#258 — The Fall of Afghanistan

Making Sense with Sam Harris

Waking Up with Sam Harris

Samharris, Currentevents, Politics, Ethics, Religion, Neuroscience, Science, Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.6 • 29.1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 August 2021

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Peter Bergen about the US exit from Afghanistan, the resurgence of the Taliban, and his new book, “The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden.” They discuss the Neo-isolationist consensus on the Right and Left, the legitimacy of our initial involvement in Afghanistan, our ethical obligations to our Afghan allies, Biden’s disastrous messaging, the weakness of the Afghan army, the advantages of the Taliban, the implications for global jihadism, the relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaeda, how Osama bin Laden came to lead al-Qaeda, bin Laden’s sincere religious convictions, our failure to capture bin Laden at Tora Bora, the distraction of the war in Iraq, the myth that the CIA funded al-Qaeda, bin Laden’s wives, his years of hiding in Pakistan, his death at the hands of US Special Forces, and other topics.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Making Sense Podcast.
0:09.1	This is Sam Harris.
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0:34.6	of our subscribers.
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0:47.1	Well we're about a week into the tragedy and fiasco of Afghanistan, which is in part
0:55.1	the topic of today's podcast.
0:58.1	As you'll hear, I'm not entirely sure what I think about our withdrawal, that is I'm
1:03.2	not sure what I think about whether or not it should have happened.
1:07.8	I can honestly inhabit both sides of that debate, but how we withdrew the lack of preparation,
1:16.9	the lack of foresight, the lack of consultation with our allies, like the British, are
1:24.4	failure to extract the tens of thousands of Afghans who helped us.
1:28.8	Right, the interpreters and their families, whose lives are now in utter jeopardy because
1:34.2	of our bungling, are failure to ensure the safe passage of our own citizens.
1:40.8	All of this is such a shocking betrayal of our obligations and of our own interests that
1:49.7	it just beggars belief.
	...

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