US Withdrawal from Afghanistan

[smokeshadow]

Chair of Joint Chiefs states that despite reports to the contrary, none of their intelligence predicted the fall in 11 days

https://www.thenewcivilrightsmoveme...indicated-collapse-of-afghanistan-in-11-days/

 

[Rickrock]

If this had happened during Trump's presidency we would have been all over him about it. I am a little disappointed that Biden did it this way, but the end result was inevitable.

 

[KaraBulut]

If this had happened during Trump's presidency we would have been all over him about it. I am a little disappointed that Biden did it this way, but the end result was inevitable.

It did happen under the last guy... only nobody was paying attention.

Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban, was in prison in Pakistan. Trump got him out of prison so that they could negotiate the American pull out from Afghanistan last year. Baradar is likely to be the new leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

The new face of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers owes his freedom to the U.S. [WSJ]

In 2001, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban, tried to arrange the group’s surrender to the new U.S.-backed Afghan government. It was rejected. He spent most of the past decade under arrest in Pakistan.

He returns to power 20 years later after the U.S. lobbied for his release when the Trump administration launched talks with the Taliban. At the helm of the group’s political office in Doha, its de facto embassy, Mullah Baradar led talks with the U.S. that culminated in a deal to end America’s engagement in the 20-year war.

The world still has little idea who Afghanistan’s new leaders are and how they will rule the country. If the movement has a face, today it is Mullah Baradar. He is the highest-ranking leader of the movement to appear in public since it took back control of Afghanistan.

 

[Telstra]

Listen to these experts are educational.
''the US keep on bleeding Afghanistan after the Soviet had left ...''

 

[Pierresro]

Re: Australian soldier said ...

As a Veteran of Vietnam the entire blame for the deaths of our military is that of the United States. Period

 

[Telstra]

Jeffery Sachs on Afghanistan

 

[ClubLevelVegan]

If this had happened during Trump's presidency we would have been all over him about it. I am a little disappointed that Biden did it this way, but the end result was inevitable.

This is how Democrats get treated in general. Liberals do not care when Blue is in office.

 

[TX-Beau]

This is how Democrats get treated in general. Liberals do not care when Blue is in office.

Please. YOU don't care when "Blue" is in office. It's not "Liberals" who generally opposed this whole war from the start, who are now gleefully enjoying the tragedy in motion, nor are any of the salivating finger pointers going to give a shit about Afghans when this all disappears from the news. Wherever the blamers are throwing the blame, this war is bipartisan - and the fact is that Biden made the right decision.

 

[ClubLevelVegan]

Please. YOU don't care when "Blue" is in office.

Why would I? Democrats and Republicans are both fucking trash. Biden made the right decision after being a part of the reason why this War ran longer than it should've.

 

[TX-Beau]

Why would I? Democrats and Republicans are both fucking trash. Biden made the right decision after being a part of the reason why this War ran longer than it should've.

Well then why are you accusing others of your own position? Biden actually has been against staying for years. He argued with Obama over it, he agreed with the toad about it. Your screed is pretty meaningless since he's never been in a position to end it before, tomorrow you'll be hating on him for something else.

 

[TX-Beau]

You want to rail about some rank fucking hypocrisy? Here you go:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sharply criticized President Biden's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan on Wednesday but offered no solutions for how to resolve the chaos that has ensued as the country fell to the Taliban...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...s-from-afghanistan/ar-AANtttC?ocid=uxbndlbing

Notice the backsliding lie he told about disagreeing with the toad about HIS timeline and fuck up. Why is it that Moscow Mitch gots dirty hands? Because he was the Senate Majority Leader in a Republican Congress and could have at any time asserted Congress' CONSTITUTIONAL authority to raise, fund, and regulate armies, and oversee foreign policy.

Any time since Junior sent the army over there, Congress could have stopped it.

 

[KaraBulut]

And the Republican Congress knew about all the money being flushed down the toilet for a decade...

Watchdog says U.S. wasted more than $15 billion in past 11 years in Afghanistan [NBC 25-Jul-2018]

In response to a request from lawmakers, the Special Inspector General calculated a huge figure, but says it may only be "a portion" of the waste.
The watchdog charged with tracking government spending in Afghanistan has released its first estimate of the total amount of money wasted there — a staggering $15.5 billion over 11 years — but says even that figure is probably "only a portion."

In response to a request from three congressman in 2017, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) began tallying the waste and fraud in the U.S. effort to rebuild the country.

After 10 months of research, SIGAR sent a letter back to the congressmen that estimated the waste at $15.5 billion between SIGAR's inception in 2008 and Dec. 31, 2017, or 29 percent of the spending it audited. In the letter, obtained by NBC News, Special Inspector General John Sopko describes the figure as "likely … only a portion of the total waste, fraud, abuse and failed efforts."

Fraud, waste and abuse cost US $19 billion in one decade in Afghanistan [Stars & Stripes 21-Oct-2020]

Nearly $19 billion of U.S. money was lost in a decade of war in Afghanistan to fraud, waste and abuse, a government watchdog report has said.

Most of the losses were attributed to failed counternarcotics and stabilization programs, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in a report published Tuesday.

More than $3 billion was lost in the past two years alone, the report said. That, on top of some $15.5 billion that was lost between 2009 and 2017, represents nearly a third of all the expenditures SIGAR has reviewed in the years since it was created in 2008 to track U.S. taxpayer dollars spent in Afghanistan.

Ninety percent of the losses were caused by waste, which the report defined as “the act of using or expending resources carelessly, extravagantly, or to no purpose.”

Yet in 2020, when Trump negotiated the current pull-out of Afghanistan, McConnell was described as "livid":
Republicans livid over Trump’s plan to reduce troops in Afghanistan [Politico 15-Nov-2020]

Congressional Republicans on Monday slammed President Donald Trump’s plan for a swift reduction of U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan, warning that it would be a gift to America’s enemies and would undermine progress already made in the region.

“A rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan now would hurt our allies and delight the people who wish us harm,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said bluntly.

The Kentucky Republican’s remarks came as POLITICO reported that the White House has instructed the Pentagon to begin planning for a significant drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. A defense official told POLITICO that under the proposal, just 2,500 American troops would remain in each country by Jan. 15, just five days before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Currently, there are 4,500 to 5,000 troops in Afghanistan and around 3,000 in Iraq.

In 2019 and 2020, the Democratic-controlled House passed legislation to end the 2001 AUMF that gave the White House authorization for military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq (and later used for actions in Syria, Somalia and a long list of other countries). McConnell never allowed a vote in the Senate and he continues to oppose repeal of the AUMF:
McConnell: Repealing 2002 AUMF Won’t Solve Terrorist Threat

 

[Telstra]

I find independent opinions are way more educational.
They don't have to serve their pay masters from big companies or the military industry.

 

[Telstra]

I can't help but see who ever do this want to destroy Afghanistan even more, its a hush hush crime but the result is poverty and death.
''Assets Frozen by U.S. Belong to Afghan People: Taliban Spokesman''

 

[TX-Beau]

I can't help but see who ever do this want to destroy Afghanistan even more, its a hush hush crime but the result is poverty and death.
''Assets Frozen by U.S. Belong to Afghan People: Taliban Spokesman''

Now you're going to believe the Taliban?

 

[Telstra]

Assets Frozen by U.S. is not true??? idiotic reply.

 

[TX-Beau]

and yet the US freeze Afghan money so they can't do things they want to do, how wrong is that.

What exactly does the Taliban want to do? I know what their record is - you just want to ignore it and believe bloody terrorists because you don't like the West.

 

[Telstra]

Putin on Afghanistan compared to Biden is a big laugh.
Putin's:

''Due to the rapidly unfolding events in Afghanistan, we prioritised this issue. The Taliban now controls almost the entire territory of that country, including its capital. This is the reality, and we must proceed from this reality as we strive to avoid the collapse of the Afghan state.

It is imperative to put an end to the irresponsible policy of imposing outside values ​​on others, to the desire to build democracies in other countries according to other nations’ “patterns” without regard to historical, national or religious specifics and totally ignoring the traditions of other nations.

We know Afghanistan, and we know it well enough to understand how this country functions and have had the opportunity to learn first-hand the extent to which trying to impose unusual forms of government or social life on it is counterproductive.

There has not been a single time when socio-political experiments of this kind succeeded. All they do is destroy states and degrade their political and social fabric.

At the same time, we see that the Taliban has already put an end to hostilities and is now seeking to ensure order, promising to guarantee safety for both local residents and foreign missions. I hope that this is how things will go.

The international community should keep a close eye on these developments with the UN Security Council playing a coordinating role.

There is one more point I wanted to make in this regard. We believe that it is essential at this point to prevent terrorists of all kinds from spilling over into Afghanistan’s immediate neighbours, including under the guise of refugees.''

News conference following Russian-German talks (Official Internet Resources of the President of Russia; August 20, 2021)

 

[Telstra]

What exactly does the Taliban want to do? I know what their record is - you just want to ignore it and believe bloody terrorists because you don't like the West.

Do you ask what the US or China use their money for ?
And we know the US use it to bloody terrorize other countries and most of them destroyed.

 

[Telstra]

According to statements so far from UK and US, not sure if they want Afghanistan to be a successful country.
Probably not because they despise Russia and China, and don't want Russia China to succeed.