It is just the new US administration falling into the Pakistani-Chinese trap.
What trap?
Taliban enter Kabul as Afghan government on brink of collapse
141–150 of 225 posts
Re: Taliban enter Kabul as Afghan government on brink of collapse
#142Re: Taliban enter Kabul as Afghan government on brink of collapse
#143The Taliban has already entered the capital ( https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghanistans-taliban-seize-jala... ). This is an utter disaster for Biden and America. We should instead have performed a slower withdrawal and also continued to maintain a military presence permanently at Bagram field. Instead it appears China and Pakistan will welcome a new Taliban government and build new economic ties while America loses i…
Remember that it was trump who initiated departure from afghanistan, and deals were signed.
It’s kind of a joke that this administration keeps blaming the Trump negotiations, as if the Taliban has kept their side of the agreement. They haven’t - the US has no obligation to either.
Re: Taliban enter Kabul as Afghan government on brink of collapse
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are too hard on US. Afgan Army had 300 thousand soldiers trained and well equiped. If Afgans do not want to fight Taliban themselves what US can do?
U.S. could have not cynically installed the most pliant pro-American corrupt thugs to be in charge and told the people to obey, after having destroyed their homeland and treated them like idiot children for an entire generation.
> U.S. could have not cynically installed the most pliant pro-American corrupt thugs to be in charge and told the people to obey
Which of course has been the post-WW2 standard operating procedure for the U.S. in more countries than I care to count. And it always comes back to haunt us, god knows what the long-term ramifications of this latest fiasco will be.
Re: Taliban enter Kabul as Afghan government on brink of collapse
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t think that’s a valid question. What would they do with money? Buy more weapons, I guess? Invest in training. Hire more recruits.
Both you and the parent poster are missing the forest through the trees. The failure is not in money, training, or conscription. The failure is in not giving the army any reason to fight. If you don't give a rat's ass about your cause, and there's a serious possibility of defeat, why would you keep fighting? The problem is that in twenty years, the coalition-supported government failed to make enough of its constitue…
Exactly this.
Re: Taliban enter Kabul as Afghan government on brink of collapse
#146What a failure of the US armed forces here. 20 damn years staying in the country with the only 2 goal - to help Afghans build an army and help defend themselves and to eradicate the Taliban. They failed miserably in both. Trillions spent and many lost lives. Why would we ever pour money into such a terrible, incompetent system? Of course, the cycle keeps repeating itself and we keep growing the military.
Agreed and the answer to your question of why? This is the power engine of the American economy and dream. Our economy is based on us engaged in a conflict for which we print money and hand it to government contractors to later make its way to the rest of the economy.
All the while sucking like a predator a far away land and people for every last juice they have.
This is the only way to keep the faux heaven looking as it does. Utopian.
It’s also the one topic you can have both sides of the aisle always agree on. No matter the political climate. When the military is working, it’s always at work in keeping us free.
Woodrow Wilson would have been proud at how we monetized his emotional button of American exceptionalism
Re: Taliban enter Kabul as Afghan government on brink of collapse
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course they do. But is a nice playing ground for the army and the military industrial complex makes good profits. The lifes of milions do not matter for them.
I'm not necessarily doubting this, but I feel like this is always a convenient goto excuse to criticize any terrible, unethical military strategy the US is responsible for. Is there good evidence that certain powerful corporations/people made so much money and have so much power that they could and did successfully pressure politicians for two decades across a bunch of administrations into staying in Afghanistan? Not…
Okay even if this is a serious question, do you think those actually responsible want their names easily known? The powerful ones? They know their heads would be on the chopping block. Ofcourse you ask to make your point - OMG look at these new conspiracists attacking these well off gentlemen, pfft peasants. eff off you monocle wanna-be shithead.
Re: Taliban enter Kabul as Afghan government on brink of collapse
#148What a failure of the US armed forces here. 20 damn years staying in the country with the only 2 goal - to help Afghans build an army and help defend themselves and to eradicate the Taliban. They failed miserably in both. Trillions spent and many lost lives. Why would we ever pour money into such a terrible, incompetent system? Of course, the cycle keeps repeating itself and we keep growing the military.
US forces abandoned the country 'overnight' - leaving behind all of the military equipment the Taliban would need for their reconquest: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210814-weapon-seizur... Why wasn't all this equipment repatriated or destroyed? Why were the bases just abandoned without proper transition to Afghan Control, so that in some cases they were even looted by civilians? Possible explanations: 1. E…
Some of the trucks etc were broken down or worn out and some might have been contractor or personal vehicles brought over that they probably decided wasn't worth the cost to take back.
The ammo, weapons and military vehicles I believe quite lot of it technically belongs (or belonged) to the Afghan national army or at least was donated to them, although from what others on here have said, they were barely functioning as a force with rampant corruption at all levels.
None of this is new, pretty much exactly the same thing happen after South Vietnam fell, with the North Vietnamese getting an even more massive stockpile of basically US military equipment that makes what the Taliban have captured pale in comparison. https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/29/archives/arms-left-by-us-... https://militarymatters.online/weapons/vietnam-loves-america...
Not to mention all the helicopters they just pushed into the sea during the Saigon evacuation to make more space on the decks of ships.
Even back to end of world war 2 they dumped huge amounts of equipment into the sea or buried them or just left them in place to avoid the costs of taking them back. I suppose it does make some sense from an overall cost and logistical point of view, but on a personal level it does seem incredibly wasteful. https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/wwii-ended...
Re: Taliban enter Kabul as Afghan government on brink of collapse
#149“We are awaiting a peaceful transfer of power,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Saheen told the BBC.
When did terrorist groups get spokespeople, geez.
Re: Taliban enter Kabul as Afghan government on brink of collapse
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are too hard on US. Afgan Army had 300 thousand soldiers trained and well equiped. If Afgans do not want to fight Taliban themselves what US can do?
U.S. could have not cynically installed the most pliant pro-American corrupt thugs to be in charge and told the people to obey, after having destroyed their homeland and treated them like idiot children for an entire generation.
There are 6 million people in Kabul plus some elite Afgan Army. That is enough to make a no passaran moment to Taliban. Theoretically.
But it seems like all Western-minded urban Afgans want to get evacuated to US, Europe, Canada rather then put up a good fight. So why the West shall fight for their freedoms?