I'm pretty sure this is why we stayed so long in the first place. The Afghans are a mess and have been a mess since I was there in '06. They can't organize, they suffer from soul crushing corruption and lack the will to fight for their freedom in numbers large enough to push the Taliban back. Anyways, I think we knew this was the only outcome there would ever be and must have decided we can't fund the war and the domestic recovery together. So no choice but to take what we knew was coming because at this point what difference does it make anyways. EDIT: Don't forget, the Taliban are under the gun. Fighting season ends in 90 days. Once the snow really kicks up in the mountain passes, game over until spring. Need to lock in those gainz.
BBC confirming Jalabad surrendered to Taliban without a fight. Kabul is the only major city that is not Taliban controlled.
20 years, billions of dollars, and countless lives. We pulled them into the 21st century and in one fell swoop the barbarians have plunged them back into the 1200's.
Probably not. Unfortunately, as politics goes, this will of course be an albatross around Biden’s neck used against him. I just hate that thousands of American/NATO lives were all lost over the years for nothing. I hate to shit on the Afghan people but after all this time, if they have no desire to fight, is it wrong to say fuck em?
Exactly my thinking. I have zero to do with them, never been there, no interaction, but everything I've read so far is they've had years of training and military aid and they are now just up and running away. Not sure what to think, but if they don't give a shit enough to fight, why should we care?
I'm feeling the same. We trained and armed 350K troops. The Taliban has 70K-100K and they rolled over the gov't troops like they were France. I feel horrible for the women and children, but fighting age "Men" who allow that to happen to their country and their loved ones? Fuck 'em. EDIT: And to make things worse, the ones who did fight....we're leaving them swinging in the breeze. That's disgraceful.
I've been seeing reports, nothing confirmed, that there may be a deal in the pipeline. Taliban will let US personnel out of Kabul and the US will officially recognize the new government when President Ghani resigns. If true, it would pretty much make our humiliation complete. We beg them to not hurt us, they graciously agree, and we slink off into the sunset with our tail between our legs. 'Murica.
Can you imagine a Blackhawk Down Mogadishu situation with US Embassy personal? Yea Biden will do just about anything to avoid that disaster.
The wild thing about Mogadishu is that the Rangers/Delta slaughtered the Somalis. They had a K : D greater than 50:1. And it was regarded as a disaster. That's how high the standards for US victory are.
It was actually Trump that brokered this deal to end the "everlasting war", Biden just executed on the deal, albeit months later then it was supposed to happen. Unless the US wanted to completely take over Afghanistan and make it like Puerto Rico, this was always going to be the end game. Most of the countries over there which are either run by tribal warlords or dictator governments have no concept of running a "free" country. They would need to be occupied by a strong military backed government and multiple generations of new people coming into existence to even begin to get past the centuries of poor government rule.
Since the taliban is poised to become the actual government of Afghanistan, that would make declaring war against the actual country more clear-cut. Would be insane is for Biden/congress to declare war against Afghanistan as soon as the taliban is officially in charge. It would never happen, but it would be a popcorn moment.
Not to mention all the new infrastructure and all sorts of new weaponry to terrorize the Afghans and their neighbors. In just a few days they went from a handful of guys in sandals with AK's to having a modern military's arsenal at their disposal.
THIS, RIGHT HERE. The GQP and their base are never going to shut up about "Biden's" screw up. Trump's gotta be laughing his fat, saggy ass off right now, that Biden is taking the heat.
Biden is and should be taking the heat. The Pentagon, the State Dept. and multiple human rights groups had warned the administration of exactly what was going to happen if there was an ill-planned withdrawal and he did it anyway. He owns that decision.
The withdrawal is not the issue. The execution is, and that's all on Biden. He was warned the country would collapse and he ignored it while leaving all our personnel in place as he pulled out the drain plug to set everything in motion. Now here we are with our people cowering in the embassy, the Taliban newly armed and in control of the country, and outside of all out war we're powerless to do anything but accept their terms.
Under what possible execution scenario was this not the inevitable endpoint? No matter how we exited, if the army we trained and armed refused to fight for themselves, their country and their families, this was going to be the end result.