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The Duffel Brief · the free edition, Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Vol. 15 · No. 133 · Saturday, 7 November 2026

Pete Hegseth picks wrong week to stop drinking

Pentagon staffing delays leave secretary sober for worst 48 hours of his career

Pentagon confident U.S. will be ready for 2027 war with China by 2035

Hegseth wears Eisenhower's globe as Halloween costume

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Vol. 15 · No. 133 · Deployed worldwide

Saturday

7 November 2026

0455 Zulu

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· Page 2

The Taliban don't have video games. So why are they so violent, US wonders

Filed · 1552

KABUL – US Gen. Scott Miller, Commander of the international coalition in Afghanistan, expressed confusion in the wake of the latest bombing in Farah province, which destroyed a bus and killed 32 civilians, including children.

“Our intelligence has been trying to determine why the Taliban have continued to inflict violence upon innocent civilians despite not having access to video games, which, as we all know is the leading cause of violent behavior,” Miller told reporters.

Miller continued, “I know that, on the surface, it might seem like a failure when the Army Corps of Engineers grossly mismanaged a $60 million program designed to bring electricity to Afghan towns,” said Miller, pointing to a 2018 report from the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction. “But actually, it was part of our brilliant counterinsurgency program. By tackling the root cause of violence in Afghanistan—you can't play video games without electricity—we hoped to completely quell violence in the region. But unfortunately, they’ve been blowing up civilians faster than you can say Red Dead Redemption 2.”

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