Breaking news: Holy Victory! (Source: Taliban in talks with Allah regarding transitional government)

Frustratingly vague grad school admissions question: Write a letter to the editor about a fictional/real, past/future news story.

My answer:

Dear Editor of Al Emarah (official newspaper of the Afghan Taliban),

Reporter Zabiullah Mujahid’s 15 September 2015 lead story, “Holy Victory! Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan takes Kabul” serves as a grim reminder of both the failure of the International Security Assistance Force’s counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan and the importance of standing in solidarity with those who fight Islamist fundamentalism.

While US officials (or the “imperial mouthpieces,” in Mujahid’s words) claim that no one could have predicted this “sudden and ruthless coup d’état,” Mujahid’s prescient timeline of events shows that this outcome was both predictable and preventable. He cites as "key lead-up events" the U.S.’ neutral reaction to the Pakistani ISI’s December 2012 coup d’état, the 2013 bursting of the “Aid Bubble” and the ensuing “Poppy Massacre of May 2013” (when Afghan National Security Forces shot down 130 Helmand farmers protesting the burning of their fields), and the migration panic of mid-2014 in the face of the impending withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. While Mujahid attributes these events to “the Muslim people’s dissatisfaction with the oppression of the foreigners,” they were in fact the predictable result of a U.S. counterinsurgency strategy that put so-called “realism,” faith in bloated aid spending, and domestic political calculations ahead of a population-centric approach. Indeed, the lynching of President Amrullah Saleh earlier this week and yesterday’s official power handover serve as a warning to any future U.S. patrons of the limits of committed U.S. will.

But Mujahid’s story should also serve as a warning to Americans. Mujahid notes that Pakistan was quick to officially recognize its “Islamic brother,” and Iran’s President indicated an eagerness to meet with the new administration. These neighbors have already proved they are not content with limiting the depravities of Shariah law to their own people (in 2013 an Iranian assassin carried out the Ayatollah’s fatwa against the director of the film adaptation of The Satanic Verses, and Pakistani terrorists continue to target Americans abroad). America has long undervalued its friends and freedoms, and yesterday’s coup promises less of both.