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Afghanistan 'Battle Was Lost From Beginning' Built on US Desire to Reshape World in Own Image: Prof_我的网站

一 |     谷歌干了一件很"谷歌"的事：不声不响，一口气把三个模型全发了。         不是挤牙膏式的"我们升级了一下"，是 Gemini 3.6 Flash、Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite、Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber 三款同时落地。    On a balmy summer day in mid-August of 2021, the 20-year US-led nation-building project in Afghanistan came to an abrupt end. Following a 10-day blitzkrieg offensive in which the Taliban* captured 32 of the country’s 34 provinces with little resistance, the militants encircled and then entered Kabul and caused its government to flee, all while US and coalition forces, diplomats, and intelligence agents were still evacuating.,Afghanistan has been mired in foreign-backed civil conflict for generations, with the US-led invasion of the country in 2001 ensuing 23 years after the CIA kicked off Operation Cyclone - a covert action involving the deployment of jihadist fighters and tens of billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and cash to Afghanistan to fight a fledgling Soviet-backed government.,“We have to look at the history – the United States created the Afghan mujahedeen against the Soviet Union, when the Soviet Union came to help Afghanistan…That Islamic fundamentalism which includes Taliban, Mujahideen, ISIS [Daesh]** and others was created by the West,” says Dr. Zalmay Gulzad, a specialist on Afghan politics and professor of social sciences at Harold Washington College in Chicago.,WorldA Tale of Two Withdrawals: Why Soviet and US Pull-Outs From Afghanistan Were So Different18 August 2021, 04:00 GMT,In the mid-1990s, a few years after the end of the Cold War, Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter, boasted that the overarching goal of the US project in Afghanistan was to “make the Soviets bleed for as much and as long as is possible,” and to coordinate with the intelligence services from the UK, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and other countries to make this happen.,Over four decades on, this strategy remains central to Washington’s calculations, Dr. Gulzad says, comparing US attempts to now use the Taliban to stir up trouble along Russia’s soft underbelly in Central Asia to the NATO proxy conflict against Moscow in Ukraine. Iran is another major target of US geopolitical ambitions, and Washington would like to play on the differences between the Sunni Taliban and the Shia Iranian state to “create problems” for the Islamic Republic, the academic argues.,Taliban Promise Safety for Resistance Leaders Including Ahmad Massoud as They Meet in Tehran10 January, 13:57 GMT,Graveyard of Empires,Brown University’s Costs of War project has calculated that the War in Afghanistan cost the United States alone more than $2.3 trillion, equivalent to $300 million per day for nearly 20 straight years. Notwithstanding the extravagant spending, and the rotational deployment of over 800,000 US troops and tens of thousands of personnel from over three dozen allied nations over the past generation, the Afghanistan project, once described by Harvard academic and chickenhawk Michael Ignatieff as a “humanitarian” “nation-building lite” adventure, has failed spectacularly.,The causes are legion, ranging from the pervasive corruption of Afghanistan’s political institutions and security structures (whose true fragility was demonstrated in August 2021), to the coalition’s tolerance for and even cooperation with unsavory warlords, drug traffickers, and even child sex criminals, and the imperious nature of the Western-backed project itself.,“It was a lost battle from the beginning,” says Dr. Swasti Rao, an associate fellow at the Europe and Eurasia Center at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi.,US 'Lost Track' of Afghan War Aims, Says Retired Marine General12 August, 17:00 GMT,“One of the problems with the US is that it wishes to see the entire world in its own mirror image, what is called the liberal world order comprising of free market and democracy. This approach has a problem when enforced top down without taking account the regional and grassroots realities, cultural sensibilities of the people at hand. The government of Ashraf Ghani was never a popular government with massive charges of corruption that the Afghan people did not identify with,” Rao explains.,The researcher noted that all around the world, but in West Asia in particular, the “project of the liberal order of which the US considers itself a custodian” has met with failure.,“After 20 years, about $2.5 trillion and the lives of its citizens and soldiers, the US realized that retreating is the best possible decision, something they had been planning for a long time,” Rao says.,Challenges, Opportunities,A year on from Kabul’s fall, the situation in Afghanistan is unstable, unpredictable, and dangerous, both for ordinary Afghans and for countries in the region.,“After one year of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover, it is Afghans who are suffering more than any other regional or extra-regional states,” says Shreyas Deshmukh, a researcher with the National Security Program at Delhi Policy Group, an India-based think tank.,“Now it is evident that the Taliban has not given up its extremist tendencies and will continue to stick with its interpretation of the extremist Sharia-based governance model. They do not have any concrete ideas to govern the state because [the Taliban] is a primarily insurgent organization. Therefore, anti-social elements including other terrorist organizations, drug lords, and human traffickers [have been] taking advantage of this vacuum. During the initial months after the Taliban takeover, the level of violence was reduced but now there is an uptick, as anti-Taliban forces are regrouping,” Deshmukh notes.,AfghanistanTaliban Militants Fire Into Air to Disperse Women's Protest in Kabul - Videos13 August, 07:44 GMT,The researcher points to an important dilemma for the Taliban: whether to make concessions on its governance model in exchange for cooperation with, assistance from, and possible recognition from other countries. Such a decision, Deshmukh notes, would carry with it the risk of heightening divisions within the Taliban’s ranks and even raise the possibility of their government’s collapse and renewed civil war. “On the contrary, if they implement a strict interpretation of Sharia law while going against international norms then the country will once again become a haven for terrorist organizations,” he warns.,Dr. Rao concurs with this pessimistic appraisal of Afghanistan’s internal situation, noting that while the Taliban proved capable of taking over from the Western-backed government, “they do not know how to engage in governance per se, let alone [create an] inclusive government with minorities and women. It’s been a year of denial of women’s rights, media crackdown, and retaliatory killings amid mass hunger. Especially with the Taliban bringing back the feared Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, enforcing the group’s austere interpretation of Islam, it is more unlikely that women or minorities might have a say in the government any time in the foreseeable future,” he says.,Worse yet, Rao says, if the situation continues to fester, it will cause “even more unrest, drugs and illegal weapons smuggling, bloody fights between various fundamentalist groups like ISIS-K and the Taliban; in short a situation that will remain a regional security [concern] with uncontrolled global ramifications.”,The scholar emphasizes that the international community has asked the Taliban to form an inclusive government, ensure the rights of women and minorities, and guarantee that Afghanistan will no longer serve as a launch pad for global terror operations. “Unless that happens, the trade or investment promised by China will not flow. It is important to note that even Russia and China, which share a better equation with the Taliban compared to the Western world, have not recognized their government,” Rao believes.,WorldLithium, Gold & Rare Earths: How China May Open the Door to New Business Opportunities for Afghans19 August 2021, 08:38 GMT,At the same time, the researcher notes that although the US withdrawal exacerbated regional chaos, landed sophisticated weapons in Taliban hands, and created a regional power vacuum, it also “created space for countries like Russia, China and Iran to play a far more decisive role in the region,” as Washington shifted its attention to Eastern Europe and China.,Deshmukh concurs. “The Taliban is not a designated terrorist organization by many states including the US. However, its leadership is under UNSC and US sanctions. The real question is, will the countries recognize the Taliban regime in the near future? China, Pakistan, Russia, and Qatar have given some signals that they might recognize the regime. However, it remains a risky business considering that the Taliban is continuing close cooperation with terrorist organizations like AQ, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Many of their leaders have taken safe haven in Afghanistan.”,“No country would like to align itself with this regime and recognize them, for now. Meanwhile, they will continue to engage with the Taliban to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghans, keep a tab on terrorist elements which could threaten the national interest of those countries, and further to reap some economic benefits from Afghanistan,” Deshmukh concludes.,* A group under United Nations sanctions for terrorist activities.,** A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.。你要是只看标题，会觉得"哦，又发模型了"。

二 | 但你要是把这三款摊开看，会发现谷歌这次下的不是产品棋，是战略棋。它真正想说的，恰恰是一个它还没发出来的东西。         先说最主力的那个，3.6 Flash。定价是输入 1.5 美元 / 百万 token、输出 7.5 美元 / 百万 token，知识截止 2026 年 3 月。光看价格没感觉，关键在后面那句：输出价格比前代降了大约 17%。

三 | 更狠的是，它把 Computer Use（让模型直接操作电脑） 做进了模型本身，还拿到了 AA Index 50 的评测分。翻译一下：这不是一个"陪你聊天的模型"，这是一个"能替你点鼠标、跑流程"的智能体底座，而且便宜了快两成。         那 3.5 Flash-Lite 是什么角色？一个字：便宜。输入 0.3 美元、输出 2.5 美元每百万 token，是整条产品线里最便宜的那个，主打高吞吐、低成本场景。说白了，它是给那些"量很大、但每件事不复杂"的任务准备的——批量分类、简单改写、海量预处理。谷歌把"贵"和"便宜"两条线都铺好，让开发者几乎没理由不用它家的 Flash 系列。         最让我意外的是第三个，3.5 Flash Cyber。这是个网络安全专用模型，搭配 CodeMender 代码安全智能体，干的是漏洞识别和修复的活儿。而且它不开放公开 API，只以受限试点形式给政府机构和"信任伙伴"用。你品品这个信号：谷歌把"AI 做安全"单独切出来，做成一款只对特定对象开放的产品。这不是技术秀，这是把 AI 安全变成一门To G 的生意。         把这三款摆到一起，你就能看出它在对标谁。

四 | 3.6 Flash 自带 Computer Use，摆明了是冲着"能替人干活的 AI 员工"市场去的——那块原本是 OpenAI Codex 和 Claude 的腹地。

五 | Flash-Lite 用 0.3 美元的地板价，直接压 OpenAI 和 Anthropic 的企业 API 定价。而那个只对政府开放的 Cyber，则是在抢 Palo Alto、CrowdStrike 这些老牌安全厂商的饭碗。谷歌这一手，是用一条产品线，同时捅了三个赛道的腰眼。                   这里面有个更深的算盘。谷歌敢把旗舰藏着、把 Flash 铺满，本质是赌一件事：未来的模型竞争，不再是"谁更聪明"，而是"谁更便宜、更能嵌进工作流"。当算力成本随时间往下走、模型能力随规模往上走，"够用且便宜"会吃掉"极致聪明"的大部分市场。这跟当年 x86 把一众精美架构按在地上摩擦是同一个逻辑——不是你更强，是你更无处不在。谷歌现在要当的那个"无处不在"，就是 Flash。         但真正吓人的，是谷歌没发的那个。         大家都在等的旗舰 Gemini 3.5 Pro，到今天还躺在"合作伙伴测试"里，连个确切日期都没有。而就在同一天，谷歌甩出一句话：已经启动了公司史上"最雄心勃勃的预训练"——也就是 Gemini 4。

六 | 你看明白没？它一边用 Flash 系列把中低端市场和智能体场景占满，一边把旗舰的发布往后拖，直接去押下一代的"世代跨越"。这招很毒：用成熟产品赚着钱、占着生态，同时不让对手有"旗舰对标"的靶子。

七 |          我得说句公道话：3.5 Pro 一直没发，未必是"难产"，更可能是主动选择。当 3.6 Flash 已经把"聪明够用 + 便宜 17% + 能操作电脑"这三件事打包好，旗舰的紧迫感就被稀释了。

八 | 用户要的是"能用、不贵、能干活"，不一定非要"最聪明那个"。谷歌赌的就是这一点。         把这三款连起来看，谷歌的打法就清晰了：          它正在用一套价格梯度 + 场景梯度的组合拳，把 AI 模型的"性价比"重新定义。贵的旗舰我先藏着，便宜的 Flash 我先铺满；能跑流程的给开发者，能搞安全的给政府。对手还在比"谁的参数多、谁的榜单高"，谷歌已经改成比"谁的生态卡得死、谁的客户跑不掉"。         对咱们普通开发者来说，这其实是好事。3.6 Flash 便宜了 17% 还自带 Computer Use，意味着"用 AI 跑一个自动化流程"的成本门槛又低了一截。原来你舍不得调用的智能体，现在可以放心跑了。

九 | 对创业公司更明显——Flash-Lite 这种廉价高吞吐模型，简直是为"用 AI 批量处理业务"量身定做的。         但我也要泼盆冷水。便宜是便宜，可别忘了：你把业务越往 Flash 上搬，就越被谷歌的云服务绑死。今天它降你 17%，明天它涨你 20%，你迁移的成本会比省下的那点 token 钱高得多。

十 | 模型可以随便换，工作流一旦长在别人平台上，就不好拔了。         还有件事得说透：所谓"输出价格降 17%"，省的是 token 钱，不是你的时间钱。

十一 | 模型跑得再便宜，如果你的业务流程没 redesign 成"适合智能体跑"的样子，那 17% 也就是账面上好看。真正吃到这波红利的，是那些早就把任务拆成"能并行、能自动化"的团队。红利从来不是均匀落的，它只落给早做准备的人。         所以这次三个模型齐发，表面是"产品更新"，底子是"生态卡位"。

十二 | 谷歌想抢的，不是你下一次的对话，而是你未来三年跑在它上面的那整套业务流程。旗舰 3.5 Pro 不发也好，发也罢，那张棋盘上真正要赢的，从来不是单颗棋子的强弱。         对我们来说，眼下最实在的一句提醒是：趁它还便宜，赶紧把该自动化的跑起来；但别把命根子也一起交上去。

十三 | 用 Flash 跑流程很爽，记得在每个关键环节留一个"能随时迁走"的备份方案。

十四 | 免费的便宜，从来都标着价，只是账单晚一点到。

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Published on:12:51:33