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Afghanistan – empires rise and empires fall
Events in Kabul show Washington’s imperial overreach for all to see, says JOHN WIGHT
US marines pictured during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan

EMPIRES advance and empires retreat, though not in circumstances of their own choosing — to borrow from one Karl Marx — and certainly never smoothly or without upending entire regions, countries and societies in their wake.

What has and continues to unfold in Afghanistan is nothing less than a historic tipping point when it comes to US hegemonic and imperial decline. 

The chaotic and panicked scenes of mayhem being beamed across the world from Kabul airport, where US and British military forces are hastily attempting to effect the evacuation of their own nationals still in the country, along with Afghans who made the mistake of working for them during the country’s occupation, have rightly drawn comparison with Saigon in 1975.

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