September 18, 2021 • 10 mins
A recent drone strike from the U.S. in Afghanistan kills an innocent aid worker, and Trevor examines the massive amount of civilian casualties caused by American air attacks in the country.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to comedy Central. Afghanistan the only thing harder
to get out of than a gym membership. Just hours
before America pulled out of the country last month, it
got in one final drone strike at a suspected terrorist.
You know, full time sake, except now we're learning more
(00:21):
about who was actually droned. New questions tonight about a
US drone strike that killed ten people in Afghanistan. The
New York Times reports the strike mistakenly targeted an AID worker,
not someone connected to isis K. The man's vehicle was
said to be carrying bombs, but he was actually transporting water.
There's mounting evidence that that drone strike killed an Afghan
(00:45):
working for a US AID group, along with nine others,
including seven children. A U s military investigation into the
drone strike is underway. We know from variety of other
means that at least one of those people that were
killed was a ISIS facilitator. So where there are others killed, Yes,
there are others killed. Who they are we don't know,
(01:06):
But at this point we think that the procedures were
correctly followed and it's a righteous strike. Okay, maybe we
have different dictionaries. But if you killed one guy who
you're still not sure was a terrorist, but you definitely
killed seven kids. I don't think righteous is the word
(01:26):
I would use. You know. In fact, when you hear
people use righteous, it's usually to justify terrible things that
they know they've done. Like the Crusaders said they were righteous,
Colonizers said they were righteous. Terrorists say that they're righteous.
You killed families and children, Yeah, it was for a
righteous court. You I don't care, like you know, we
just observed the twentieth anniversary of nine and what do
(01:48):
we say, never forget right, which is a powerful and
necessary sentiment. And it's true, I'll never forget. I'll never
forget hearing the phone calls from that day. I'll never
forget seeing the towers full I was in South Africa,
was a child, and I will never forget that day.
But if I'm honest, I think we need to expand
(02:09):
on what never forget means. You know, I also feel
like we should never forget how easily our fear can
drive us to do horrible things to other human beings.
Because as terrible as this drone strike was, was even
more terrible is that when you look back at twenty
years of the war. There's absolutely nothing unique about it.
(02:30):
The past several years in Afghanistan have seen a rise
in the number of civilians killed. The first half often
marked the first time that US and Afghan forces were
responsible for more civilian deaths. In two thousand and eight,
we have the highest civilian casualties from air strikes. By
two thousand and eleven, those numbers have gone from over
five d and fifty civilians killed in air strikes per
(02:52):
year down to around a hundred. Then when the Trump
administration comes in, we see a complete flip and it
really goes into the idea that we're going to bomb
the Taliban and submission. Yeah, think about that. At one
point in this war, America and its allies started killing
more civilians than the Taliban. I mean, that's a huge
(03:16):
failure on the part of America, and now that I
think about it as a failure for the Taliban too.
I mean, if you're killing more civilians than the Taliban,
what's the point of being there, Like if you're trying
to catch the candy man, but you're killing more people
than he is. At some point people are just going
to be like, all, l right, Well, maybe we should
just stick with the candy man. At least he's got candy.
(03:39):
What do you mean he doesn't have candy? Well, then
why why do they call him the candy man? One?
They just call him the killer man. Then. What makes
it worse is that nobody ever seemed to face any
consequences for these deaths. Right. There's no other job in
the world where you can just accidentally kill innocent people
and then show up to work the next day like
nothing happened. Right, Nobody at the hair salon is ever like, Hey, Vanessa,
(04:03):
rough day today, but please remember for tomorrow. Maybe he's
a little less conditioner and also trying to kill an
entire family. Otherwise, great job, Yeah, see tomorrow. Okay, bye.
Because America's air war in Afghanistan was regularly killing civilians,
and what happened was the republic outcry, were charges filed? No,
for the most part, no one even really cared. Right
(04:24):
for most of the country, the war in Afghanistan was
something most Americans did forget while it was happening, And
that's not what wars are supposed to feel like. A
war should be something that is impossible to ignore. But
most people in America this war became like when you
forget Netflix is on right and then they have to
pop up that little thing like yo, are you still alive?
(04:46):
And best believe the people of Afghanistan knew that the
war was happening because to them, the terror of America's
drone war was a part of everyday life. And never
forget that when a drone strike goes wrong, it doesn't
just end up killing lots of innocent people, it also
turns possible friends into definite enemies. Most Muslims around the
(05:07):
world condemned the September eleven terrorist attacks on the United
States and two thousand and one, but many consider the
US response to the terror attacks far worse. In fact,
some of the more controversial tactics that the US used
in Afghanistan, such as night rates and arbitrated attentions and
air strikes that sometimes kill civilians, created this content in
(05:27):
local communities and actually helped the Taliban recruit more fighters.
Kareem Khan, who's from that tribal region, tells me his
brother and son were killed in a drone strike in
late two thousand and nine. He is suing the CIA,
but given the chance, he says he'd take revenge on
those responsible. But I will kill them if if Allah
(05:49):
give me this opportunity, I will kill them because they
are responsible for killing my mabor brother and my son.
Drones are creating not just one generation, but generally of jehadas,
because if you kill a father, his son will come,
and then if you kill the son, his grandson will come.
And this is what is happening. Man, This is such
a ship show. Forget being a four star general. Like
(06:11):
if you just watch Kung fu movies, you would know
this was inevitable. If you kill someone's family for no reason,
they're gonna want revenge. And can you blame them for
wanting revenge? Right? This is this is what anyone would feel.
Any human would feel this. Imagine if like I don't know,
let's say, no way, blew up your house, killed your
entire family. You'd be devastated. And I promise you now,
it wouldn't make you feel any better. If they told
(06:33):
you they were actually trying to get some guy named Gary,
you wouldn't be like, oh, you were trying to kill Gary?
Oh would you killed my family? Well? Oh? No, hard feelings.
Good luck finding him. He sounds like a bad dude. Oh,
and if you're if you're not the kind of person
who's swayed by emotional arguments like bad to kill children,
never forget that war, even wars that you barely know
(06:55):
are going on, well, you're still paying for them. How
much did the war war in Afghanistan actually cost on
the accounting books between the initial invasion and twenty years
of supporting the Afghan government. Estimates are in the trillions.
It's an astronomical number. Our experts explained. That's because the
war was basically paid in debt, and every day, the
(07:15):
cost of the Afghanistan war actually goes up. According to
the Congressional Research Service, from two thousand and one to
two thousand and twenty one, the Department of Defense allocated
eight hundred and thirty seven billion dollars for military operations.
But that isn't the final cost. We fought this war
on credit and so uh, this was mostly borrowed money
(07:35):
that we used to pay for the war. The total
cost they've estimated is two point to six one trillion dollars.
The Afghanistan war cost about three hundred million bucks a
day for two decades. It is an eye opening number.
Sweet Lord, three hundred million dollars a day for twenty
years a day. Oh wow, I feel like I want
(07:59):
to be sick. Think about it. For the last twenty years,
Americans have been fighting hard about where to find money
for health care, for education, for infrastructure. In fact, half
of the reason Americans hate each other is because they're
always fighting about money. You know, like, forget about schools
and hospitals. For three million dollars a day, America could
have made a new Fast and Furious movie every day
(08:21):
for twenty years. Yeah, we could be up to Fast
and Furious seven thousand by now. We're gonna drive a
car into the sun for Family Man. But we did
that like two thousand sequels ago. Yeah, but this time
the car is green. So look, I know it's almost
impossible to rule out wars forever. But the least we
(08:43):
could do. The least we could do the next time
we even consider getting into another war is to never
forget that it might not actually make anybody feel safer
or safer at all, Never forget that it will cost
you a fortune, and most importantly, never forgets that there
are innocent people on the other side. What's the Daily
(09:08):
Show weeknights at eleven tenth Central on Comedy Central and
stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been
a Comedy Central podcast
You're listening to comedy Central. Afghanistan the only thing harder
to get out of than a gym membership. Just hours
before America pulled out of the country last month, it
got in one final drone strike at a suspected terrorist.
You know, full time sake, except now we're learning more
(00:21):
about who was actually droned. New questions tonight about a
US drone strike that killed ten people in Afghanistan. The
New York Times reports the strike mistakenly targeted an AID worker,
not someone connected to isis K. The man's vehicle was
said to be carrying bombs, but he was actually transporting water.
There's mounting evidence that that drone strike killed an Afghan
(00:45):
working for a US AID group, along with nine others,
including seven children. A U s military investigation into the
drone strike is underway. We know from variety of other
means that at least one of those people that were
killed was a ISIS facilitator. So where there are others killed, Yes,
there are others killed. Who they are we don't know,
(01:06):
But at this point we think that the procedures were
correctly followed and it's a righteous strike. Okay, maybe we
have different dictionaries. But if you killed one guy who
you're still not sure was a terrorist, but you definitely
killed seven kids. I don't think righteous is the word
(01:26):
I would use. You know. In fact, when you hear
people use righteous, it's usually to justify terrible things that
they know they've done. Like the Crusaders said they were righteous,
Colonizers said they were righteous. Terrorists say that they're righteous.
You killed families and children, Yeah, it was for a
righteous court. You I don't care, like you know, we
just observed the twentieth anniversary of nine and what do
(01:48):
we say, never forget right, which is a powerful and
necessary sentiment. And it's true, I'll never forget. I'll never
forget hearing the phone calls from that day. I'll never
forget seeing the towers full I was in South Africa,
was a child, and I will never forget that day.
But if I'm honest, I think we need to expand
(02:09):
on what never forget means. You know, I also feel
like we should never forget how easily our fear can
drive us to do horrible things to other human beings.
Because as terrible as this drone strike was, was even
more terrible is that when you look back at twenty
years of the war. There's absolutely nothing unique about it.
(02:30):
The past several years in Afghanistan have seen a rise
in the number of civilians killed. The first half often
marked the first time that US and Afghan forces were
responsible for more civilian deaths. In two thousand and eight,
we have the highest civilian casualties from air strikes. By
two thousand and eleven, those numbers have gone from over
five d and fifty civilians killed in air strikes per
(02:52):
year down to around a hundred. Then when the Trump
administration comes in, we see a complete flip and it
really goes into the idea that we're going to bomb
the Taliban and submission. Yeah, think about that. At one
point in this war, America and its allies started killing
more civilians than the Taliban. I mean, that's a huge
(03:16):
failure on the part of America, and now that I
think about it as a failure for the Taliban too.
I mean, if you're killing more civilians than the Taliban,
what's the point of being there, Like if you're trying
to catch the candy man, but you're killing more people
than he is. At some point people are just going
to be like, all, l right, Well, maybe we should
just stick with the candy man. At least he's got candy.
(03:39):
What do you mean he doesn't have candy? Well, then
why why do they call him the candy man? One?
They just call him the killer man. Then. What makes
it worse is that nobody ever seemed to face any
consequences for these deaths. Right. There's no other job in
the world where you can just accidentally kill innocent people
and then show up to work the next day like
nothing happened. Right, Nobody at the hair salon is ever like, Hey, Vanessa,
(04:03):
rough day today, but please remember for tomorrow. Maybe he's
a little less conditioner and also trying to kill an
entire family. Otherwise, great job, Yeah, see tomorrow. Okay, bye.
Because America's air war in Afghanistan was regularly killing civilians,
and what happened was the republic outcry, were charges filed? No,
for the most part, no one even really cared. Right
(04:24):
for most of the country, the war in Afghanistan was
something most Americans did forget while it was happening, And
that's not what wars are supposed to feel like. A
war should be something that is impossible to ignore. But
most people in America this war became like when you
forget Netflix is on right and then they have to
pop up that little thing like yo, are you still alive?
(04:46):
And best believe the people of Afghanistan knew that the
war was happening because to them, the terror of America's
drone war was a part of everyday life. And never
forget that when a drone strike goes wrong, it doesn't
just end up killing lots of innocent people, it also
turns possible friends into definite enemies. Most Muslims around the
(05:07):
world condemned the September eleven terrorist attacks on the United
States and two thousand and one, but many consider the
US response to the terror attacks far worse. In fact,
some of the more controversial tactics that the US used
in Afghanistan, such as night rates and arbitrated attentions and
air strikes that sometimes kill civilians, created this content in
(05:27):
local communities and actually helped the Taliban recruit more fighters.
Kareem Khan, who's from that tribal region, tells me his
brother and son were killed in a drone strike in
late two thousand and nine. He is suing the CIA,
but given the chance, he says he'd take revenge on
those responsible. But I will kill them if if Allah
(05:49):
give me this opportunity, I will kill them because they
are responsible for killing my mabor brother and my son.
Drones are creating not just one generation, but generally of jehadas,
because if you kill a father, his son will come,
and then if you kill the son, his grandson will come.
And this is what is happening. Man, This is such
a ship show. Forget being a four star general. Like
(06:11):
if you just watch Kung fu movies, you would know
this was inevitable. If you kill someone's family for no reason,
they're gonna want revenge. And can you blame them for
wanting revenge? Right? This is this is what anyone would feel.
Any human would feel this. Imagine if like I don't know,
let's say, no way, blew up your house, killed your
entire family. You'd be devastated. And I promise you now,
it wouldn't make you feel any better. If they told
(06:33):
you they were actually trying to get some guy named Gary,
you wouldn't be like, oh, you were trying to kill Gary?
Oh would you killed my family? Well? Oh? No, hard feelings.
Good luck finding him. He sounds like a bad dude. Oh,
and if you're if you're not the kind of person
who's swayed by emotional arguments like bad to kill children,
never forget that war, even wars that you barely know
(06:55):
are going on, well, you're still paying for them. How
much did the war war in Afghanistan actually cost on
the accounting books between the initial invasion and twenty years
of supporting the Afghan government. Estimates are in the trillions.
It's an astronomical number. Our experts explained. That's because the
war was basically paid in debt, and every day, the
(07:15):
cost of the Afghanistan war actually goes up. According to
the Congressional Research Service, from two thousand and one to
two thousand and twenty one, the Department of Defense allocated
eight hundred and thirty seven billion dollars for military operations.
But that isn't the final cost. We fought this war
on credit and so uh, this was mostly borrowed money
(07:35):
that we used to pay for the war. The total
cost they've estimated is two point to six one trillion dollars.
The Afghanistan war cost about three hundred million bucks a
day for two decades. It is an eye opening number.
Sweet Lord, three hundred million dollars a day for twenty
years a day. Oh wow, I feel like I want
(07:59):
to be sick. Think about it. For the last twenty years,
Americans have been fighting hard about where to find money
for health care, for education, for infrastructure. In fact, half
of the reason Americans hate each other is because they're
always fighting about money. You know, like, forget about schools
and hospitals. For three million dollars a day, America could
have made a new Fast and Furious movie every day
(08:21):
for twenty years. Yeah, we could be up to Fast
and Furious seven thousand by now. We're gonna drive a
car into the sun for Family Man. But we did
that like two thousand sequels ago. Yeah, but this time
the car is green. So look, I know it's almost
impossible to rule out wars forever. But the least we
(08:43):
could do. The least we could do the next time
we even consider getting into another war is to never
forget that it might not actually make anybody feel safer
or safer at all, Never forget that it will cost
you a fortune, and most importantly, never forgets that there
are innocent people on the other side. What's the Daily
(09:08):
Show weeknights at eleven tenth Central on Comedy Central and
stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been
a Comedy Central podcast
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