The NYT reports that the Afghan economy has collapsed following the US pullout. Half of its population of 50 million people face death by starvation this winter.
“On October 7, 2001, the US invaded Afghanistan to avenge the al-Qaida-orchestrated September 11 terrorist attacks.
The primary aim of the US invasion was to hunt down Osama bin Laden and punish the Taliban for providing safe haven to al-Qaida leaders.”
Osama bin Laden was hunted and killed, and the USA continues to “punish the Taliban” along with all the Afghan people...just like the USA Empire has done it with most countries it has gone into to conquer and pillage...
I remember that Donald Trump also wanted to pull out all the troops from Afghanistan during his administration. And, at that time, conservative voters thought it was a great idea. But if he had done so (rather than letting the DoD talk him out of it), then the implosion of the Afghani economy and infrastructure would have been exactly the same. Because everyone knew that the only thing preventing a complete collapse was the American military presence, and we've known that for decades.
And it's a horrific tragedy. But the options were to stay there forever or pull out. And history has shown repeatedly what happens to occupying powers that attempt to stay in Afghanistan. This is a foreign national security debacle that spans multiple Republican and Democratic administrations. They should all be ashamed.
I remember a different president who promised to end the occupation.
I remember he failed. Didn't get done in the first year as promised, wasn't done the second, third, or fourth either.
I'm sure you remember that too, but don't want anyone else too.
But are too stupid to just let that slide into obscurity... And keep wanting to throw around your ultra partisan pro fascism rants against Mr Biden for the hardships those poor Afghani's that you couldn't actually give a fuck about are facing.
Biden did what should have been done the day after we got Bin Laden, their collapse was inevitable, and their civil war is coming, it never should have been our concern.
@Bk: "..throw around your ultra partisan pro fascism rants against Mr Biden for the hardships those poor Afghani's that you couldn't actually give a fuck about are facing."
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+1 And if we did send aid to innocent women and children, nuts like @Mark would accuse Biden of supporting the Taliban.
This is a job for the United Nations; we have our own starving and homeless to take care of, here.
You can think leaving Afghanistan was the right move but the execution was horrendous. Would rather have not left 80 billion in cutting edge military hardware, I'm sure some of this is getting reverse engineered by China, Russia, and Iran as we speak.
Before anyone says "Trump wouldn't have done it any better," that's an unprovable hypothetical.
Nation building is pretty stupid in most cases. The world just isn’t a Disney movie. A lot of the stuff you see out in the world is just genetic. To keep throwing trillions and thousands of American troops lives to prop up nations is a fucking stupid thing to try to do. We have our own problems here.
“Would rather have not left 80 billion in cutting edge military hardware, I'm sure some of this is getting reverse engineered by China, Russia, and Iran as we speak.”
What we left was no where close to “cutting edge.” We dumbed down what we provided the Afghans because we knew they couldn’t operate or maintain advanced stuff. Example, we provided their Air Force with propeller attack aircraft rather than jets. But yes, good stuff and I wish we hadn’t left it for the Taliban. But it’s not close to state of the art. Russian and China have no need to reverse engineer it.
What’s really concerning is all the night vision gear we left. Again, probably not state of the art fusion thermal imaging/light intensification, but good stuff nonetheless. And it rally doesn’t require maintenance. As long as they have batteries they work. Night vision really gave us an edge, and now the bad guys have a lot of it.
@Tetradon
I made no claims, you did that, by inference. I am fine with us being out of Afghanistan.
Biden is obviously fine with owning the fact we're out, you fella's think it could have been handled better, OK no one ever even attempted to handle it, ever, certainly talked about it, still did nothing.
Mexico was going to pay to build a wall and so much other shit, he was going to do, infrastructure what happened he had four years, every other week in the Trump administration was Infrastructure week never happened, it's enough I think some of you really need to get some ass, who really gives a major fuck all at this point, y'all can vote go get your guys elected, y'all have plenty of money send it to the candidate of your choice,
@25, way to get defensive and prove my point. I phrased it in the way I did because it's Biden's fuckup, and the defense to that is the left's favorite "bUt tRuMp!!!!11" You don't get points for trying.
The rest of this is an irrelevant rant. Do better, man.
I agree, Afghanistan was going to collapse shortly after the USA exited. It likely wouldn’t matter who was President at the time. It seems that Presidents take credit for everything positive that occurs during their administration - and they blame a lot of the negative on previous administrations.
We got into Afghanistan for a good reason.
It was a mess under Taliban rule. When the US occupied it, it was held together by bubble gum and rubber bands. It should be no surprise it collapsed after we pulled out.
The country will be a mess for a long time going forward. Barring a miracle - that country was not going to be stable after our departure. If the country plunges into a brutal civil war, that will be brutal, and it’s citizens will feel the worst of it. Will it be better after? Possibly - or possibly not.
I’m not fan of President Biden. I’ve lost respect for former President Trump after the insurgence of January 6th - and his handling of the pandemic response.
So, I take no pride in agreeing that Biden made things worse with his sudden pull out - and attempting to get out in a symbolic way (by 09/11/21). I’m fine, regardless of what happens in a country half a world away. The dedicated soldiers (and their families) who served our country - who were left either dead or injured horribly by IED’s are hurt by this abrupt action. The Afghanistan women are brutally hurt by this pull out.
We can argue all day, but it does no good. And now there is little good we can do now, as the chance of getting aid to the people who need it - is largely gone now.
I never said "But Trump" just responded to your irrelevent attack on my point, now we get to the but Trump responding to you, if you think he did so great, I got a bridge over the Mississippi River, that's been shut down since the Trump administration I'll be glad to sell it to you cheap.
BTW I'm far from defensive that's trying to create a straw man argument, read my original post on this thread, my second post as well, this was just a thread created so you fake conservatives could bash anyone that doesn't think it's smart to be out of Afghanistan.
"What’s really concerning is all the night vision gear we left. Again, probably not state of the art..."
Damn, it's been nearly 30 years since I was active with the military, and even back then the night vision we had was fuckin' insane. Other than being a bit bulky and a green tint to the image, you could easily sight in on a target a couple hundred yards away or drive an armored vehicle in the middle of the night, without any lights whatsoever, in zero moonlight. And in the National Guard we never had the best stuff like the regular Army.
Can't imagine what even the "not state of the art" stuff must be like these days. Wonder how much heroine and fentanyl the Taliban would have to move to buy that shit if we didn't give it to them for nothing.
You remember the movie "Escape from New York"?? Manhattan was turned into a max security prison with the army surrounding it. Use the same principle with Afghanistan. PROBLEM SOLVED.
“I remember that Donald Trump also wanted to pull out all the troops from Afghanistan during his administration. “
Trump reached a CONDITIONAL agreement with the Taliban. If they met 7 conditions ( which would have led to a smooth transition ), we would pull out our last 2,500 troops. The Taliban only met 1 of the 7 conditions. In spite of that,Biden pulled the troops out in a chaotic manner.
I also have some critical armchair quarterback opinions about how the Biden administration handled pulling out the troops. And though it's impossible to prove *definitively* that the Trump administration would have done it worse, one can look at how the Trump administration handled process and logistics in general and make a relatively educated guess that a Trump pull-out from Afghanistan would not be a calm and orderly withdrawal where a "Swiss precision" metaphor would have been commonplace.
It's widely agreed by across both conservative and liberal onlookers, analysts, and insiders that the Trump administration was chaotic and generally struggled with good process. He burned through numerous Chiefs of Staff precisely because Trump steadfastly refused all attempts to bring some process to his White House.
At the same time, I would argue that the hypothetical White House that could have managed a calm, orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan would have needed to employ actual wizards using high-fantasy magic, because multiple administrations dug us deeper and deeper into that morass over decades. The reason why multiple administrations quietly refused to pull out of Afghanistan is because they knew it was going to be a humanitarian shit show no matter what, and they didn't want that to affect either their re-election or legacy.
And it's not like I think Biden is the profile of courage here. I'm pretty sure that everyone in the White House (including Biden) knows that Biden will not run for a second term (yes, I know there's debate on that topic, but this is what I believe). So, ripping off that nasty band-aid in the first year of a one-term President is more tactical than anything else.
Because we all know that come 2024, no one is going to care a lot or at all about Afghanistan.
^^^ Honestly, cacaplop, we know there's a running countdown to when you get bored with this profile (because no one is paying attention to an obvious and tedious troll) and try to stir shit with a new profile of some sort.
So, there's probably some wiggle room in these numbers, but there were over 2,400 United States military deaths Afghanistan. Almost 2,000 of those deaths resulted from hostile action. About 21,000 U.S. military were wounded in action during the war. There have been 18 CIA operatives also died in Afghanistan and just under 2,000 civilian contractors killed in Afghanistan.
And while I'm sure that the DoD and the State Department did not take those most recent 13 deaths lightly, I suspect they now regard those deaths as the price paid to not have the above numbers keep rising and rising year after year. I stick to my belief that the Biden administration and the Democratic Party wanted out of Afghanistan at the start of the Biden administration because they didn't want to deal with it in 2024. And I also stick to my belief that any administration's attempt to pull out of Afghanistan would have been a hot rolling dumpster fire, and that means some number of fatalities involved. It's a tragedy, but every year we stayed in Afghanistan across multiple administrations we obligated ourselves to a greater mess when we finally decided to leave.
Just because I'm curious, how far out are we from you launching into an arm-waving, F-bomb-laden fit about someone else's opinion? Because what we all look forward to is that magical moment when you tell someone to go suck a dog's dick. That has a huge impact from a guy we don't know on the internet.
“And if we did send aid to innocent women and children, nuts like @Mark would accuse Biden of supporting the Taliban.“
The alternative to withdrawing our troops, leaving behind $80 Billion in equipment and 80,000 Afghan translators and aid workers, was to keep Bagram Air Base and keep 2,500 troops there giving air support. This was essentially what we did for 18 months without the loss of a single American life. Estimates were this would have cost $3Billion per year. A bargain compared to the $3Trillion Build Back Better ( new Green deal ) being pushed by Biden.
Of course, it’s too late to pour aid in now. It would just go to the Taliban.
Fort Dix, overwhelmed with Afghan refugees, now larger than half the towns in New Jersey.
FORT DIX, NJ- As the Biden administration opens the country up to pretty much anyone who wants to come here unabated, the New York Times reports that one of the military bases Biden opened up to Afghan refugees is now “larger than half the towns in New Jersey” in terms of population, Breitbart reports.
Fort Dix in New Jersey is among a number of military bases where Biden has converted them into virtual refugee camps, housing over 70,000 Afghans in temporary housing after they were flown to the United States with minimal vetting, reports say.
In total, Biden is hoping to resettle some 95,000 Afghans to the United States with plans to scatter them among 46 states.
Currently, Fort Dix is housing approximately 11,000 Afghans, with additional “refugees” arriving every week through Philadelphia International Airport. According to the Times:
After fleeing Afghanistan as the Taliban seized power, she and her mother and four siblings were routed through Germany before arriving at what has been known as Liberty Village, a community that swelled nearly overnight to hold a population larger than half the towns in New Jersey.
It is the only location still accepting new Afghan arrivals from overseas, according to the Department of Homeland Security. It is likely to be among the last sites to shut down, based on its housing capacity and proximity to Philadelphia, the main U.S. port of entry for the new arrivals, officials said Thursday as they offered the first media tour of the encampment.
As many as four planeloads of Afghans continue to arrive in New Jersey each week from overseas safe havens where 3,300 people are waiting their turn to enter the United States as part of the largest evacuation of war refugees since Vietnam.
Thus far, according to the latest information, Biden has brought some 36,000 Afghans into the U.S. since September, with another 37,000 still temporarily living on U.S. military bases awaiting resettlement. At Fort Dix alone, over 3,500 Afghans have left the base to be resettled throughout the U.S.
Thanks to Republicans, Biden’s “get Afghans to vote Democrats when we give them amnesty” program received a jolt, with 19 Senate Republicans and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) breaking ranks and voting with Democrats to give Biden an additional $7 billion in American taxpayer money to fund the resettlement operation.
All told, Biden’s scheme will set back the American people a cool $13.3 billion, which also means the operation now has no end in sight. Under the funding bill, foreign nationals who claim to have been impacted by the withdrawal in Afghanistan as “individuals at risk” who are then allowed to take part in “relocations” to the United States.
Since Bush started the Afghanistan military operation in 2001, the Afghan population in the United States has exploded. As of 2019, 133,000 Afghans lived in the U.S., over three times the 44,000 Afghans who called the U.S. home prior to the start of the war.
Another statistic shows that most Afghan arrivals in the U.S. live on welfare. Terrific.
There are just too many good reasons to have kept Bagram Air Base and a large US military presence in Afghanistan, and too few poor reasons to not have. Our military has begun a very necessary and long overdue "pivot to Asia" to confront China, Russia, and Iran. Afghanistan is ideally located to have provided a vital strategic and tactical asset in that policy.
It is believed that Afghanistan has a wealth of rare earth minerals, vital components in all of today's electronics, which China is currently the chief exporter of. Had we maintained a presence in Afghanistan and begun some public-private partnerships, we could have American companies obtaining those minerals for ourselves while simultaneously helping the Afghans develop their own industry and base of high-paying skilled labor jobs.
One of the greatest tragedies of the cold war is the way the USSR and USA abandoned our proxies after our conflicts in their lands had ended. Afghanistan was the most impactful cautionary tale of how important it is not to leave a power vacuum in tribal lands where power flows from the muzzle of a rifle. When the USA defeated the USSR and left, no one cared that the brutal Taliban were left as the most ambitious and fanatical faction seeking power. In their rule, the harshest Sharia law led to thousands of needless deaths, irreplaceable historical artifacts of great beauty and wonder destroyed, and a fertile breeding ground for the growth and development of Al Qaeda.
Biden just walked away and gave it all up. Maybe he forgot his history as part of his senility. It is the clearest signal yet that America does not care about our allies. Just like Obama let Iran crush their democratic rebellion, Putin invade Ukraine's Crimea and Georgia, and more.
I honestly believe that the invasion of Ukraine and Taiwan will come simultaneously and Biden will do nothing; under his watch that may be safer for America
Taiwan is the source of much of our computer components. If something happens to it, our tech industry will take a decade to recover. By then, China would have an insurmountable lead. It would be checkmate.
“It’s never been about left vs right (or the people of America vs the people of Afghanistan or Democrats vs Republicans or whites vs blacks or blacks vs asians or BLM vs White Supremacists etc etc)
More like 0.1% of regular ass humans, the political and religious leaders and the the rich and powerful from all over the world, tricking the rest of the world into fighting among themselves while they rob them blind.”
~ SanchoRG, Texas
~ Joined Aug, 2017 Last Seen Dec, 2021
“Wars are caused by one country's wish to take control of another country's wealth.
Remember there is almost always an economic motive underlying most conflicts, even if the stated aim of the war is presented to the public as something more noble.”
So just a legitimate question of the posters on this thread any veterans? and of the veterans any been involved in hostilities ? My answer is yes on both questions. If you've never been near a shot fired in anger you should shut the fuck up.
^we still have free speech no matter how much you fucking scumbag Democrats try to shut down views different that yours. What kind of self important fucking narcissist are you to think anyone should only speak on what you think they should be allowed to speak on? Until Founder makes you a moderator who can control threads Go fuck yourself.
Fuck you 25. You don't have a fucking clue about the Constitution and free speech. You're retired; don't you fucking dare say a word on employment matters. You a lawyer asshole? Then shut the fuck up on legal issues.
^ No son it does not give me extra insight, what bathers me is how quick those folk that have never been shot at are to commit my children to a long unwinnable war and just a total lack of understanding of why the United States is the moral compass of the world, we don't engage in wars of conquest, we don't commit war atrocities intentionally, we do try to protect non-combatants to the best of our ability. That's what it all about ask a real veteran they all feel the same way.
“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?
No I'm not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over.
This is the day when such evils must come to an end.
I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars.
But I have said it once and I will say it again.
The real enemy of my people is here.
I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality.
If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn't have to draft me, I'd join tomorrow.
I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs.
So I'll go to jail, so what?
We've been in jail for 400 years.
~ Muhammad Ali aka Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.
~ Born: January 17, 1942 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A.
~ Died: June 3, 2016 Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.A.
^ You called me "son"; it seems you can dish it out but can't take it.
"If you've never been near a shot fired in anger you should shut the fuck up."
This sentence, and your "chicken hawk" insult, contain nothing substantive to address.
You just shat on everyone here who doesn't share your experiences, which are not relevant to any expertise on the matter.
ok whatever LOL if that's what you think have some fun, chicken hawk wasn't an an insult it was an a observance of what actually was happening at that time, but go ahead you just do you and head off to Canada
One of the powers that the left claims is to decide who has the right to voice their opinions. Abortion. Race relations. Foreign policy. Whatever the topic, someone on the left will chime in if someone weighs in with a non-conforming opinion. Your opinions are not valid !! Stop speaking !!
“We confront the Roman Catholic Church, other Christian bodies and the synagogues of America with their silence and cowardice in the face of our country’s crimes.
We are convinced that the religious bureaucracy in this country is racist, is an accomplice in this war, and is hostile to the poor.”
~ The Catonsville Nine, Catholic anti-war protestors, 1968
Wah, repugs is the best I can do wah. Democrats murdered American soldiers, women and children in the Biden retreat; a total debacle. Lets hear more "i'm a war hero" claims from the left. Woo hoo war here. Coming under fire? Too much lighter fluid on the grill? Under fire roflmao. The only thing you ever served was your betters in the Catskills. Weeee we're all war heros. We serveddddddddddddddddddddd.
“I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”
–Hillary Clinton, speech at George Washington University, March 17, 2008
>One of the powers that the left claims is to decide who has the right to voice their opinions. Abortion. Race relations. Foreign policy. Whatever the topic, someone on the left will chime in if someone weighs in with a non-conforming opinion. Your opinions are not valid !! Stop speaking !!
“More than 30,000 Afghans are still living on seven military bases in the US three months after botched Afghanistan withdrawal: US has directed more than $13 BILLION to accommodate refugees to date”
^ jealousy is very becoming on you. Smart people can survive in colder weather, its why worldwide, the further south you go, the dumber it gets. Yeah, South Koreas is better off than North, but is also in the North so its not really an exception. You can serve them some kimchee Hillary.
^ Jealous of what ? LOL really, I think that's a reach even for you, sorry not sorry, sure you can survive in colder weather but in order to thrive you need to warm up.
It is hilarious that the liberals on TUSCL, MSM, and elsewhere are completely unwilling to admit one simple fact. I told you so. Dana Perino told you so. Sean Hannity told you so. Anyone who was willing to speak the truth told you so. What did we tell you? That this was a completely foreseeable result of electing a known idiot who has been on the wrong side of every single foreign policy decision of his legislative and executive careers (he was also one the wrong side of most domestic policies). What do you expect from a stupid old codger who was afraid to leave his basement during the early COVID pandemic? Or maybe you should have admitted that when he chose the least qualified and most miserable failure of the 2020 DNC primary candidates. Even Marianne Williamson had better lasting power than her (I hope she comes back in '24). Maybe his idiocy, weakness, and dementia should have been evident when he bragged of giving our historical rival and chief geopolitical foe a list of industries he is not allowed to disrupt and hack. If the stakes were not literally life-and-death, that he considered that a major diplomatic victory would have been hilarious! And now, after all of his fumbling, and bumbling, and stumbling, he expects that Putin and Xi will forget about the colossal failures of Afghanistan and elsewhere and take him seriously on ceasing aggression towards Ukraine and Taiwan? Putin and Xi are liberals, too, but they are not the useful idiot American liberals. They are not the paper man, internet tough guy, liberals of TUSCL. These guys are real, they are dangerous, and they are wicked smart. The only thing they have in common with our liberals and Brandons is they are entirely self-serving and have no regard for honesty or law and order. They already have everything in place to neutralize potential European and Asian allies of ours, and they know our leadership will not commit militarily.
That anyone here would try and deny or obfuscate that is abhorrent. You are unpatriotic, despicable, and beneath contempt.
The sum total of lefties debating skills is to point to their opponent and call them a name. Usually, it’s racist. But, there’s a whole tool box of epithets available. White supremacist. Hypocrite. Homophobe. Uncle Tom ( reserved for Black conservatives ). And so on.
That’s it. In the past, that’s been enough. For most of the nation, recent events have exposed the weakness of this response.
It's as I always say. The facts are against them. The laws are against them. They are not smart enough to come up with even the slightest rational objection or argument. They just make up any silly narrative that jumps in their head and call people names. It's sad, really.
You obviously don’t understand, but I’ll try to explain. There are many ways to discuss/debate an issue. Perhaps the least effective, but the one requiring the least brainpower, is to label the other side with some insult. You don’t need to know any facts or to describe your position. Then, if you are lacking any self awareness, you can smugly assume you’ve won the argument. It protects your belief that you are morally superior and an intellectual giant.
The longer we stayed in Afghanistan, the worse it would get. We have a history of supporting oppressive regimes. I am not saying that that is what happened here, but we were unable to bring about democracy there.
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“On October 7, 2001, the US invaded Afghanistan to avenge the al-Qaida-orchestrated September 11 terrorist attacks.
The primary aim of the US invasion was to hunt down Osama bin Laden and punish the Taliban for providing safe haven to al-Qaida leaders.”
Osama bin Laden was hunted and killed, and the USA continues to “punish the Taliban” along with all the Afghan people...just like the USA Empire has done it with most countries it has gone into to conquer and pillage...
And it's a horrific tragedy. But the options were to stay there forever or pull out. And history has shown repeatedly what happens to occupying powers that attempt to stay in Afghanistan. This is a foreign national security debacle that spans multiple Republican and Democratic administrations. They should all be ashamed.
I remember why we invaded.
I remember a different president who promised to end the occupation.
I remember he failed. Didn't get done in the first year as promised, wasn't done the second, third, or fourth either.
I'm sure you remember that too, but don't want anyone else too.
But are too stupid to just let that slide into obscurity... And keep wanting to throw around your ultra partisan pro fascism rants against Mr Biden for the hardships those poor Afghani's that you couldn't actually give a fuck about are facing.
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+1 And if we did send aid to innocent women and children, nuts like @Mark would accuse Biden of supporting the Taliban.
This is a job for the United Nations; we have our own starving and homeless to take care of, here.
Before anyone says "Trump wouldn't have done it any better," that's an unprovable hypothetical.
In the real world, Biden rushed it, likely to say we were out by the 9/11/21, fucked it up and got us humiliated. He owns it.
What we left was no where close to “cutting edge.” We dumbed down what we provided the Afghans because we knew they couldn’t operate or maintain advanced stuff. Example, we provided their Air Force with propeller attack aircraft rather than jets. But yes, good stuff and I wish we hadn’t left it for the Taliban. But it’s not close to state of the art. Russian and China have no need to reverse engineer it.
What’s really concerning is all the night vision gear we left. Again, probably not state of the art fusion thermal imaging/light intensification, but good stuff nonetheless. And it rally doesn’t require maintenance. As long as they have batteries they work. Night vision really gave us an edge, and now the bad guys have a lot of it.
I made no claims, you did that, by inference. I am fine with us being out of Afghanistan.
Biden is obviously fine with owning the fact we're out, you fella's think it could have been handled better, OK no one ever even attempted to handle it, ever, certainly talked about it, still did nothing.
Mexico was going to pay to build a wall and so much other shit, he was going to do, infrastructure what happened he had four years, every other week in the Trump administration was Infrastructure week never happened, it's enough I think some of you really need to get some ass, who really gives a major fuck all at this point, y'all can vote go get your guys elected, y'all have plenty of money send it to the candidate of your choice,
Rump spent 4 years promising and accomplished nothing.
PROOF.
The rest of this is an irrelevant rant. Do better, man.
Could have said that and saved yourself the keystrokes.
We got into Afghanistan for a good reason.
It was a mess under Taliban rule. When the US occupied it, it was held together by bubble gum and rubber bands. It should be no surprise it collapsed after we pulled out.
The country will be a mess for a long time going forward. Barring a miracle - that country was not going to be stable after our departure. If the country plunges into a brutal civil war, that will be brutal, and it’s citizens will feel the worst of it. Will it be better after? Possibly - or possibly not.
I’m not fan of President Biden. I’ve lost respect for former President Trump after the insurgence of January 6th - and his handling of the pandemic response.
So, I take no pride in agreeing that Biden made things worse with his sudden pull out - and attempting to get out in a symbolic way (by 09/11/21). I’m fine, regardless of what happens in a country half a world away. The dedicated soldiers (and their families) who served our country - who were left either dead or injured horribly by IED’s are hurt by this abrupt action. The Afghanistan women are brutally hurt by this pull out.
We can argue all day, but it does no good. And now there is little good we can do now, as the chance of getting aid to the people who need it - is largely gone now.
BTW I'm far from defensive that's trying to create a straw man argument, read my original post on this thread, my second post as well, this was just a thread created so you fake conservatives could bash anyone that doesn't think it's smart to be out of Afghanistan.
"What’s really concerning is all the night vision gear we left. Again, probably not state of the art..."
Damn, it's been nearly 30 years since I was active with the military, and even back then the night vision we had was fuckin' insane. Other than being a bit bulky and a green tint to the image, you could easily sight in on a target a couple hundred yards away or drive an armored vehicle in the middle of the night, without any lights whatsoever, in zero moonlight. And in the National Guard we never had the best stuff like the regular Army.
Can't imagine what even the "not state of the art" stuff must be like these days. Wonder how much heroine and fentanyl the Taliban would have to move to buy that shit if we didn't give it to them for nothing.
Trump reached a CONDITIONAL agreement with the Taliban. If they met 7 conditions ( which would have led to a smooth transition ), we would pull out our last 2,500 troops. The Taliban only met 1 of the 7 conditions. In spite of that,Biden pulled the troops out in a chaotic manner.
It's widely agreed by across both conservative and liberal onlookers, analysts, and insiders that the Trump administration was chaotic and generally struggled with good process. He burned through numerous Chiefs of Staff precisely because Trump steadfastly refused all attempts to bring some process to his White House.
At the same time, I would argue that the hypothetical White House that could have managed a calm, orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan would have needed to employ actual wizards using high-fantasy magic, because multiple administrations dug us deeper and deeper into that morass over decades. The reason why multiple administrations quietly refused to pull out of Afghanistan is because they knew it was going to be a humanitarian shit show no matter what, and they didn't want that to affect either their re-election or legacy.
And it's not like I think Biden is the profile of courage here. I'm pretty sure that everyone in the White House (including Biden) knows that Biden will not run for a second term (yes, I know there's debate on that topic, but this is what I believe). So, ripping off that nasty band-aid in the first year of a one-term President is more tactical than anything else.
Because we all know that come 2024, no one is going to care a lot or at all about Afghanistan.
For what it's worth, you can't say "would the Democrats have done better" for the initial COVID response.
Lots of whataboutism on this thread from people with a one Trump track mind.
"So, ripping off that nasty band-aid in the first year of a one-term President is more tactical than anything else."
So you consider 13 dead servicemembers to be "ripping off a band-aid?" Try again.
So, there's probably some wiggle room in these numbers, but there were over 2,400 United States military deaths Afghanistan. Almost 2,000 of those deaths resulted from hostile action. About 21,000 U.S. military were wounded in action during the war. There have been 18 CIA operatives also died in Afghanistan and just under 2,000 civilian contractors killed in Afghanistan.
And while I'm sure that the DoD and the State Department did not take those most recent 13 deaths lightly, I suspect they now regard those deaths as the price paid to not have the above numbers keep rising and rising year after year. I stick to my belief that the Biden administration and the Democratic Party wanted out of Afghanistan at the start of the Biden administration because they didn't want to deal with it in 2024. And I also stick to my belief that any administration's attempt to pull out of Afghanistan would have been a hot rolling dumpster fire, and that means some number of fatalities involved. It's a tragedy, but every year we stayed in Afghanistan across multiple administrations we obligated ourselves to a greater mess when we finally decided to leave.
Just because I'm curious, how far out are we from you launching into an arm-waving, F-bomb-laden fit about someone else's opinion? Because what we all look forward to is that magical moment when you tell someone to go suck a dog's dick. That has a huge impact from a guy we don't know on the internet.
How's that for another try?
There hadn't been a combat-related death for 18 months prior to the withdrawal.
The alternative to withdrawing our troops, leaving behind $80 Billion in equipment and 80,000 Afghan translators and aid workers, was to keep Bagram Air Base and keep 2,500 troops there giving air support. This was essentially what we did for 18 months without the loss of a single American life. Estimates were this would have cost $3Billion per year. A bargain compared to the $3Trillion Build Back Better ( new Green deal ) being pushed by Biden.
Of course, it’s too late to pour aid in now. It would just go to the Taliban.
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/fort…
Fort Dix, overwhelmed with Afghan refugees, now larger than half the towns in New Jersey.
FORT DIX, NJ- As the Biden administration opens the country up to pretty much anyone who wants to come here unabated, the New York Times reports that one of the military bases Biden opened up to Afghan refugees is now “larger than half the towns in New Jersey” in terms of population, Breitbart reports.
Fort Dix in New Jersey is among a number of military bases where Biden has converted them into virtual refugee camps, housing over 70,000 Afghans in temporary housing after they were flown to the United States with minimal vetting, reports say.
In total, Biden is hoping to resettle some 95,000 Afghans to the United States with plans to scatter them among 46 states.
Currently, Fort Dix is housing approximately 11,000 Afghans, with additional “refugees” arriving every week through Philadelphia International Airport. According to the Times:
After fleeing Afghanistan as the Taliban seized power, she and her mother and four siblings were routed through Germany before arriving at what has been known as Liberty Village, a community that swelled nearly overnight to hold a population larger than half the towns in New Jersey.
It is the only location still accepting new Afghan arrivals from overseas, according to the Department of Homeland Security. It is likely to be among the last sites to shut down, based on its housing capacity and proximity to Philadelphia, the main U.S. port of entry for the new arrivals, officials said Thursday as they offered the first media tour of the encampment.
As many as four planeloads of Afghans continue to arrive in New Jersey each week from overseas safe havens where 3,300 people are waiting their turn to enter the United States as part of the largest evacuation of war refugees since Vietnam.
Thus far, according to the latest information, Biden has brought some 36,000 Afghans into the U.S. since September, with another 37,000 still temporarily living on U.S. military bases awaiting resettlement. At Fort Dix alone, over 3,500 Afghans have left the base to be resettled throughout the U.S.
Thanks to Republicans, Biden’s “get Afghans to vote Democrats when we give them amnesty” program received a jolt, with 19 Senate Republicans and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) breaking ranks and voting with Democrats to give Biden an additional $7 billion in American taxpayer money to fund the resettlement operation.
All told, Biden’s scheme will set back the American people a cool $13.3 billion, which also means the operation now has no end in sight. Under the funding bill, foreign nationals who claim to have been impacted by the withdrawal in Afghanistan as “individuals at risk” who are then allowed to take part in “relocations” to the United States.
Since Bush started the Afghanistan military operation in 2001, the Afghan population in the United States has exploded. As of 2019, 133,000 Afghans lived in the U.S., over three times the 44,000 Afghans who called the U.S. home prior to the start of the war.
Another statistic shows that most Afghan arrivals in the U.S. live on welfare. Terrific.
It is believed that Afghanistan has a wealth of rare earth minerals, vital components in all of today's electronics, which China is currently the chief exporter of. Had we maintained a presence in Afghanistan and begun some public-private partnerships, we could have American companies obtaining those minerals for ourselves while simultaneously helping the Afghans develop their own industry and base of high-paying skilled labor jobs.
One of the greatest tragedies of the cold war is the way the USSR and USA abandoned our proxies after our conflicts in their lands had ended. Afghanistan was the most impactful cautionary tale of how important it is not to leave a power vacuum in tribal lands where power flows from the muzzle of a rifle. When the USA defeated the USSR and left, no one cared that the brutal Taliban were left as the most ambitious and fanatical faction seeking power. In their rule, the harshest Sharia law led to thousands of needless deaths, irreplaceable historical artifacts of great beauty and wonder destroyed, and a fertile breeding ground for the growth and development of Al Qaeda.
Biden just walked away and gave it all up. Maybe he forgot his history as part of his senility. It is the clearest signal yet that America does not care about our allies. Just like Obama let Iran crush their democratic rebellion, Putin invade Ukraine's Crimea and Georgia, and more.
I honestly believe that the invasion of Ukraine and Taiwan will come simultaneously and Biden will do nothing; under his watch that may be safer for America
“It’s never been about left vs right (or the people of America vs the people of Afghanistan or Democrats vs Republicans or whites vs blacks or blacks vs asians or BLM vs White Supremacists etc etc)
More like 0.1% of regular ass humans, the political and religious leaders and the the rich and powerful from all over the world, tricking the rest of the world into fighting among themselves while they rob them blind.”
~ SanchoRG, Texas
~ Joined Aug, 2017 Last Seen Dec, 2021
Remember there is almost always an economic motive underlying most conflicts, even if the stated aim of the war is presented to the public as something more noble.”
Proximity is not an argument, any more than a bareback stripper has extra insight into the replication cycle of HSV-2.
Everything @gammanu said is true. The message that we are sloppy and false allies is ringing throughout the world.
OK, gramps, you can read up and see I never said we had to stay there indefinitely. I said we could have done it better.
“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?
No I'm not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over.
This is the day when such evils must come to an end.
I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars.
But I have said it once and I will say it again.
The real enemy of my people is here.
I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality.
If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn't have to draft me, I'd join tomorrow.
I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs.
So I'll go to jail, so what?
We've been in jail for 400 years.
~ Muhammad Ali aka Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.
~ Born: January 17, 1942 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A.
~ Died: June 3, 2016 Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.A.
"If you've never been near a shot fired in anger you should shut the fuck up."
This sentence, and your "chicken hawk" insult, contain nothing substantive to address.
You just shat on everyone here who doesn't share your experiences, which are not relevant to any expertise on the matter.
You attacked me first with your "would Trump have done it better?" whataboutism which no one ever said.
We are convinced that the religious bureaucracy in this country is racist, is an accomplice in this war, and is hostile to the poor.”
~ The Catonsville Nine, Catholic anti-war protestors, 1968
U N D E N I A B L E
–Hillary Clinton, speech at George Washington University, March 17, 2008
“More than 30,000 Afghans are still living on seven military bases in the US three months after botched Afghanistan withdrawal: US has directed more than $13 BILLION to accommodate refugees to date”
That anyone here would try and deny or obfuscate that is abhorrent. You are unpatriotic, despicable, and beneath contempt.
That’s it. In the past, that’s been enough. For most of the nation, recent events have exposed the weakness of this response.
~ Narendra Modi
He gets shitcanned every few weeks, and because he gets all his meaning in life from trolling strip club message boards, he always comes back.
Probably hasn't seen a titty since he stopped nursing.
SJG