I have former students who are teachers at an illegal school with girls. Many of the students are ex pats and will likely get out, but the others who are children of local politicians will not be so lucky.

Likely, this means death for them.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
Our presence in Afghanistan should've been purely punitive. 9/11 happened, we rolled in, crushed those who challenged us, hunt down AQ and gathered-up all the intel possible.

Exactly. Instead, somebody got it into their head we could turn a country of ignorant, irrational barbarians into somewhat civilized, rational people overnight. <smhs>

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

quote:

Exactly. Instead, somebody got it into their head we could turn a country of ignorant, irrational barbarians into somewhat civilized, rational people overnight. <smhs>

Nope, it had absolutely nothing to do with that. That is a myth. The people in charge had and still have no illusions to that end. It was and will always have been a blood for $, power=oil.

It would suck to be working in the embassy there. I bet the embassy staffers and state department folks are begging to get out. The Dems and Biden seem to think Afghan wont fall and the Afghan army can stabilize this mess or at least that is what they are telling themselves.

The last Democrat administration was pretty hard on diplomat in Benghazi and Biden's an idiot so the Taliban might be able to get another ambassador and some staff.

Not at all surprising. The only reason the current corrupt regime in Kabaul exists is the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) Pipeline.

Proposed by UNOCAL in the 1970s, stopped by the Soviet invasion, then by the first civil war, then by our invasion, ground was broken in 2018 on this $10B+ project to give Pakistan and India a measure of energy independence.

Can't add to the comments already made, but it was predictable from the get go. Politicians see us as canon fodder for their using as they wish. But then hide behind euphemistic words to soothe the souls of others who want to believe they can roll in and 'change' centuries of culture in one fell swoop! Changing the "hearts and minds" hasn't worked even in America!

Taliban Takes 7th Afghan Provincial Capital in 5 Days: ‘Captured the Governor’s Office’

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...-office_3941684.html

The Taliban seized a seventh provincial capital in Afghanistan in under a week as the terrorist group continues to make advances as U.S. forces continue to withdraw from the beleaguered country.

“This afternoon the Taliban entered the city of Farah after briefly fighting with the security forces. They have captured the governor’s office and police headquarters,” Shahla Abubar, a member of Farah’s provincial council, was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

Local sources told TOLO News that most of Farah city, the capital of Farah province, were taken over by the Taliban. That includes the governor’s compound and police headquarters.

Farah is now the second provincial city in southwestern Afghanistan that was taken by the Taliban in recent days, coming days after the group took over nearby Nimruz province.

On Monday, the group took over the northern province of Samangan and its capital, Aybak, according to the deputy provincial governor, Mohammad Dawood Kalakani. The Taliban, he asserted, is “in full control” of the province.

And two lawmakers in the province, Abdalullah Mohammadi and Ziauddin Zia were quoted by TOLO News that Afghan government forces fled without fighting the Taliban.

If you look at a current map and see the areas the Taliban controls, the strategy becomes clear.

They've put all their effort into controlling the regions that gave them a hard time in the 90's, North. Basically all the non-Pashtun areas of Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazara's they've gone in to make sure guys like Dostrum don't rise up and return to being a thorn in their side.

Personally, I am glad to see our troops out of Afghanistan. Why should American boys lose their lives there?

Let Afghanistan fall under the Taliban, I think the majority of the Afghan people want the Taliban. Otherwise they could fight harder themselves, instead of relying on Americans to save them from the Taliban.

I never subscribed to the theory that America should help other countries to do the right thing.

quote:

Originally posted by Cabellocabeza:
Personally, I am glad to see our troops out of Afghanistan. Why should American boys lose their lives there?

Let Afghanistan fall under the Taliban, I think the majority of the Afghan people want the Taliban. Otherwise they could fight harder themselves, instead of relying on Americans to save them from the Taliban.

I never subscribed to the theory that America should help other countries to do the right thing.

This ^^^^^ All of this.

Though I feel bad for those Afghan people who aided us and the propped-up Afghan government. Now that we've quit the field, many of their lives will be forfeit

We should never have done what we did, IMO. This is not to casually dismiss, much less denigrate, what our brave men and women in the U.S. and allied militaries sacrificed. My point is: Those sacrifices should never have been demanded.

What we should have done, IMO, was simply trash OBL's operation, hopefully get him in the process, then made it clear to the Taliban "Let it happen again and you will become the target, and what we did to OBL's operation will look like a walk in the park, by comparison. You have been warned."

This has been my position since Day 1.

Just like Viet Nam the US tied the hands of the soldiers hands by not letting them do what needed to be done to get the job done by the people in Washington, DC who knew best how to get the job done and we see how that turned out there as well as what is happening now. The US needs to stop trying to be the worlds police force. When we got dragged into the sandbox we should have told them that get ready to clean up their act or be prepaired to have their entire country turned in to a solid sheet of glass. But we all know that was not a option because of the way the rest of the world would react to our response. The US has to stop feeding those that keep biting the hand that feeds them. But there again we all know that is not going to happen any time soon if at all in the future. We need to worry about protecting our own interest. But again we know that those in control do not worry about the rest of us as long as they take care of themselves and their personal interest. ........................... drill sgt.

Politicians don’t care one iota about us. I was born in ‘48. It seems we’ve had our sons and daughters dying for nothing. I’m 100% a proud American, patriotic to the bone, but sending my kid off to die, get crippled physically & mentally…for what? I’m just tired of this bs, it’s not a politicians child that’s being sent.

USA # 1

For the first time, I'm hearing a general officer going off on what went wrong in Afghanistan, why, and he's naming some names. If you've got 40-minutes, its a worthwhile listen.

quote:

General Bolduc served as Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force commander and in 2012-2013 as Commander of the Combined Joint Special Operations Component in Afghanistan where he logged 10 deployments and started the Village Stability Operations program. He was then the commander of Special Operations Command Africa.

Steve and General Bolduc discuss the state of affairs in Afghanistan and how we’ve come to this point. They also talk about PTSD and the silent toil it has enacted on our troops. Further, General Bolduc bewails the current politicization of the military, and especially its top leaders, and the deeply divisive political environment plaguing the United States.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
For the first time, I'm hearing a general officer going off on what went wrong in Afghanistan, why, and he's naming some names. If you've got 40-minutes, its a worthwhile listen.

quote:

General Bolduc served as Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force commander and in 2012-2013 as Commander of the Combined Joint Special Operations Component in Afghanistan where he logged 10 deployments and started the Village Stability Operations program. He was then the commander of Special Operations Command Africa.

Steve and General Bolduc discuss the state of affairs in Afghanistan and how we’ve come to this point. They also talk about PTSD and the silent toil it has enacted on our troops. Further, General Bolduc bewails the current politicization of the military, and especially its top leaders, and the deeply divisive political environment plaguing the United States.

After listening to that he has my full respect.

Maybe we’re goin’ to raise up another General Washington. The DC politicians are akin to the Brits. Tax and spend.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Cabellocabeza:
Personally, I am glad to see our troops out of Afghanistan. Why should American boys lose their lives there?

Let Afghanistan fall under the Taliban, I think the majority of the Afghan people want the Taliban. Otherwise they could fight harder themselves, instead of relying on Americans to save them from the Taliban.

I never subscribed to the theory that America should help other countries to do the right thing.

This ^^^^^ All of this.

Though I feel bad for those Afghan people who aided us and the propped-up Afghan government. Now that we've quit the field, many of their lives will be forfeit

We should never have done what we did, IMO. This is not to casually dismiss, much less denigrate, what our brave men and women in the U.S. and allied militaries sacrificed. My point is: Those sacrifices should never have been demanded.

What we should have done, IMO, was simply trash OBL's operation, hopefully get him in the process, then made it clear to the Taliban "Let it happen again and you will become the target, and what we did to OBL's operation will look like a walk in the park, by comparison. You have been warned."

This has been my position since Day 1.

100%

We can not control or teach a country from a far. We have no business trying to right their ship. We should have destroyed a bunch of shit and said next time you harbor our enemies it will be far worse.

We've built schools and other infrastructure that will just be destroyed. Anyone who cooperated with the US will be murdered. We actually made it worse for everyone in the country. All for what? They are worse off and we have an entire generation of soldiers who will have permanent injuries from being there, plus the ones brought back in a box.

I honestly do not know what our objective was there.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:

quote:

Exactly. Instead, somebody got it into their head we could turn a country of ignorant, irrational barbarians into somewhat civilized, rational people overnight. <smhs>

Nope, it had absolutely nothing to do with that. That is a myth. The people in charge had and still have no illusions to that end. It was and will always have been a blood for $, power=oil.

Afghanistan doesn't have much oil....

And what oil they do have wasn't even discovered til like 2010, IIRC.

They only thing they have to offer the world as far as exports are rugs and heroin.

quote:

Originally posted by Oat_Action_Man:
They only thing they have to offer the world as far as exports are rugs and heroin.

Within the context of natural resources, they're rich in copper as they're top-3 natural reserves in the world and lithium is in abundance. Both are in high demand as electric usage continues to increase world-wide. There's plenty of indicators that the country is rich in various rare-earth metals, however studies and samples are inconclusive, mainly due to conflict and accessibility.

Gem stones for jewelry has been a centuries-long industry, although their practices of using explosives (dynamite and artillery shell powder) to extract and crack the rock, leaves the valuable stones in poor shape when they arrive on the world market.

U.S. troops sent to evacuate personnel at Kabul embassy

https://justthenews.com/world/..._campaign=newsletter

With security in Afghanistan deteriorating rapidly, U.S. troops were dispatched Thursday to evacuate personnel from the embassy in Kabul, according to a U.S. official.

U.S. troops are being sent to the Kabul airport where they will provide air and ground support to help process Americans hastily exiting the country.

The move comes alongside news that the Taliban have seized the country's third largest city of Heart, a strategic provincial capital near Kabul.


Afghan Taliban Seize Herat, Move Into Kandahar After Taking Ghazni

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a...20?mod=hp_listb_pos2

KABUL—The Taliban conquered western Afghanistan’s main city of Herat on Thursday and edged close to capturing the southern city of Kandahar, as Afghan police arrested the governor of the strategic Ghazni province for surrendering its capital city to the insurgents earlier in the day.

The accelerating Taliban victories have demoralized Afghan government forces and sown fears in Kabul that it is only a matter of days before the insurgents mount a large-scale attack on the nation’s capital, home to six million people.

Street-to-street fighting in Kandahar, the country’s second-largest city, reached key government buildings Thursday, according to witnesses. A security official in Kabul said it was possible the city would fall to the Taliban by the morning. South of Herat, the insurgents overran the Shindand air base, one of the biggest in the country, according to officials and videos on social media.