Debt and dysfunction also translate into an unusually high attrition rate in the military, and an unusually high attrition rate in the military spells collapse. When we grew and expanded all over the world after the Cold War, so did Russia and China. But now, we are going through debt and dysfunction, while they have energy and momentum. My mother’s cousin was the chief of staff of the armed forces in Afghanistan during the period before the Taliban takeover, and he told me that one of the key observations he made during his time in what was essentially the highest position in the military after minister of defense was that as the Afghan military grew, so did the Taliban. But of course, the rug or the chair got pulled from under the Afghan military as a result of debt and dysfunction, and the Taliban gained even more energy and momentum. In a sense, it all stems from the debt and dysfunction, and all of it is then reflected in the overall global balance of power.
Twelfth Note to “Tobah”
Published
Adam A. Azim 