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The article describes the Afghan Air Force as struggling. But they literally don’t have anything close to a B-52 in their fleet, in fact they have no bombers at all.
I'm a liberal person, but I think Taliban takeover is a horrific outcome. What's the argument / angle here?
Furthermore, it seems to open the geopolitical sphere for China to step into the vacuum. It gives them more people to sell to, and a broader Belt and Road. It's strategic for their exports, too. That seems to not be in the interest of the United States.
Also, US troops in Afghanistan are positioned close to the Chinese border, which seems like a thing the US would want in order to apply pressure.
What's going on? I don't understand the withdrawal at all.
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.
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.
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.
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.
... and without the dripping sarcasm, in all seriousness, the US has been destabilising the Middle East for decades and will happily overthrow any government, people's choice or otherwise. The only justice in this situation is eventually it might bankrupt the American taxpayer as payback for their inability to get the militant lunatics out of government.
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.
Step in and do what? Occupy the country indefinitely? How many decades will it take for Afghanistan to stop being Afghanistan?
That seems reasonably sustainable. Make it into South Korea with airstrikes.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except that there are still something like 300 marines in Kabul.
And they'll remain until the State Department gets scared and leaves. BTW I spent almost two years in Kabul and was friends with the Marines at the embassy there at the time.
AFAIK the Afghan commanders stole their soldiers pay so the soldiers sold their weapons to the Taliban. The Taliban taking it back over seems like a natural consequence.
Either way, a significant amount of Taliban weaponry was provided by Russia.