The Afghanistan Debacle

[Pat Hartman]

that Joe Biden still has equal levels of Approve/Disapprove.

The democrats prefer biased polls since they depress the rest of us. Look at the polls telling us how far ahead Hillary was in 2016 and the ones telling us how far ahead Joe was in 2020

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.

And instead of keeping the money they have here in the US in exchange, they're talking about handing that over too. I'm not sure how much that is but I think it's a few billion. A pittance compared to what we left behind. WHO does that??????????????????

This may be Joe's last epic mistake. It really pissed off the whole world, not just us. The Taliban is not well enough equipped to take on Iraq and Syria. They don't have the training to win but they have the chutzpa and the will.

 

[moke123]

@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.

Much of it gets destroyed or rendered inoperable. I'm sure the taliban doesn't have many people capable of fixing any of it if they could even get parts.

"The helicopters are the most expensive item, but the ability of the Taliban to operate and maintain them without outside help is modest," Thompson said. "The absence of U.S. logistical support will lead to a steady decay in the state of the residual Afghan military arsenal. Even small arms will gradually become unusable if not properly maintained. MRAPs are real gas-guzzlers, so their value in a country where fuel supplies are scarce and terrorist attacks have largely ceased is doubtful."

Then there's the question of their ability to use it.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1430600865757401091

The numbers on the chart look inflated according to this article.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ipment-left-behind-afghanistan-us/5658895001/

 

[Isaac]

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.

How quickly I've forgotten that they still wield C like a weapon.
People think that it's just right-wingers and fundamentalists who can whisper a single word and have their terrified followers rage to arms.
Ha...

Leftists are having to make a difficult choice now, though, between Covid and Race. They can't both keep the spotlight forever! Watching them choose is funny. So far I think C is winning....and you're spot-on, major points for the endless variants. "Delta" has a nice ring to it, the next one should be darker, though - something that sounds sophisticated, but makes you think flesh-eating would be perfect. The fact that tons of vaccinated people are getting COVID (and therefore, spreading it too!) was a black mark on their strategy, but all they'll need is "vaccine variants" - endless supply of those too, with endless profit waiting.

Although, I did read an article yesterday about how a Virginia school board is teaching teachers with a video that encourages them to think about how brushing their teeth can have racial implications. What's next? The thing you do right before or after brushing your teeth each night?

 

[Isaac]

Much of it gets destroyed or rendered inoperable. I'm sure the taliban doesn't have many people capable of fixing any of it if they could even get parts.



Then there's the question of their ability to use it.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1430600865757401091

The numbers on the chart look inflated according to this article.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ipment-left-behind-afghanistan-us/5658895001/

How about coercing all the trained Afghans? I'm fairly sure they'll gladly become a Blackhawk pilot before being forced to watch their family tortured.

 

[Steve R.]

Much of it gets destroyed or rendered inoperable. I'm sure the taliban doesn't have many people capable of fixing any of it if they could even get parts.

Not the point. As I previously wrote: "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."

Moreover, suppose you have three inoperable helicopters. I assume that you realize that by scavenging the three, you may be able to make one functional helicopter. China, Russian, Iran, and even Pakistan may have the technical expertise and people willing to help out with fixing stuff.

 

[AccessBlaster]

General Milley is too distracted with pronouns to destroy ALL WEAPONS left behind by his own incompetence.

 

[Steve R.]

Biden pressured Ghani to create ‘perception’ Taliban weren’t winning

Biden told Ghani that Afghanistan’s prominent political figures should give a joint press conference that backed a new military strategy on how to defeat the Taliban.

nypost.com

Biden infamously stated: "And there is a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.”
Seems that Ghani realized that he was about to be thrown-under-the-bus as he could not project a different picture, so he fled first.
The Democrats established an extremely low bar for impeachment, so where is Nancy Pelosi's call to impeach Biden?

 

[Jon]

With a military arms race going on, leaking tech gives a huge boost to the other side.

 

[Isaac]

It does upset me when people claim the Afghan people don't have what it takes for their freedom. After doing a lot of reading from all political 'sides', it seems clear to me that very many Afghan people DID in fact risk their lives while trying their best to cooperate with the US forces. Why do you think the Taliban is having a field day in executions and hunting? Because of all those people who did fight for their freedom. Obviously, their calculation changed once the US pulled out, just like our calculation may well have changed in the 1700's IF we had suddenly lost 50% of our capability.

I'm not so arrogant as to sit here in comfort and critique what those people have suffered or sacrificed, as if my own generation were proven in the same way - far from it, and highly unlikely if it were.

Ultimately, the fact that they weren't successful against the Taliban does not indicate they did not try at a reasonable level. Not everyone who tries, wins.

And for everyone whose chest puffs up, making comparisons to US revolution to Afghan revolution,

1) the US revolutionaries didn't face one tenth of the consequences faced by Afghans
2) there isn't a chance in hell that today's generation would do what the original revolutionaries did. (sorry to state the embarrassing but obvious).

 

[Pat Hartman]

With a military arms race going on, leaking tech gives a huge boost to the other side.

What do you think the Chinese are paying Hunter for? Not for any skill he has certainly

 

[NauticalGent]

From Charlie Wilson's War:

"These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world... and then we fucked up the endgame."

We just cant help ourselves...

 

[AccessBlaster]

The mightiest force on the earth has been reduced to a cliche'

 

[Pat Hartman]

I feel sorry for the Afghanis who don't want to live under the Taliban but the Taliban had taken over before we came on the scene. At that time, they were a rag-tag band of goat herders. They were just a small portion of the total population. The rest of the people could have driven them out but they didn't fight. We trained them and armed them with the best weapons money can buy and still couldn't beat them. The goat-herders won. Not only did they beat the Afghanis, they beat the US military industrial complex.

 

[NauticalGent]

The goat-herders won. Not only did they beat the Afghanis, they beat the US military industrial complex.

As with Vietnam, these "wars" were never meant to be won, just sustained.

 

[Steve R.]

2) there isn't a chance in hell that today's generation would do what the original revolutionaries did. (sorry to state the embarrassing but obvious).

Very very very true. I go back to referencing Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Instead of being concerned about our lower level of needs, like safety, we are consumed by the higher level of needs one being self-actualization. So to day's generation, the Taliban is literally an invisible abstraction that does not touch them. So - as the eloquent philosopher Alfred E. Newman stated: "What, Me Worry?".

The higher level of needs, to a degree, are difficult to define as the US is now consumed with "internal friction" where the US is irrationally at "war" with climate change, Covid, racism, wokeness, etc. Self-actualization, to a deggree, seems to be one highly vocal true-believer person, demanding that all others acquiesce to their philosophy without question. All aimed at upending the long established cherished traditions such as Judaic/Christian culture, democracy, and the rule-of-law.

 

[Pat Hartman]

As with Vietnam, these "wars" were never meant to be won, just sustained.

That's why I said the goat herders beat the military industrial complex. Our soldiers could have beat them fair and square if their hands hadn't been tied.

 

[Steve R.]

As an editorial aside. Pretzel logic is truly bamboozling. Members of the Biden administration (US Department of the Interior) go public with statements that the US government is disrespecting and occupying "ingenious lands" with the implicit assumption that phantom White supremacists are to blame. (but conveniently ignoring the negative cultural activities of the ingenious people.)

After 20 years, the US has been kicked out Afghanistan. So where were all these people defending the right of the ingenious Afghans to manage their country through their historical traditions? Silent. Seems that they should have been protesting the US occupation of Afghanistan as a repeat of conquering the West to bringing civilization to the uncivilized indigenous people.l

I don't support radical Islam and what it will mean to the Afghans who don't subscribe to the coming theocracy. My point is that those who have been condemning the destruction of native cultures in the US, have hypocritically been supporting the extinction of historic native Afghan culture. Shame on them. (Afghan is not really one country, but a collection of tribes.)

 

[AccessBlaster]

 

[Isaac]

Not only did they beat the Afghanis, they beat the US military industrial complex.

Exactly. Apparently, it wasn't as easy as it looked, nor necessarily a matter of will.

 

[Steve R.]

Biden has claimed that his administration will be transparent and will tell the truth, even if it is unpleasant to the administration. That has proven to be a lie. Here is another attempt to suppress unpleasant information. Of course, the claim is being made to "protect" people from Taliban reprisals.

Biden administration SCRUBS records of $83 billion sent to Afghan army

The Biden administration is scrubbing public records detailing the $82.9 billion U.S. investment in Afghanistan's armed forces to protect Afghan officials and military officers.

www.dailymail.co.uk