The Ghosts of Balkh

(NOTE: I published the first version of this essay in 2021 right after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan. It also appears in an anthology published by Journal of the Plague Years. This week the Taliban’s treatment of the Afghan people is back in the news.)

For me and many others who love Afghanistan this week has been a struggle. It’s difficult to express our feelings about the situation in English; it would be much easier in Dari. That language encourages the intimacy of connection and the pain of loss in ways it is awkward to do in English.

English is a language of the brain; Dari is a language of the heart.

When you encounter a friend in a village in Afghanistan, you both stop where you were headed to embrace, hold hands and inquire about each other’s heart, body, mind, family, and so on. It can be a long list and if you’ve not met recently, these greetings may take a while.

And when you really stop and think about it, what is it that matters more in life than expressing how we feel about each other?

In Dari you are able to say “my heart loves your heart” in a way that does not imply romantic love but does capture how much you truly care for each other. It doesn’t sound odd at all.

Meanwhile, in America all too often our encounters start with “How are you?” And end with “Fine. You?”

In fact it is so unsatisfying to me that I try, and I know this is weird, to adapt something of Dari rituals when talking with my American friends. Each person is made of specific qualities I value, so despite the limitations of our language, I always try to say what I mean and to mean what I say.

Especially when I say “I love you,” that is exactly how I feel.

***

As an aggregator of the news, one of my main goals is to locate what is hopeful about otherwise crushing developments if I can, but in the case of Afghanistan right now this is difficult.

Some news reports suggest that the Taliban have fundamentally changed, but I doubt that. They say they will extend amnesty to government workers, respect the rights of women, and preside over a peaceful transition of power, but those are empty promises until we see proof.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of historical precedent for what usually happens when guerrilla forces assume power, and that record is soaked with the blood of innocents.

Sadly, Afghanistan has been criss-crossed by conquerers throughout its recorded history. Just to mention a few of the empires that resulted: Alexander the Great and his Macedonians, the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Indo-Sassanids, Kabul Shahi, Saffarids, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Kartids, Timurids, Hotakis and the Durranis.

In their oral histories, Afghans most often bring up the Mongol invaders, starting with Genghis Khan in 1221. And they talk about him and others as if they are still around the next bend.

For example, just north of the town of Taloqan is a magnificent landmark known as کوه بز سیاه, which translates as Black Goat Mountain.

While riding in the back of a truck from Khanabad packed with people, goats and chickens fifty years ago, I spoke with a man who recounted stories that have been passed from father to son over the past thousand years.

“When they rode in last time, the Mongols cut off the heads of a million people,” he said, repeating an account that I had heard many times before.

“And they will be back. Just on the other side of Black Goat Mountain there are hundreds of thousands of Mongols waiting to return.”

I guess he was referring to the peaceful Uzbek population of Takhar Province, living in what has long been a poor agricultural area.

A few hundred miles to the west of Takhar, during a visit to Mazar-e-Sharif, I heard similar tales about the Hazara population living in a nearby isolated valley. “They will ride in here soon, so watch out.”

Nearby are the ruins of Balkh, a legendary city in the pre-Mongol era, with some of the most ghostly remains I have ever visited. Somewhere in my boxes in storage may still be the shards of pottery I collected at the site, which appeared to be many centuries old.

Balkh is where historians confirm that Mongol hordes did in fact decapitate many residents when they struck, and if the eerie winds whistling through the area are not the voices of those long dead, my imagination must have betrayed me.

Among Afghanistan’s intractable problems is the stark reality that it less an actual country than the cobbled together homeland for at least seven major tribal groups. Besides the Uzbeks and the Hazara, there are the Tajiks, Pashtus, Turkomans, Baluchis, and Nuristanis.

Plus four or five smaller groups, most notably the Kochi, who are nomads.

The name of the country means “Land of the Afghans,” which is what the largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns, call themselves. That name leaves every other group out, which complicates matters immensely.

My point here is that Afghanistan has plenty of internal problems without outsiders like the British, Russians and Americans getting involved. No foreign occupier ever stays for long anyway, because the local people simply won’t tolerate them.

And once the foreigners leave, the Afghans get back to business as usual. What that means is inter-ethnic competition and violence.

So as of August 2021, after decades of operating as a guerrilla army, the Taliban have to figure out how to somehow govern what many believe to be an ungovernable land. Not only are the traditional tribal loyalties an issue, the big cities, especially Kabul, have modernized over the past 20 years and millions of men and women are now educated.

The educated class wants nothing of the ancient ways. They want what all modern people want — a peaceful life, a better life. Will the Taliban throw all of that progress away and chop off the head of the modernizing society they’ve inherited? Or will they grow into the moment and embrace the future?

The ghosts of Balkh have been waiting a thousand years for the answers to those questions.

HEADLINES:

• The Taliban has taken a terrible toll on the education of girls — and boys as well (NPR)

• Afghan Women Erased From Public Life in Five Years of Taliban Rule (NYT)

• The Taliban are vile. Democracies must still engage with them (Economist)

• Truth Social’s sale of fast access to Trump posts draws legal concerns (WP)

• 5 people shot at Virginia State University as police investigate multiple shooters (AP)

• Magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes off Indonesia’s coast, killing at least 38 (NPR)

• Karoline Leavitt Finally Tells the Truth—as She Leaves Press Sec. Job (TNR)

• The livin’ is no longer so easy: How carefree dreams of ‘summertime’ are fading in 2026’s swelter (AP)

• Is there a summer COVID-19 surge this year? Yep, it’s ramping up again (NPR)

• Deaths of 3 ICE Detainees Prompt Questions About Medical Care (NYT)

• US special forces ready to step up combat drills in Philippines and help deter aggression in Asia (AP)

• Trump shrugs off concerns about dismal conditions on USS Abraham Lincoln (Axios)

• Hormuz traffic slows further after US threatens more economic pressure on Iran (Reuters)

• Saudi Arabia announces start of Red Sea defence alliance: Will it work? (Al Jazeera)

• Israeli settlers’ siege of Palestinian homes draws a sharp US rebuke (AP)

• The US says it can keep up a naval blockade on Iran 'indefinitely,' as oil traders and policymakers wonder whether global oil stocks are big enough to weather another six months of war. (Reuters)

• DOJ deploys tactic to strip naturalized Americans of citizenship (PBS)

• Trump asks Supreme Court to allow ballroom work to continue (BBC)

• Here’s how Lake Mead water crisis could affect California (ABC)

• California Ignored Sexual Abuse of Women in Prison, Justice Dept. Says (NYT)

• My encounter with Carlos the Jackal, the world’s first celebrity terrorist (WP)

• Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO (AP)

• Philanthropy’s best-kept secret: the more you have, the less you’re required to give (Fortune)

• Salvage Company Hoping to Sell Titanic Artifacts Challenges Court’s Role (NYT)

• 1965 Hit, Sung by a 19-Year-Old in Response to Bob Dylan, Began Its 3-Week Run at No. 1 61 Years Ago Today (Parade)

• AI agents lie, cheat and steal. That is putting off users (Economist)

• The web’s newest weapon against AI scrapers is a font (ArsTechnica)

• Apple trains its own AI model for the Chinese market (Reuters)

• American anxiety about AI is becoming a political force in the midterms (AP)

• Trump Downplays Significance Of Trump Tower Found On Epstein Island (Onion)

 

Resilience

Every now and then I discover a little gem of a story that seems to have escaped public attention. Such is the case with “Changeover,” a low-budget film from 2016 about a teenager who is suffering from PTSD after losing her parents in a car crash.

She won’t speak to anybody and is suicidal when brought to live with her only living relatives, an uncle and his young son.

The film tells the story of the awkward but sincere efforts by the uncle (Estes Tarver) to bring the girl (Madeline Taylor) back from the depths of hell. He is aided by a therapist (Carrie Marshall).

They all give understated but impressive performances that resonate emotionally with the viewer. The film handles difficult topics — loss, grief, depression, anxiety — with grace and hope.

In the end, it is a story of resilience.

The film is available free (with ads) on YouTube and is not to be confused with the New Zealand horror film called “The Changeover.”

HEADLINES:

• Sailor went overboard from the USS Abraham Lincoln last month as conditions on the ship prompt lawmakers’ demand for answers (CNN)

• Officials Demand USS Abraham Lincoln Investigation as Families Raise Alarm (Newsweek)

• Russian Strikes on Dozens of Grain Ships Threaten Global Food Supplies (NYT)

• Ukrainian drones strike a major refinery deep inside Russia, setting it ablaze (AP)

• Covert CIA program said to be behind mysterious attacks on Galápagos boats (WP)

• Tehran Has to Make a Choice (Atlantic)

• GOP senators not happy with Trump administration’s handling of Iran funding request (The Hill)

• U.S. Investigated Left-Leaning Groups During Minnesota Immigration Crackdown (NYT)

• Flock Safety instituting new privacy measures in response to backlash (Fox)

• ICE Plans to Give Officers Gloves That Can Deliver Electric Shocks (NYT)

• Judge dismisses Trump administration lawsuit alleging Harvard failed to protect Jewish students (Reuters)

• As Abdul El-Sayed breaks a barrier, anti-Muslim vitriol surges on multiple fronts (AP)

• The Democratic field for president is starting to take shape. (WP)

• Paramount Has Discussed Creating a Board to Ensure CNN’s Independence (WSJ)

• Inside Paramount, employees say they have bigger concerns than a reported plan to ditch California (BI)

• Kennedy Center Board Decides to Inscribe Trump’s Name on Building (NYT)

• Why Karoline Leavitt might be impossible for Trump to replace (CNN)

• The Next Global Economic Crisis Could Be Made in China (Foreign Affairs)

• California announces voluntarily cancellation of common commercial pesticide Paraquat (Sacramento Bee)

• The secret network fueling megayacht sales (BI)

• A blue whale’s call, pitched so low it sits below the threshold of human hearing, can travel 1,600 kilometres through the ocean’s deep SOFAR channel — a natural acoustic tunnel discovered by the US Navy during the Second World War that whales had been using for millions of years before we found it. (ScienceBlog)

• The Silicon Valley Health Trend Making Doctors Nervous (NYT)

• Mangione lawyers to meet federal prosecutors amid reports of plea deal (BBC)

• It May Be Time to Panic About AI (Atlantic)

• Silicon Valley’s AI boom is remaking American charity (Economist)

• Tearful Mark Zuckerberg Smothers Metaverse Avatar With Digital Pillow (Onion)

Follow Your Arrow

The culture wars dividing Americans have long been represented partly as a case of country vs. city. Small town values vs. big city life. That is an over-simplification, of course, but most stories are simplifications.

We tell stories to ourselves all the time about the city-country conflict, but the ones I prefer are about mutual respect and tolerance, even in some cases new levels of understanding.

So naturally I like the story of country singer Kacey Musgraves, who grew up in a small town in Texas before migrating to Nashville in pursuit of her dreams.

Once in Music City, she met members of the LGBTQ community, which in her own telling broadened her awareness of the human experience.

In response, she wrote a song called “Follow Your Arrow” (lyrics below), which was initially banned from country stations and made her an outcast of sorts within the music industry.

But the song caught on, became a hit, and now is a personal anthem at her sold-out shows all over the country.

So this is the kind of story I like. Of course, for every story of tolerance and acceptance there is one of intolerance and discrimination.

But if we as a society are going to move forward we have to celebrate the former and reject the latter.

HEADLINES:

• Questions over Karoline Leavitt’s replacement as she steps down as White House press secretary (Guardian)

• How the Polls Got it So Wrong in Wisconsin (NYT)

• Rubio, Bessent took decoy Air Force One, Hegseth flew on secret flight with Trump (CBS)

• The Flawed Logic of Trump’s Airplane Escape (Atlantic)

• Trump officials say Strait of Hormuz stats are wrong as data casts doubt on US being in ‘total control’ (Yahoo)

• Houthi attack kills six in Red Sea; Trump slams Iran as hopes for Hormuz Strait deal dim (CNBC)

• Iran says no progress on reviving interim peace deal with US (Reuters)

• America’s hidden national security vulnerability (The Hill)

• Pirro, in rare move, convenes special grand jury in Washington (WP)

• Trump administration set to spend at least $900 million on White House construction (Reuters)

• Lawsuit seeks to ban Trump Media from charging for early access to president's posts on US policy (AP)

• In Ohio, Haitians’ American dream shatters as ICE prepares to deport them (Guardian)

• Birthright Citizen Marco Rubio Announces ‘Birth Tourism’ Crackdown (Newsweek)

• I Was Dick Cheney’s Cardiologist. Trump Has Not Looked Well, and We Should Know Why. (NYT)

• Oracle has drawn up plans for a new round of layoffs this month, sources say (BI)

• Meta, 29 states head to court in biggest test yet of youth social media litigation (Reuters)

• Forbes Fired Top Editor After Discovering He Received Secret $6 Million Payment (NYT)

• AI was supposed to destroy jobs. Where’s the carnage? (Guardian)

• AI chatbots are offering financial advice. Should you trust them? (NPR)

• Melania Trump Discovered To Be Russian Listening Device (Onion)

• LYRICS: “Follow Your Arrow” by Kacey Musgraves

  If you save yourself for marriage, you’re a bore
  You don’t save yourself for marriage, you’re a horrible person
  If you won’t have a drink, then you’re a prude
  But they’ll call you a drunk as soon as you down the first one

  If you can’t lose the weight, then you’re just fat
  But if you lose too much, then you’re on crack
  You’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t
  So you might as well just do whatever you want

  So, make lots of noise (hey)
  Kiss lots of boys (yup)
  Or kiss lots of girls, if that’s something you’re into
  When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight
  Roll up a joint, or don’t
  Just follow your arrow wherever it points, yeah
  Follow your arrow wherever it points

  If you don’t go to church, you’ll go to Hell
  If you’re the first one on the front row, you’re self-righteous son of a-
  Can’t win for losin’, you’ll just disappoint ‘em
  Just ‘cause you can’t beat ‘em, don’t mean you should join ‘em

  So, make lots of noise (hey)
  Kiss lots of boys (yup)
  Or kiss lots of girls, if that’s something you’re into
  When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight
  Roll up a joint, or don’t
  Just follow your arrow wherever it points, yeah
  Follow your arrow wherever it points

  Say what you think (say what you think)
  Love who you love (love who you love)

  
  ‘Cause you just get so many trips ‘round the sun
  Yeah, you only, only live once

  So make lots of noise (hey)
  Kiss lots of boys (yup)
  Or kiss lots of girls, if that’s what you’re into
  When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight
  Roll up a joint, I would
  And follow your arrow wherever it points, yeah

  Follow your arrow wherever it points

 

What's Ahead

Last night was the last big primary night before the midterms, and the results included a victory for the center-left Democrat over the Democratic Socialist candidate in the Wisconsin governor’s race.

In addition, a progressive won the Democratic race for the Senate in Minnesota, and Lindsay Graham’s sister will face a run-off election in two weeks for the Republican Senate race in South Carolina.

It’s still a bit early for polls, but super-pollster Nate Silver is out with a detailed projection for the midterm elections now less than three months away.

Democrats seem poised to win the House by a handy margin and control of the Senate is up for grabs and could go either way.

What Silver and other pollsters can’t predict is how Trump will react to GOP losses in November. We already know he’ll see the results were “rigged,” because that is his claim with any loss.

But what, if anything, will he do about it?

We all saw what happened on Jan. 6th, 2021, when Trump incited a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol, threatening to kill Congressional leaders as well as Vice-President Mike Pence.

Democracy in America survived, but just barely. On Tuesday, Trump left the door open to calling a national security emergency over the elections, so the threat very much remains. 

HEADLINES:

• Everything is breaking Democrats’ way. Is it enough to win the Senate? (Silver Bulletin)

• Takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries (AP)

• Center-Left Candidate Defeats Democratic Socialist in Wisconsin’s Governor Primary (NYT)

• Why Trump’s secret Air Force One switcheroo is problematic (CNN)

• How Iran Adapted Its Attacks as U.S. War Munitions Dwindled (NYT)

• Trump refuses to back down as Supreme Court blocks major policies (WP)

• Colombia earthquake rescuers race to find survivors in rubble (CBS)

• Former US Marine Robert Gilman released from detention in Russia (CNN)

• David Ellison Has Gamed Out His California Exit (Puck)

• In rural Texas, data center opposition is scrambling conservative tradition (WP)

• Trump Stokes Islamophobia by Calling Democratic Candidates ‘Jihadists’ (NYT)

• The World Health Organization defended the science-based process used to determine childhood immunisation schedules after Trump signed an executive order aimed at reducing the number of recommended childhood vaccinations in the United States. (Reuters)

• 2.4 million Afghan girls shut out of secondary school 5 years after Taliban takeover, UN says (AP)

• Journalism and Paywalls (NYT)

• Fishermen find ancient Roman shipwreck off coast of Sicily (CNN)

• Johannesburg’s water crisis angers voters, drives rich off-grid (Reuters)

• Mount Toba eruption doesn’t seem like it could nearly kill our species (ArsTechnica)

• Dogs can tell when you’re happy, sad or frustrated, a new study found. (WP)

• Waymo Is Growing Faster Than Ever. So Are Its Glitches. (NYT)

• OpenAI’s Only Ethicist Reportedly Left Last Month. She Wasn’t Replaced (Gizmodo)

• Mark Zuckerberg’s latest manifesto promises to save America with AI (WP)

• Sanders Calls on A.I. Companies to Pause Development to ‘Avoid Disaster’ (NYT)

• Spiteful AIPAC Spends $30 Million On Loud Bird Perched Outside Abdul El-Sayed’s Window (Onion)

Tuesday Mix

HEADLINES:

• Trump hid in catering truck in secret plane swap over Iran threat, reports say (BBC)

• Trump boarded secret Turkey flight via catering truck due to Iran threat, reports say (Reuters)

• Trump executive order would split up MMR vaccine (Axios)

• RFK Jr. is targeting a decades-old loophole allowing chemicals in food supply (WP)

• Earthquake Hits Colombia Days After New President Takes Reins (WSJ)

• Race to find Colombia earthquake survivors with help yet to reach epicenter (CNN)

• Trump demands compensation for US from Iran (The Hill)

• Iran changed the rules in Hormuz. The Gulf is changing the rules for Iran (Al Jazeera)

• The Delusions of John Roberts (New Yorker)

• Trump drags former FBI director James Comey into Reflecting Pool debacle (Independent)

• Hegseth pushes for Pentagon funding during renaming of military base after Lindsey Graham (CNN)

• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) didn’t rule out running for president or Senate when asked about both prospects in an ABC News interview on Sunday. “I haven’t ruled out the possibility. And I’m very humbled to the tremendous amount of support out there,” said Ocasio-Cortez regarding a potential presidential run. (HuffPost)

• The Comforting Resurgence of ‘Grandma Hobbies’ (NYT)

• Wildfires burn across western US and Canada as residents are evacuated (AP)

• Photos: European Rivers Fall to Record Lows (Atlantic)

• Lake Mead, the Nation’s Largest Reservoir, Is Smaller Than Ever (NYT)

• US court rules Meta, other tech companies must face thousands of lawsuits over social media addiction (Reuters)

• Zuckerberg manifesto pushes an open-source approach on AI as Meta releases its latest model (AP)

• How to Disable the AI Features in Gmail and Google Docs (Wired)

• The Ball in OpenAI’s court (BI)

• They said they would build AI safely. Then it went rogue. (WP)

• Dept. Of Interior Grills Up Nation’s Remaining Endangered Species (Onion)

Monday Mix

HEADLINES:

• How Roy Cohn Made Donald Trump (New Yorker)

• 7.4-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Colombia (NYT)

• At least 13 killed in Ukrainian drone strike deep into Russia (BBC)

• Iran says Oman deal is in ‘final stages’ but US must act to open Hormuz (Reuters)

• Rather than capitulating to the US, Iran toughens its demands over the vital Strait of Hormuz (CNN)

• Oil Prices Climb and Stocks Dip on Stalemate in Iran War (NYT)

• Netanyahu rejects US-led 15-point Gaza peace plan in rare public break with Trump (Guardian)

• The U.S. Is Burning Through Weapons in Iran. Russia and China Are Taking Note. (NYT)

• Pentagon asks defense companies to ramp up production as stockpiles run low during Iran war (CNN)

• Blanche’s confirmation fight was tough. Being Trump’s AG may be tougher. (WP)

• Trump's immigration crackdown looms over Minnesota's bruising Senate primary (AP)

• ‘Voters are fed up’: Michigan primary forces Democratic party to accept leftwing shift (Guardian)

• El-Sayed spoke with Obama as Michigan Democrats look to unite after a bitter Senate primary (AP)

• How Jeffrey Epstein’s island became a nightmare for influencers (BI)

• Iran war renews concerns about the lasting toll of traumatic brain injuries to US troops (AP)

• Crews battle wildfires in western U.S. and Canada (NPR)

• King’s Cross in London has become a hub for AI startups (UANews)

• Universities are fighting AI cheating. But there’s a deeper problem. (WP)

• Antichrist Rolls Eyes Throughout  Peter Thiel Lecture (Onion)

The Presidential Finger

(From last year.)

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, himself a former entertainer, has finally figured out Trump’s schtick.

I recently labeled Trump “America’s Hitler,” but I didn’t mean it to be taken literally. It’s a metaphor.

After all, Hitler wasn’t addicted to social media and didn’t have to deal with it. Trump is and does.

Trump as dictator is in many ways a laughable concept, although it’s not a funny one. His main accomplishment prior to his election was as a reality TV star — one who hired or fired people, seemingly on whim.

That role has translated perfectly to his governing style, which is primarily by whim. Or for that matter, U.S. foreign policy under Trump. It can change with the click of a finger.

But the presidency isn’t a TV show, no matter how much Trump tries to treat it as such.

And this is where this piece is going to take a weird turn. Take Marry Me, the 2022 film featuring an aging pop superstar, Jennifer Lopez, impulsively marrying a schlumpy math teacher, Owen Wilson, as a gimmick all on social media.

The film is not the first to explore the space between what’s real or not regarding love or fake marriages, but it does a good job at showing how under the right circumstances, a gimmick can over time become real in the age of social media, where everything in our lives seems like it can change with the click of a finger.

And that is my issue with Trump’s regime. It seems like a gimmick, a joke, but it’s not funny, and I am deeply afraid that it is becoming all too real. He may or may not be America’s Hitler, metaphorically speaking, but he’s most definitely some sort of a B-movie version, streaming on a platform near you.

HEADLINES:

• In Confirming Blanche, Senators Endorse a Justice Dept. Under Trump’s Sway (NYT)

• Trump’s top general is ‘looking for an off-ramp’ from Iran war as US military options remain limited, sources say (CNN)

• Netanyahu Rejects Trump’s Plan to Disarm Hamas (NYT)

• Iran says deal on Strait of Hormuz is close but is not enough to open the waterway (Reuters)

• What Mitch McConnell Did (Atlantic)

• The Government Shouldn’t Pick Winners and Losers in Media (Bulwark)

• ‘Communist losers’ and ‘Socialists’ (Reuters)

• The cost of waiting on the biggest merger in Hollywood history (NBC)

• Hunter Biden says Joe Biden’s cancer has spread further and is ‘very painful’ (CNBC)

• Europe’s conflict over migration (Reuters)

• U.S. Squeezes Cuba Even as It Searches for a New Regime Leader (NYT)

• Why MAGA Is So Obsessed With Fauci (Atlantic)

• How could New Mexico’s $567 million ruling change Meta? (Reuters)

• What’s the next big thing in social media? Meet 22 top VCs placing bets. (BI)

• How Elon Musk Is Re-Engineering the World (Reveal)

• Ring Launches Streaming  Service (Onion)