U.S. Foreign Policy Needs to Change w/ Trita Parsi + The U.S.'s Afghanistan Endgame w/ Nadia Ahmad

Interview Start Times:
Trita Parsi - 02:22
Nadia Ahmad - 27:14

On this edition of Parallax Views, we have two interviews relating to U.S. foreign policy. First, up Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft co-founder and executive vice president Trita Parsi joins us to discuss how U.S. foreign policy needs a change. For Parsi, that means a shift towards a foreign policy of restraint that rejects militarism and economic warfare like sanctions. He argues that U.S. Grand Strategy is not worked out well for the U.S. as D.C.'s "Blob" adherents of the "Forever Wars" in the Middle East have claimed they would. The disaster of Afghanistan, he argues, is not a repudiation of restraint, but an argument for it. Additionally, Parsi also addresses claims that the Quincy Institute is "isolationist" and takes issue with the U.S. foreign policy Establishment's lack of referring to diplomacy before forms of warfare.

Then, Nadia Ahmad, a law professor at the Barry University School of Law, joins us to discuss her Common Dreams op-ed "The US Endgame in Afghanistan Was Mineral Extraction, Not Democracy". Also, Nadia chimes in on what can be done to help the Afghan people now and launches a criticism of those who ignore the question, "Should we have occupied Afghanistan in the first place?". We discuss the mining companies that Nadia argues the U.S. acted as security guards for in Afghanistan and the threat of sanctions against Afghanistan. All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views!