Afghanistan

[rooster]

I guess the obvious answer is: They didn't have a plan to run Iraq after the invasion, what makes me think they could manage a withdrawal?

Should fire every flag officer involved in this debacle

 

[DragonGunner]

You know? I understand the anger directed at all things democrat and Biden.

But, I can't help but wonder where the contingency plans and logistics re; Afghanistan withdrawal are in the Pentagon. WTF do we pay all of those guys with lots of stars for? Admirals, Generals, AirJockeys....

I understood the chaos of the Vietnam withdrawal. And the guys who drove the boats and helicopters did a bang-up job considering.

But, that was 45+ years ago. The new guys with stars have PhD's, and support staff that didn't exist back then.

And they can't figure out how to evacuate a country?

I guess the obvious answer is: They didn't have a plan to run Iraq after the invasion, what makes me think they could manage a withdrawal?

Why do we pay these guys?

In Nam it was bad because they took away air cover before we could get out, assuming NV would just wait....they didn't. Everyone told Biden what was going to happen, it was Bidens decision to stop all air cover assuming the Taliban would be nice and wait until we were all out. Instead for weeks after air cover was lifted the Taliban just like NV seized the opportunity. This did not fall upon everyone, just pretty much the Commander in Chief.....again.

 

[ghuns]

...Everyone told Biden what was going to happen, it was Bidens decision to stop all air cover assuming the Taliban would be nice and wait until we were all out. Instead for weeks after air cover was lifted the Taliban just like NV seized the opportunity. This did not fall upon everyone, just pretty much the Commander in Chief.....again.

To fair to the doddering old fool, he was told by our illustrious intelligence service that it would take 90 days...

Taliban could take Afghan capital within 90 days after rapid gains -U.S. intelligence

...That was 6 days ago.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I have a question. Why aren’t we seeing Afghan pilots flying out in their aircraft with whatever family members they can fit onboard like we did in Vietnam? The desperation certainly seems to be there. The Taliban are not taking their opponents prisoner from what I have seen.

From someone who is in a position to know, it sounds like they don't actually have many pilots. When they would send them to the US to train, they would go AWOL to Canada to request asylum. The "Air Force" never really existed on any real level.

China is already using this as propaganda.

Telling Taiwan that the US won't come to their aid when China invades.

How many Americans were you willing to sacrifice to Taiwan independence before today?

You know? I understand the anger directed at all things democrat and Biden.

But, I can't help but wonder where the contingency plans and logistics re; Afghanistan withdrawal are in the Pentagon. WTF do we pay all of those guys with lots of stars for? Admirals, Generals, AirJockeys....

Well, I don't have any inside scoop (or at least not much), but if I told you that you had 30 days to get your affairs in order and leave your house today and then came back in fifteen minutes screaming at you to GTFO right now! do you think maybe your plans may not be optimal?

Where were you 20 years ago, don't you know that the taliban gave al-qaeda a base of operations?

This. The Taliban was never projected power outside their borders. What they *did* do was provide logistics and support to international terror groups. That was the entire justification for the initial invasion of Afghanistan. We did attempt to negotiate with the Taliban to give up AQ.

 

[NKBJ]

The coalition that grows out of this is going to be just peachy.

 

[Bollorollo]

Seen on Fox 59 this morning A segment about Exodus Refugee Services will be trying to bring to the USA around 30,000 Afgans who are trying to flee their country.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

So if you aren't already ticked off, and want to see how each administration has kicked the can down the road for Biden to finish off this Greek Tragedy:

SIGAR | All Reports

SIGAR Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction Home Page

www.sigar.mil

Open source information. Summary here:

For those wondering how Afghanistan could fall so swiftly to the Taliban, the dozens of dispatches from a Congress-created watchdog group reflect it didn't: The meltdown was a slow-motion disaster years in the making.

This link will take you to every report filed by SIGAR, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Congress created the agency to maintain an independent oversight on the billions of dollars the U.S. appropriated for Afghanistan's reconstruction since 2002.

"All the signs have been there," the head of the watchdog agency, John Sopko, told NPR on Sunday.

Sopko said his agency released multiple reports and he testified more than 50 times to sound the warning in the last decade.


"I mean, we've been shining a light on it in multiple reports going back to when I started [in] 2012 about changing metrics, about ghosts, ghost soldiers who didn't exist, about poor logistics, about the fact that the Afghans couldn't sustain what we were giving them," he said. "So these reports have come out."

I've been reading some random ones. I doubt our "leaders" learn any of the lessons contained therein.

 

[Mongo59]

So if you aren't already ticked off, and want to see how each administration has kicked the can down the road for Biden to finish off this Greek Tragedy:

SIGAR | All Reports

SIGAR Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction Home Page

www.sigar.mil

Open source information. Summary here:



I've been reading some random ones. I doubt our "leaders" learn any of the lessons contained therein.

Or learned how to read...

 

[KG1]

Trump: I want to take a more conditional measured approach to withdrawing from Afghanistan.

Biden: **** that. WE GONE!

 

[Twangbanger]

After the Subprime Crisis, and the Covid pandemic, I now have the ability to fast-forward past all the distraction, and get to the answer to my burning question: who gets fired?

Nobody.

Now will come "the shift:" We will be told Afghanistan was "only" a 20-year term insurance policy against having more attacks on US soil originate within their borders..."and we succeeded."

The reason I still blame The Brass, is that while all of the above-mentioned adverse information was being made available about the situation there, they were still busy behind the scenes (and in front), trying to convert the "term policy" into an Annuity by stoking the dream of democracy-building.

The Joint Chiefs spent the past 4 years of the Trump administration leaking classified information to the New York Times and WaPo, trying to undermine a President they didn't like and replace him with one more suited to their wishes.

How do you like what you got, boys? This is the guy you wanted; this is what you were working for the whole time you were leaking classified information against Trump. They trusted the system one too many times, and it cost them dearly. I hope Zhou Baidun stuffs it up their ass and it sticks. The Pudding Eater himself will come out smelling like a rose, because the American people have no memory.

Unfortunantely, the safety of the Americans involved apparently isn't even assured yet. All it would take is some accurate artillery on a runway to turn this into Benghazi ^3.

 

[frenchiectfd2203]

Trump: I want to take a more conditional measured approach to withdrawing from Afghanistan.

Biden: **** that. WE GONE!

Biden only said that because he couldn’t pronounce half of what Trump said about the, the , the .. you know... the thing..

 

[BehindBlueI's]

“The U.S. government’s inability to get the right people into the right jobs at the right times was one of the most significant failures of the mission. It is also one of the hardest to repair. U.S. personnel in Afghanistan were often unqualified and poorly trained, and those who were qualified were difficult to retain. DOD police advisors watched American TV shows to learn about policing,”

From the SIGARS reports I listed above. Really? The guys they were using to train cops were watching COPS as training material?

 

[rooster]

nsfl: video of people getting shot for trying to enter the airport

 

[wagyu52]

 

[BugI02]

All it would take is some accurate artillery on a runway to turn this into Benghazi ^3.

Or Operation Eagle Claw 2.0

 

[Cameramonkey]

I have decided to stop making fun of the French. The joke is now "For sale. Afghan army rifle. dropped once, never fired."

So is this feeling what you have when you spend years trying to help an addict child and they relapse?

 

[Hatin Since 87]

From the SIGARS reports I listed above. Really? The guys they were using to train cops were watching COPS as training material?

I’m highly trained, using that criteria.

 

[AtTheMurph]

From someone who is in a position to know, it sounds like they don't actually have many pilots. When they would send them to the US to train, they would go AWOL to Canada to request asylum. The "Air Force" never really existed on any real level.



How many Americans were you willing to sacrifice to Taiwan independence before today?



Well, I don't have any inside scoop (or at least not much), but if I told you that you had 30 days to get your affairs in order and leave your house today and then came back in fifteen minutes screaming at you to GTFO right now! do you think maybe your plans may not be optimal?



This. The Taliban was never projected power outside their borders. What they *did* do was provide logistics and support to international terror groups. That was the entire justification for the initial invasion of Afghanistan. We did attempt to negotiate with the Taliban to give up AQ.

Did the Taliban really give Al Qaeda logistics and support? Supposedly Saddam Hussein did the same thing. And this assessment came from the same spook agencies that said it would take the Taliban 90 days to reach Kabul, that Trump and the Russians "colluded" and so many other errors as to be laughable.

Count me as a skeptic.

 

[AtTheMurph]

I have decided to stop making fun of the French. The joke is now "For sale. Afghan army rifle. dropped once, never fired."

So is this feeling what you have when you spend years trying to help an addict child and they relapse?

Maybe you had better start making fun of America.

The joke could now be, 'For sale. US army rifle. Never fired. Given to us as a free gift!"

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Did the Taliban really give Al Qaeda logistics and support?

Yes.

And this assessment came from the same spook agencies

...and the Taliban themselves.

Count me as a skeptic.

Then be a skeptic and not a cynic. It's not disputed by any party that the Taliban harbored and protected Al-Qaeda. We *negotiated* with them over it both before and after the invasion.