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Amid the terrible images of desperation coming out of Afghanistan this week, there is an uncomfortable question we need to ask: has our 20-year military involvement in the country been for nothing?
The brutal truth, argues Kevin Foster, is largely, yes. After 41 deaths in combat, 260 wounded, veteran suicides and thousands affected by post-traumatic stress, not to mention the $10 billion expended, there is precious little to show for it.
The ADF must concede that the intervention has been an abject failure, Foster argues: “lazy platitudes about Australian moral and military exceptionalism were put to the test in Afghanistan, and found wanting”.
And with so many questions about how the Taliban will rule the country, the movement’s spokesperson gave a press conference saying it wants “the world to trust us”.
But as Niamatullah Ibrahimi and Safiullah Taye write, trust and legitimacy will be hard to come by. Any attempt to restore the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is likely to cost it international recognition and perhaps more importantly foreign aid.
The Taliban will likely need both to survive, so it faces some difficult choices in the weeks and months ahead.
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Amanda Dunn
Section Editor: Politics + Society
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Cpl Ricky Fuller/Australian Department of Defence/AAP
Kevin Foster, Monash University
Lazy platitudes about Australian moral and military exceptionalism were put to the test in Afghanistan, and found wanting.
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Stringer/EPA
Niamatullah Ibrahimi, La Trobe University; Safiullah Taye, Deakin University
Any attempt to restore an Islamic emirate is likely to cost the Tablian international recognition, legitimacy and aid. This will weaken its prospect of consolidating its hold internally.
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from www.shutterstock.com
Jane Williams, University of Sydney; Holly Seale, UNSW
Do you actually need compulsory vaccination at your workplace? And if you do, as a last resort, how do you make mandates fair?
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Shutterstock
Dale Nimmo, Charles Sturt University; Alex Carthey, Macquarie University; Chris J Jolly, Charles Sturt University; Daniel T. Blumstein, University of California, Los Angeles
Studies show some animals can recognise the threat of fire, and behave in a way that increases their chance of survival. But what about wildlife who have evolved in areas where fire was once rare?
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hidesy/Shutterstock
Kevin Davis, The University of Melbourne
Australian retirees can keep stashing away more superannuation, unused, for another year, even though the crisis prompting the concession has passed. The big winners? Rich retirees and their kids.
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A 2007 photo shoot from The Bold and The Beautiful in a time before social distancing.
10play
Jodi McAlister, Deakin University
For 20 years, Jodi McAlister has been watching The Bold and The Beautiful. Under lockdown, again, she finds comfort in the reliable rhythms of a slow-drip soap opera set in the world of high fashion.
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Anna Shvets/Pexels
Ritesh Chugh, CQUniversity Australia; Bobby Harreveld, CQUniversity Australia; Stephanie Macht, CQUniversity Australia
A review of the past decade of research on effective feedback confirms supervisors should aim to fill the role of a ‘critical friend’ who provides constructive and timely feedback.
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Health + Medicine
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Donna Green, UNSW; Ben Harris-Roxas, UNSW
A$50 million could provide all NSW school classrooms with air purifiers with HEPA filters. This pales compared to the roughly $220 million-a-day cost of Sydney’s lockdown.
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Andrew Chen, University of Auckland
Models show at least 60% of the population would need to use the COVID-19 tracer app to have enough data to control an outbreak without a lockdown – but only about 10% of New Zealand adults scan in.
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Environment + Energy
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Daryl McPhee, Bond University
These phallic, burrowing invertebrates are certainly worth your time as integral and fascinating members — of Australia’s marine ecosystems.
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Science + Technology
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Julia Collins, Edith Cowan University
Calculating pi with unprecedented accuracy has zero scientific usefulness. But as a show of computing muscle and a mathematical curiosity, it’s endlessly intriguing.
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Education
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David Blair, The University of Western Australia
In trials teaching Einsteinian physics in schools, our most astonishing discovery was that children were not astonished: they just took the ideas in their stride.
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Geoff Hanmer, University of Technology Sydney; Bruce Milthorpe, University of Technology Sydney
With evidence showing the COVID virus is airborne, it’s no coincidence many outbreaks in schools have occurred in winter – when windows are closed.
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Business + Economy
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John Quiggin, The University of Queensland
By hiving off its oil and gas assets into a separate company, BHP is acknowledging it has no future in the carbon emissions business.
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Politics + Society
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Scott Morrison has said Afghans in Australia on temporary protection visas who came by boat will not be offered permanent residence.
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Michelle Grattan discusses politics with politics + society editor, Amanda Dunn.
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