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She will sail right over to the far left with ol Joe.Can’t wait to hear her talking more about banning fracking and destroying the fossil fuel industry. If you work in that industry or a related one - be afraid, be very afraidShe has introduced or co-sponsored the following environmental and climate legislation:The Green New Deal (2019)Climate Equity Act (2019, introduced with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)COAST Anti-Drilling Act (2019)Zero-Emission Vehicles Act (2019)Living Shorelines Act (2018)The Environmental Justice for All Act (2017)Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act (2017)Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act (2017)A resolution opposing Trump’s efforts to withdraw the U.S. from the historic Paris Agreement (2017)Kamala Harris and the Climate: Everything Thing You Need to Know for November

Afghanistan has been invaded three times by three super powers of the time in the last 200 years i.e., British in 1843, USSR in 1979 and USA in 2002 respectively. Here is a comparative study of their invasions from different perspectivesContextBritain invaded Afghanistan in 1843 at the height of its cold war, euphemistically known as the Great Game ,with the Russian Empire for gaining influence in the Central Asian states. It started in January 1830 when the British started to establish a new trade route to the Emirate of Bukhara for which control over the Emirate of Afghanistan was essential. Thus started a political and diplomatic confrontation between the British Empire and the Russian Empire over Central and Southern Asia. Russia was fearful of British commercial and military inroads into its traditional soft belly, Central Asia. On the other hand, Britain was fearful of Russia adding "the jewel in the crown", India, to the vast empire that Russia was building in Asia. This resulted in an atmosphere of distrust and the constant threat of war between the two empiresOn December 25, 1979, the 40th Army of the Soviet Union entered her neighbouring country, Afghanistan to prop up the government of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). PDPA, a steadfast ally of the Soviet Union, was facing an existential threat from a bloody insurgency, apparently home-grown but covertly sponsored by arch rival of USSR, namely USA in the hey days of the Cold War. While the Americans were fomenting trouble in Afghanistan to lure USSR into the killing fields of Afghanistan to avenge their humiliating defeat in Vietnam, former USSR was interested to safeguard its soft belly from falling under the influence of its rivals.USA invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 in the wake of worldwide sympathy it was enjoying after the fateful 9/11 attack. Although it was the worst intelligence failure of the American security establishment, Afghanistan was picked as the target of US vengeance even though it had absolutely no role in it. Even the devil incarnate Osama, who no doubt appreciated the cowardly act, kept on pleading his non-involvement in the 9/11 attack. In fact, plans to remove Taliban and install a Western-friendly regime in Afghanistan were already on the cards. It was all to do with oil and gas, the same reason for which Iraq was invaded, Libya was destroyed and Syrian people are suffering.Cassis BelliThe British used the pretext of re-installing a former king of Afghanistan namely Shah Shuja who, according to the British was illegally dethroned by Dost Mohammed Khan.Soviet Union used the request of the legal government of Afghanistan at that time to assist it in fighting a bloody insurgency, covertly sponsored by the USA, as a legitimate reason for sending its armed forces into Afghanistan.USA used 9/11 attacks as its cassis belli for invading Afghanistan although Afghanistan had nothing to do with these attacks. U.S. demand for handing over Osama bin Laden was not acceptable to the Taliban government without any convincing evidence of his involvement in the 9/11 attacks. Later on, they agreed to hand him over to a neutral country but describing this as delaying tactics, the USA launched Operation Enduring Freedom on 7 October 2001 with the United Kingdom. Other NATO forces later joined this Afghan War.StrategyBritish attacked Afghanistan by regular armed forces while co-opting the anti-regime tribes through bribes and coercion. Once successful in toppling the regime and reinstalling their own puppet, they retained their military presence, albeit reduced level of military.USSR also used its regular armed forces, occupied the key urban areas where it established its bases and started massive programmes of economic development and social reformation.USA assembled a massive coalition, bombed the cities and used local anti-regime segments to topple the Taliban regime. Once removed, US led coalition forces entered the country in a big way to control the country by installing a puppet regime. Then started the ambitious programme of nation building and state building.OutcomeThe British invasion of 1839 was a complete victory. However, they could not properly handle the post-occupation Afghanistan. Consequently, they had to leave Kabul under an agreement but were ambushed by the Ghilzai tribesmen who killed everyone except the doctor. However, the British soon took revenge by again invading and conquering it in 1878 and re-drew the frontier of British India upwards to the Khyber Pass. Afghanistan lost its frontier regions in this process. The Third Anglo-Afghan war was launched by the Afghan king Amanullah Khan in 1919. Within a month they were forced to retreat after the British planes bombed Kabul in one of the first displays of airpower in Asia.After losing more than 15,000 of soldiers, the Soviet Army withdrew from Afghanistan in February 1989 under a UNO sponsored agreement. Its puppet Najeeb Ullah survived till 1991. Afghan mujahedeen did not defeat the Soviets on the battlefield. They won some important encounters, notably in the Punjsher valley, but lost others. In sum, neither side defeated the other. The Soviets could have remained in Afghanistan for several more years but they decided to leave when Gorbachev calculated that the war had become a stalemate and was no longer worth the high price in men, money and international prestige.USA invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and according to the official records of the USA, 2,216 American soldiers have died in USA’s 17-year-old war in Afghanistan and more than 20,050 were seriously wounded. Estimates vary but conservative calculation will put the costs of Afghan War anywhere between 4 to 5 trillion US$ of American citizens’ tax money. However, there seems to be no end to this war. Americans know it is an unwinnable war but do not have the guts to admit it and enter into meaningful negotiations with the TalibanCauses of DefeatBritish lost the first round due to three major reasons. Firstly, they deviated from their original plan of reinstalling their puppet and leave; instead, they decided to stay. Secondly, they reduced the strength of their armed forces and stopped making payments to their loyal tribes under austerity measures. Both proved fatal. However, their biggest mistake was to antagonise the local population by not respecting the local culture. Under these conditions, galloping inflation, result of war and ensuing civil war, proved the last straw on camel’s back.Although USSR didn’t lose the war, they lost the will to prolong a useless occupation in the face of foreign sponsored insurgency; they just got tired of fighting an endless war and left Afghanistan under an honourable agreement.USA lost the war in Afghanistan by repeating all the same mistakes committed by the British and the USSR respectively. The invasion was carried out without any proper planning and effective strategy to cope with the situation once the initial objectives were achieved. Rather it started an ambitious project of state building and even nation building- objectives which need decades if not centuries. After the fall of Taliban government, USA installed a government which was overwhelmingly non-Pashtun. It not only created a legitimacy crisis for the new government, it also disempowered 60% of population in one go in the new socio-political setup. For a detailed answer on this issue, please read Shahid Hussain Raja's answer to Why is the war in Afghanistan taking so long?ConclusionIt is not true that the Afghanis cannot be defeated. They have been subjugated by Alexander the Macedonian, Genghis Khan, Timur, the Moguls and the Sikhs. Even the British, the Soviets and the Americans have successfully invaded Afghanistan. However, invading a foreign country like Afghanistan which is sparsely populated, mountainous and bleak is one thing; maintaining your occupation for long is impossible. The proverbial bravery and tenacity of the Pashtun tribes through their wars of attrition ultimately saps the morale and drains the finances of the occupying power. Same is happening with the USA.

As I spend time reading world economic history, I got to figure out what creates this wide gap between the world super powers and the third world countries. I realized one thing is most significant in spite of the several hitches outlined above by great scholars of the third world. Knowledge!Knowledge has been the difference. The so applauded world super powers are systematically equipped with the knowledge to produce what they consume, ranging from power plants, transportation, armouries, serene environment and a system that works. They have a fore sight and a clear focus to staying on top of the world’s economy. They create cooperation and international relations that works in their favour. Such nations are economically self-reliant. A nation like the United States for instance does not necessarily require importations to a stable functional economy as what is required is birthed within.Although, knowledge capacity varies human needs however, remains the same. The third world countries therefore, resides no other choice than to desperately depend on the developed economies to clothes, transport, construct, medications, armouries, petty manufacturing and even feed. How sad!Unfortunately, our dear Nigeria and many African countries fall into this category of economically starved so called third world countries. Several political theories and economic reforms by various administrations since inception of independence in 1960 are seemingly making no difference to the statuesque.Nigeria, the giant of Africa as often referred to remains so low to an extent of importing the least among commodities such as; pens, biscuits, used clothing among others. The question is; are we really ever independent as celebrated every October 1st on TV stations and newspapers across the country? In our homes we are never independent; our transport system, communication, security etc. How sad we are not!What then is the way out? Knowledge! My quest for Nigeria and Africa at large to a revolutionary drastic transformation from the today’s third world status to a self-sustainable economy has given birth to what I call Education for Self Reliance (ESR) plan. The ESR plan if seriously followed and implemented can as a matter of a decade transform Nigeria or any third world country into an independent economy.The Education for Self Reliance (ESR) plan suggest that instead of Nigeria government to just continue its usual bilateral arrangement with developed nations towards importations, the country should create a government sponsored agreement for its citizens to study the manufacture of those necessities in the developed nations. Citizens on this program would be bound by the law that upon completion of study, they return home and are gainfully employed to produce and teach what has been learned abroad. Our several universities and polytechnics are left decayed and underutilized due to lack of knowledgeable and skilled lecturers. A selected polytechnics and universities can be a starting point and thereafter the entire system. This plan requires a substantial sponsorship but it’s sincerely the way out!For example: 500 Nigeria citizens upon completion of secondary school or higher education are included in this program yearly; 100 each in production of let say Aircraft, Automobiles, communication (cell phones), Crude oil refinery, power plants, electricity, electronics, solar energy, rail construction, mining among others. Upon graduation, 20 each are sent to 5 selected polytechnics and universities across the country with well-equipped manufacturing capacity. And they are thus placed on target to sectionally train home based students in 100s based on each professional group of 20s yearly. Also as well in the course of training, manufacture 20 of the specialized commodity depending on the skill.The Nigerian government at this point will record the following:500 internationally trained professionals.5 manufacturing polytechnic or universities across the country.2500 indigenously trained professionals of various fields of economic importance.500 finished commodities depending on production requirement independently manufactured on the Nigeria soil.Imagine a Nigeria where the above is obtainable in just a flag up of the ESR program.The above figures are however, are coined based on projection and can thus be increased or reduced based on government policy. If Nigeria or any third world country can change its present statuesque it must be willing above all to adopt the ESR plan and invest in strategic education of its citizens. Not as it has always been but an education geared at breaking the york of dependence on the supply from the parasitic world super powers. Invest in education; build the nation!