The Afghanistan Debacle (1 Viewer)

[Steve R.]

The "article" below is not real, but it is a humorous reflection of current events and possible "conflict of interest".

Taliban Buys Hunter Biden Painting For Presidential Palace

KABUL—After a long week conquering Afghanistan, the Taliban has taken over the presidential palace in Kabul, and is so happy to finally enjoy the luxury of beds and electricity and bathrooms that they have been deprived of for so long as they hid out in the harsh mountains for twenty years. But...

babylonbee.com

 

[Jon]

I do find it surprising that despite the Afghanistan debacle, record levels of immigration and rising crime, that Joe Biden still has equal levels of Approve/Disapprove. He has had 1/5th of the number of press conferences of Trump by this stage of his presidency, and 1/10th of Obamas (I did the calculations recently), hiding away, rarely taking questings and then mostly from a pre-approved list. Then again, he has 90% of the media covering up for him, so the slant conveyed is always that Joe is doing a good job for the country.

I personally think a lot of people seem to have stopped thinking for themselves to look at things more objectively.

Source: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/

 

[AccessBlaster]

Donald Trump freaks out liberals to the point they will elect a man who has been wrong on every issue for 47 years.

 

[Pat Hartman]

You don't LIE to them and disregard their orders. There used to be consequences for such behavior but apparently not in the US forces any more.

I take that back. Tucker had a guest (a colonel, I think) last night who was fired because he mad ea FaceBook post asking the military leaders what they were doing. So, you get fired for questioning authority in public but not for lying to the Commander in Chief and disobeying his direct orders. That's what woke gets you. We are doomed.

 

[Steve R.]

The articles below raise some critical questions. The Washington Post has been one of the media outlets "carrying water" for the Democratic Party. As such they have demonstrated no journalistic integrity for reporting the unbiased truth. Of course there is a possibility that in this case that they are. But then there may be an the ulterior partisan motive for why this story is being published. Is the Democratic party getting ready to throw Biden under-the-bus and this story is meant to lay some of the ground-work?

I also speculated in a prior post #10, that Biden may have reached an undisclosed deal to let Afghanistan fall to the Taliban. Whether that is true or not, is not known.

REPORT: Taliban’s Afghanistan Co-Founder Offered To Let US Take Control Of Kabul — Biden Admin Said No

The Taliban reportedly offered the U.S. to secure Kabul in the aftermath of Ghani's departure, but the Biden administration declined the offer.

dailycaller.com

For some reason, the Posts preview is not being displayed. Plan "B", include the hyperlink within the headline.
Surprise, panic and fateful choices: The day America lost its longest war

In a hastily arranged in-person meeting, senior U.S. military leaders in Doha — including McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command — spoke with Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the Taliban’s political wing.

Throughout the day, Biden had remained resolute in his decision to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan. The collapse of the Afghan government hadn’t changed his mind.

McKenzie, aware of those orders, told Baradar that the U.S. mission was only to evacuate American citizens, Afghan allies and others at risk. The United States, he told Baradar, needed the airport to do that.

On the spot, an understanding was reached, according to two other U.S. officials: The United States could have the airport until Aug. 31. But the Taliban would control the city.

Fighters were now on the move throughout Kabul, with the group’s spokesman issuing a revision of his earlier guidance: The Taliban hadn’t intended to take Kabul that day. But Ghani’s exit gave the group no choice.

 

[RogerCooper]

Trump's agreement with the Taliban provided that US withdraw and Taliban prisoners be released in return for the Taliban not hindering the US withdrawal and some vague promises of violence reduction (they immediately increased the violence). But Biden is basically on the same page as Trump and was uninterested in the Taliban's breach of the agreement or stopping the withdrawal.

But just as Trump & Biden ignored the escalating Taliban attacks, they also ignored Ghani's massive corruption, which denied the Afghan army the resources it needed to fight. Biden engaged victim-blaming against the Afghan soldiers, who finally gave up when they were denied pay, ammunition, air support and even food.

We also can't let the US military off the hook. The US military advised the Afghans to abandon trying to control the highways, which effectively conceded the war. And the late Donald Rumsfeld, with his doctrine that the military should be light & nimble, denied the Afghan army the tanks it needed to control the highways, a blunder that no one ever bothered to correct.

The US has lost fewer than 100 soldiers over the past 5 years in Afghanistan. I remember the 3,000 who died when the US let the Afghan situation get out of control.

 

[Steve R.]

Some historical perspective that we, in the West, do not normally see. What is also interesting is that there are numerous other articles embedded in that webpage that are of interest. One unread article: China’s Political Calculations and Potential Options in Afghanistan. Another unread article: The Taliban’s Careful Cheerleaders: Pakistan’s Statements on the Fall of Kabul. Since webpages are continuously revised in response to unfolding events, I don't know how many of the related articles will remain available.

China’s Tang Dynasty and Afghanistan, the Graveyard of Empires

The rise and fall of the Tang Dynasty points to the crucial strategic significance of the region today known as Afghanistan.

thediplomat.com

 

[AccessBlaster]

Trump's agreement with the Taliban provided that US withdraw and Taliban prisoners be released in return for the Taliban not hindering the US withdrawal and some vague promises of violence reduction (they immediately increased the violence). But Biden is basically on the same page as Trump and was uninterested in the Taliban's breach of the agreement or stopping the withdrawal.

Let's not forget this:

"When President Barack Obama released five Taliban commanders from the Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for an American deserter in 2014, he assured a wary public that the dangerous enemy combatants would be transferred to Qatar and kept from causing any trouble in Afghanistan.

In fact, they were left free to engineer Sunday’s sacking of Kabul.

Soon after gaining their freedom, some of the notorious Taliban Five pledged to return to fight Americans in Afghanistan and made contacts with active Taliban militants there. But the Obama-Biden administration turned a blind eye to the disturbing intelligence reports, and it wasn’t long before the freed detainees used Qatar as a base to form a regime in exile."

We also can't let the US military off the hook. The US military advised the Afghans to abandon trying to control the highways, which effectively conceded the war. And the late Donald Rumsfeld, with his doctrine that the military should be light & nimble, denied the Afghan army the tanks it needed to control the highways, a blunder that no one ever bothered to correct.

The President of the United States is the Commander-in-chief, not the military. So if the military did not control the perimeter it was with the President's approval. Everything else you listed has to go through the President.

The US has lost fewer than 100 soldiers over the past 5 years in Afghanistan. I remember the 3,000 who died when the US let the Afghan situation get out of control.

If one soldier is lost it's one too many. The only military person to be disciplined during this debacle was Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller relieved of duty for calling out brass over Afghanistan.

Blinken was on holiday if I remember Martha's Vinyard or the Hamptons.

With multiple crises going on with our southern border, Afghanistan and C19 Biden still has time to fly out to California to campaign for the disgraced Gavin Newson.

Here is Biden at Dover yesterday caught looking at his watch as everyone else has their hands over their hearts. Embarrassing and disrespectful.

 

[Steve R.]

Here's an incredible graphic that shows the scope of the Taliban's new arsenal

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armedamericannews.org

 

[AccessBlaster]

Biden's administration droned 10 apparent civilians and 7 children in an effort to save face for his bungled retreat, and still no resignations.

Remember why he was in such a hurry to retreat from Afghanistan because he wanted good optics for the upcoming 9/11 anniversary.

Lastly his treatment of the goldstar families will be a stain on America forever, so disgusting.

 

[Darrell]

Lastly his treatment of the goldstar families will be a stain on America forever, so disgusting.

To be fair though, that stain will probably just blend in with all the other ones

 

[Steve R.]

Laura Ingraham had a melody of Biden's lies, but that segment was not available.

Our incredible shrinking president | Fox News Video

Laura Ingraham argues America has diminished under President Biden

video.foxnews.com

 

[Isaac]

https://www.foxnews.com/world/afgha...scue-biden-in-2008-left-behind-after-u-s-exit

Wow

 

[Isaac]

I do find it surprising that despite the Afghanistan debacle, record levels of immigration and rising crime, that Joe Biden still has equal levels of Approve/Disapprove. He has had 1/5th of the number of press conferences of Trump by this stage of his presidency, and 1/10th of Obamas (I did the calculations recently), hiding away, rarely taking questings and then mostly from a pre-approved list. Then again, he has 90% of the media covering up for him, so the slant conveyed is always that Joe is doing a good job for the country.

I personally think a lot of people seem to have stopped thinking for themselves to look at things more objectively.

View attachment 93994
Source: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/

What matters most to me is change in the ratings, which has happened - significantly.

Biden's disapproval rating (overall), rose by TEN points from April to now - that's huge. What you posted actually shows that too, albeit possibly slightly different numbers: Approval going down, disapproval going up. It's a drastic shift IMO. But the article I linked to utilizes the same poll and points to a change WITHIN that same poll, which I think is meaningful as well.

Biden approval ratings dip in new public opinion poll | Fox News

Edit: I'm sorry...9 points...still a massive change for 4 months.

 

[AccessBlaster]

We have an empty suite for a president and a vice president without a moral compass. If she had any morals she would have resigned by now and faced him in 2024.

 

[Isaac]

We have an empty suite for a president and a vice president without a moral compass. If she had any morals she would have resigned by now and faced him in 2024.

I've been having thoughts wondering if the Democrats have this strategy: Turn against Joe, impeach him in order to put Kamala front and center, hoping she (while still being appallingly liberal), is at least mentally sharp enough to hold on to power. And that's the last thing I'd want. Leave Joe in power so he has to run again in 2024--that's our ideal situation IMO. And hopefully that's what they will be stuck with.

Reason why I'm thinking that is all the media coverage of Afghanistan. Why? They certainly didn't grow a conscience overnight.
They have had no problem turning away from evidence of Biden being a rapist and a corrupt criminal - completely covering it. Now all of a sudden dozens of headlines from previously reliably liberal media outlets are against Joe.

Why change now? Everything happens for a reason, especially political strategies.

 

[AccessBlaster]

I've been having thoughts wondering if the Democrats have this strategy: Turn against Joe, impeach him in order to put Kamala front and center, hoping she (while still being appallingly liberal), is at least mentally sharp enough to hold on to power.

They have a secret weapon, endless C19 variants. The Biden administration has given the world a blueprint on how to use C19 to steal elections.

 

[Jon]

@Steve R. If there is any truth to that post showing the arsenal of weapons, I am astonished. What a catastrophic failure by Biden, something he considers an outstanding success. He sets a very low bar indeed.

 

[Steve R.]

@Steve R. If there is any truth to that post showing the arsenal of weapons, I am astonished. What a catastrophic failure by Biden, something he considers an outstanding success. He sets a very low bar indeed.

The underlying source for the graphic is attributed to the "British Sunday Times". The evidence, on its face, is overwhelming; that a massive amount of equipment has been lost. Trying to determine actual numbers would be difficult. Moreover, there has been no apparent effort by Biden and/or the military to assert that something had been done to minimize that loss. Essentially, the Taliban received a free gift.

That free Biden gift extends to and benefits China, Russia, Pakistan, and Iran by making US technology available to them. They will possess the actual hardware from which they can reverse engineer a lot of stuff.

 

[Isaac]

@Steve R. If there is any truth to that post showing the arsenal of weapons, I am astonished. What a catastrophic failure by Biden, something he considers an outstanding success. He sets a very low bar indeed.

Devil's advocate: Biden claims many of those things have been 'disabled' and are not mission capable.

OTOH, I don't think this claim applies to most small weaponry - still a significant thing for any ragtag band of warriors like the T.