Vijay Prashad and Noam Chomsky on Afghanistan War & the Fragility of US Empire
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker
The Socialist Program
4.7 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 15 September 2022
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The U.S. government has destroyed cities, countries, and towns around the world, through bombs and air raids, military ground invasions, naval attacks, economic sanctions and strangulation, coups, and more. Some say U.S. force is never ending, others say it’s on a fast decline, almost gone forever. Vijay Prashad and Noam Chomsky argue in their new book, “The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power,” that U.S. military might is somewhere in the middle: it’s fragile.
Brian is joined by Vijay Prashad, the Executive Director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Chief Editor of LeftWord Books, and author of a new book with Noam Chomsky called “The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power.”
Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | 21 years ago, the United States suffered the September 11, 2001 attacks. Shortly thereafter, |
| 0:09.9 | U.S. foreign and military policy was reoriented. The U.S. went to war in Afghanistan, |
| 0:16.6 | in Iraq, in Libya, fought proxy wars elsewhere. |
| 0:22.3 | We need a new system. We need a new society. We need to demand that which may have sounded |
| 0:28.5 | impossible even a few weeks ago, but is not only realizable, but an imperative necessity. Welcome to this week's episode of the Socialist Program. I'm your host, Brian Becker. |
| 1:03.1 | Today we're talking with Vijay Prashad. VJ. is the executive director of the Tri-Continental |
| 1:08.7 | Institute for Social Research. He's the chief editor of |
| 1:12.6 | Leftward Books. He's a prolific author. And he just published a new book with Noam Chomsky called |
| 1:19.8 | The Withdrawal, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the fragility of U.S. power. |
| 1:28.3 | That's what we'll discuss today. |
| 1:30.3 | BJ Prashad, welcome back to the Socialist Program. |
| 1:33.3 | Thanks a lot, Brian. It's great to be with you. |
| 1:36.3 | Well, I got a chance in preparation for this interview to read the book, The Withdrawal, |
| 1:42.3 | and I was excited about the book. I found it to be educational, |
| 1:47.1 | informative. Even for those of us who think we know those stories, we know the stories of |
| 1:53.3 | endless U.S. wars, not just Iraq and not just Afghanistan and Libya, but going back to |
| 1:58.8 | Vietnam and Laos and Cambodia, when you read this |
| 2:02.4 | book, if you once knew most of this material, you'll be refreshed. If you haven't read this |
| 2:07.7 | material, I consider this a must read. And the fact that it's based on a conversation or a series |
| 2:14.1 | of conversations between you and the very famous linguist professor from MIT, |
| 2:20.9 | social commentator, historian Nome Chomsky, makes it an even more delightful read. |
| 2:27.0 | And Nome Chomsky has such vast knowledge, has paid careful attention to the minutiaa, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Socialist Program, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Socialist Program and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.