility, shrunken testicles, sexual
dysfunction, cardiomyopathy, and despair (Goldman et al.,
2019). Particularly with long-term use, anabolic steroids can severely hurt one’s well being.
United States federal regulation enforcement officers have expressed
concern about AAS use by cops. Cleveland Clinic’s
main care suppliers provide lifelong medical care.
From sinus infections and hypertension to preventive screening, we’re right here for you.
Basic steroids, known as corticosteroids, are medications that reduce irritation and the exercise
of your immune system. They’re manufactured
medication that closely resemble cortisol, a hormone
that your adrenal glands produce naturally. Figure
3 Testosterone passes the cell membrane by passive diffusion.
They can also improve the dose through a cycle (called pyramiding).
Cycling, stacking, and pyramiding are supposed to
boost desired effects and minimize dangerous effects, however little evidence
supports these advantages. “We have to coach people,” says Thomas O’Connor, aka the “Anabolic Doc,” who makes a speciality of patients in search of recovery from anabolic-steroid use.
O’Connor doesn’t advocate using any of those medicine and has dozens of horror stories from
sufferers to support his position—including, in excessive instances,
death. And Fakhri Mubarak, a prep coach who speaks brazenly about his personal steroid use,
strongly recommends discovering a health skilled you can work with when you do
select to make use of efficiency enhancers. Anabolic steroids,
also called anabolic-androgenic steroids (AASs), may help construct muscle and enhance athletic efficiency, but they’ll even have vital antagonistic
results, especially when used incorrectly. Analysis on highschool athletes reveals they’re less
prone to misuse anabolic steroids if their friends and family disapprove.
The concerted motion of LH and FSH on the testes stimulates spermatogenesis, and
suppression of those hormones inhibits it. Despite testosterone being the
first mediator of LH’s effect on spermatogenesis, exogenous administration of testosterone cannot assist spermatogenesis.
Intratesticular testosterone (ITT) levels are about 50 to a hundred times greater than in circulation (180) and exogenous administration severely suppresses
this to levels that are unable to support spermatogenesis (181).