US unleashes B-52s in bid to stem Taliban advance • Hacker News Board

Re: US unleashes B-52s in bid to stem Taliban advance

#51

Post by rootusrootus » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 5:01 PM UTC

NonContro wrote: post #41

The Taliban are now armed with American weapons. Entire bases were abandoned overnight, full of supplies and equipment: https://youtu.be/f37xrmiqmnU?t=132 There are videos of Taliban rolling through cities in American humvees: https://t.co/cdHsZgjSv8 Its a matter of time before they take Kabul. $2.2trillion gifted to the Military Industrial Complex.

Too bad we couldn't at least have done some sabotage of equipment left behind. Hell, just slashing tires on the humvees for starters, would make a pretty big dent in their immediate usefulness. But there are probably other low-effort ways to make them difficult to repair.

Re: US unleashes B-52s in bid to stem Taliban advance

#52

Post by throwaway4good » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 5:01 PM UTC

And at the same time the US enters deal with the Taliban for them to protect an oil pipeline.

Everyone, including the US, assumes the Taliban will rule all of Afghanistan within months.

Re: US unleashes B-52s in bid to stem Taliban advance

#53

Post by neartheplain » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 5:02 PM UTC

roenxi wrote: post #3

The unrelenting Taliban aggression into Afghanistan, the ancestral heartland of the United States which Americans have inhabited for millennia, is outrageous. They should go back to their own country, IMO.

America's withdrawal is, in my view, an inevitable conclusion and the best out of many bad options. However, let's not pretend that the Taliban represent many or most Afghans. Their return to power is a tragedy. The atrocities they have committed before and are sure to commit again do not deserve applause.

>But in 2019, a response to the same survey found that only 13.4 percent of Afghans had sympathy for the Taliban [PDF]. As intra-Afghan peace talks stalled in early 2021, an overwhelming majority surveyed said it was important to protect [PDF] women’s rights, freedom of speech, and the current constitution. Around 44 percent of Afghans surveyed said they believed that Afghanistan could achieve peace in the next two years.

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/taliban-afghanistan

Re: US unleashes B-52s in bid to stem Taliban advance

#54

Post by MattGaiser » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 5:02 PM UTC

avsteele wrote: post #42

MattGaiser wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? Americans haven't been engaged in ground combat operations for years now outside of special forces. They were just providing the weapons, logistics, training, and air power to contain the Taliban. That seems reasonably sustainable. Make it into South Korea with airstrikes.

Take a look at the territory controlled by the Taliban vs time while we were at this level. They were not contained. We just were keeping them out of a few urban areas. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57933979

> We just were keeping them out of a few urban areas.

How is that not containment if they can’t take major areas?

Re: US unleashes B-52s in bid to stem Taliban advance

#55

Post by throwaway4good » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 5:03 PM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #51

NonContro wrote: post #41

The Taliban are now armed with American weapons. Entire bases were abandoned overnight, full of supplies and equipment: https://youtu.be/f37xrmiqmnU?t=132 There are videos of Taliban rolling through cities in American humvees: https://t.co/cdHsZgjSv8 Its a matter of time before they take Kabul. $2.2trillion gifted to the Military Industrial Complex.

Too bad we couldn't at least have done some sabotage of equipment left behind. Hell, just slashing tires on the humvees for starters, would make a pretty big dent in their immediate usefulness. But there are probably other low-effort ways to make them difficult to repair.

Maybe it is by design.

Leave an unstable nation filled with weapons at the doorstep of China and Russia.

Re: US unleashes B-52s in bid to stem Taliban advance

#56

Post by rootusrootus » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 5:06 PM UTC

fnord77 wrote: post #32

throwaway894345 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize that the Afghan people by and large do not want Taliban rule, right? Very few want to be ruled by a violent, oppressive theocracy. Personally I would like the US to leave Afghanistan as well, but I have sympathy for the people who may have to suffer Taliban rule. Ideally the international or at least regional community would step in.

where do new taliban come from? It's been 20 years since the original invasion and the Taliban from back then are probably either all dead or too old to fight. So it must be a popular ideology for some.

If wikipedia is to be believed, there are something like 60K Taliban. Out of a country of over 30 million. It's pretty easy to recruit that small of a force from that large of a population. What seems more noteworthy is that the Afghan military can't seem to defend effectively against them even with 3x the personnel.

Re: US unleashes B-52s in bid to stem Taliban advance

#57

Post by kook_throwaway » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 5:07 PM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #51

NonContro wrote: post #41

The Taliban are now armed with American weapons. Entire bases were abandoned overnight, full of supplies and equipment: https://youtu.be/f37xrmiqmnU?t=132 There are videos of Taliban rolling through cities in American humvees: https://t.co/cdHsZgjSv8 Its a matter of time before they take Kabul. $2.2trillion gifted to the Military Industrial Complex.

Too bad we couldn't at least have done some sabotage of equipment left behind. Hell, just slashing tires on the humvees for starters, would make a pretty big dent in their immediate usefulness. But there are probably other low-effort ways to make them difficult to repair.

Our government put more effort into stopping poor people from having affordable vehicles than preventing the Taliban from getting military vehicles[1]. See engine disablement section, basically just replace oil with salt water.

[1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Allowance_Rebate_System

Re: US unleashes B-52s in bid to stem Taliban advance

#58

Post by dehrmann » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 5:13 PM UTC

What surprises me the most about the US withdrawing is that Biden didn't remember what happened when the US left Iraq when he was VP. Military commentators were almost universally saying withdrawing was a bad idea, especially with how few US resources were in Afghanistan.

Re: US unleashes B-52s in bid to stem Taliban advance

#59

Post by rascul » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 5:15 PM UTC

dehrmann wrote: post #58

What surprises me the most about the US withdrawing is that Biden didn't remember what happened when the US left Iraq when he was VP. Military commentators were almost universally saying withdrawing was a bad idea, especially with how few US resources were in Afghanistan.

How many more US lives and dollars must we spend to satisfy everyone?

Re: US unleashes B-52s in bid to stem Taliban advance

#60

Post by haswell » Sat, Aug 07, 2021, 5:18 PM UTC

laurent92 wrote: post #25

jeffrallen wrote: post #2

War is stupid.

Peace is the success of war. Failure of war is anarchism and more war.

Peace is not always the success of war.

War is not the only path to peace.

Failure of war is not always anarchism and more war.

These are all possible outcomes, and some may be more likely than others, but rarely is the outcome a thing that can be described simply as “success”.