One can have a differing opinion on whether or not Americans should be still keeping troops in Afghanistan. We had approximately 14 soldiers killed while in Afghanistan in 2020 and hundreds injured. When compared to something like Covid, those numbers don't look too overwhelming, but there is still a cost. On the flip side we have been in Afghanistan forever and one eventually has to develop an exit strategy. We could not remain their indefinitely.
But what a political leader cannot do is make a decision, one way or the other, and then pretend that the consequences of that decision is not on them. The Taliban is now in control of approximately 85% of Afghanistan and this will provide Russia and Iran with enormous influence over an area of the world that had just a few days ago been sort of under our control.
The truth is that there is making a decision and there is making a hasty decision. There was no "exit strategy" here, unless you suggest that ceding almost total control of Afghanistan to our political enemies was your exit strategy. The bigger problem here, of course, is the the President seems confused and surprised by what happened. So he is either getting poor advice or simply not listening.
67 comments:
I wonder how we could exit without exiting, which is what your confused thinking seems to suggest. Either we get out or we don't. We have chosen to get out, and if an all too corrupt Afghanian regime has not in all this time managed to cobble together enough of the support of its own Afghanian people to ensure its survival, staying longer would hardly help.
Our original mission was to prevent further terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda militants. The mission was accomplished by the former President Obama who was the Commander in Chief who captured and killed Osama bin Laden.
Since then Afghanistan was basically an American colony.
We are not abandoning our allies in Afghanistan, we will provide support for the Afghanistan government.
Every President has to make a lot of difficult decisions.
Even the Pentagon supports the withdrawal process.
Calling him Sleepy Joe is just another Russia Russia Russia Russia rhetoric. And of course it was a campaign slogan by Trump.
The way they Taliban treat women is disgusting, but do you really think that we should be an American empire?
We have already inaugurated many people and we have offered asylum to many more.
It's time to move on.
If President Trump had done the same, you would be shouting in support!
Leaving behind a shit-ton of weaponry and armored vehicles was classic Slow Joe, especially since we could have put that shit in a pile and dropped a MOAB on it.
Not to be outdone by 0linsky arming ISIS in Libya, Slow Joe gives the Taliban enough armor to last several lifetimes.
Genius.
His rhetoric was not very rational.
Sometimes he is grasping at straws. And of course.
Sleepy Joe Sleepy Joe Sleepy Joe Sleepy Joe Sleepy Joe Biden.
Reverend...
Again...agree or disagree. What you cannot do is act surprised that the Taliban is now in control of 90% of the country and that Russia and Iran will not become the main players in this area (which still has strategic value in that part of the world).
Seems our President is sort of saying what just happened was not expected to have happened and not only was it unexpected but that there was no way to anticipate it because they felt it was under control.
There is making a decision to leave and then there is making a decision to leave without an exit strategy. This was clearly the latter.
0linsky Olinski Olinski
Obama is now longer than President.
Leaving behind a shit-ton of weaponry and armored vehicles was classic Slow Joe, especially since we could have put that shit in a pile and dropped a MOAB on it.
I stand corrected.
The exit strategy was to both provide the Taliban with control of the country and control of US made military equipment.
But hey... at least he didn't send a mean tweet. Now that would have been a real tangible Presidential mistake.
The Taliban is in control of approximately 35% not what you got from a right wing nutcase websites.
We will continue to provide weapons and of course high quality sophisticated technology far better than the Taliban militants.
No exist strategy is just political bullshit.
If Trump had done the same thing you would have written a 500 word diatribe in favor of the President.
"There is making a decision to leave and then there is making a decision to leave without an exit strategy. This was clearly the latter."
Your political agenda, is not analysis anymore.
You believe in rrb's bullshit Mr former coldheartedtruth.
LMAO at you
And our President didn't announce the withdrawal from Afghanistan with a Twitter tirade.
You didn't watch his press staff about this story
The exit strategy was to both provide the Taliban with control of the country and control of US made military equipment.
Mission accomplished.
Every time I see our drooling fuckwit of a president on TV I can faintly hear the Budweiser "Real Men of Genius" songs...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDxfBX_DVE0
Remarks by President Biden on the Drawdown of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan
JULY 08, 2021SPEECHES AND REMARKS
East Room
2:09 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. Earlier today, I was briefed by our senior military and national security leaders on the status of the drawdown of U.S. forces and allied forces in Afghanistan.
When I announced our drawdown in April, I said we would be out by September, and we’re on track to meet that target.
Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on August 31st. The drawdown is proceeding in a secure and orderly way, prioritizing the safety of our troops as they depart.
Our military commanders advised me that once I made the decision to end the war, we needed to move swiftly to conduct the main elements of the drawdown. And in this context, speed is safety.
And thanks to the way in which we have managed our withdrawal, no one — no one U.S. forces or any forces have — have been lost. Conducting our drawdown differently would have certainly come with a increased risk of safety to our personnel.
To me, those risks were unacceptable. And there was never any doubt that our military would perform this task efficiently and with the highest level of professionalism. That’s what they do. And the same is true of our NATO Allies and partners who have supported — we are supporting, and supporting us as well, as they conclude their retrograde.
I want to be clear: The U.S. military mission in Afghanistan continues through the end of August. We remain — we retain personnel and capacities in the country, and we maintain some authority — excuse me, the same authority under which we’ve been operating for some time.
As I said in April, the United States did what we went to do in Afghanistan: to get the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and to deliver justice to Osama Bin Laden, and to degrade the terrorist threat to keep Afghanistan from becoming a base from which attacks could be continued against the United States. We achieved those objectives. That’s why we went.
We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build. And it’s the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country.
Together, with our NATO Allies and partners, we have trained and equipped over three hu- — nearly 300,000 current serving members of the military — of the Afghan National Security Force, and many beyond that who are no longer serving. Add to that, hundreds of thousands more Afghan National Defense and Security Forces trained over the last two decades.
We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools — let me emphasize: all the tools, training, and equipment of any modern military. We provided advanced weaponry. And we’re going to continue to provide funding and equipment. And we’ll ensure they have the capacity to maintain their air force.
But most critically, as I stressed in my meeting just two weeks ago with President Ghani and Chairman Abdullah, Afghan leaders have to come together and drive toward a future that the Afghan people want and they deserve.
In our meeting, I also assured Ghani that U.S. support for the people of Afghanistan will endure. We will continue to provide civilian and humanitarian assistance, including speaking out for the rights of women and girls.
I intend to maintain our diplomatic presedence [presence] in Afghanistan, and we are coordinating closely with our international partners in order to continue to secure the international airport.
The mission was accomplished by the former President Obama who was the Commander in Chief who captured and killed Osama bin Laden.
He wasn't 'captured' alky. He was shot dead on the fucking spot.
And Slow Joe strongly opposed that shooting.
Right up until yesterday when he lied to take credit for it by saying he approved.
You and Joe have much in common alky - neither one of you can keep your bullshit straight.
And we’re going to engage in a determined diplomacy to pursue peace and a peace agreement that will end this senseless violence.
I’ve asked Secretary of State Blinken and our Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation to work vigorously with the parties in Afghanistan, as well as the regional and international stakeholders to support a negotiated solution.
To be clear — to be clear: Countries in the region have an essential role to play in supporting a peaceful settlement. We’ll work with them, and they should help step up their efforts as well.
We’re going to continue to work for the release of detained Americans, including Mark — excuse me — Fre– Frerichs — I want to pronounce the name correctly; I mis- — I misspoke — so that he can return to his family safely.
We’re also going to continue to make sure that we take on the Afghan nationals who work side-by-side with U.S. forces, including interpreters and translators — since we’re no longer going to have military there after this; we’re not going to need them and they have no jobs — who are also going to be vital to our efforts so they — and they’ve been very vital — and so their families are not exposed to danger as well.
We’ve already dramatically accelerated the procedure time for Special Immigrant Visas to bring them to the United States.
Since I was inaugurated on January 20th, we’ve already approved 2,500 Special Immigrant Visas to come to the United States. Up to now, fewer than half have exercised their right to do that. Half have gotten on aircraft and com — commercial flights and come, and the other half believe they want to stay — at least thus far.
We’re working closely with Congress to change the authorization legislation so that we can streamline the process of approving those visas. And those who have stood up for the operation to physically relocate thousands of Afghans and their families before the U.S. military mission concludes so that, if they choose, they can wait safely outside of Afghanistan while their U.S. visas are being processed.
The operation has identified U.S. facilities outside of the continental United States, as well as in third countries, to host our Afghan allies, if they ch- — if they so choose. And, starting this month, we’re going to begin to re- — re- — reloc- — we’re going to begin relocation flights for Afghanistan SIV applicants and their families who choose to leave.
We have a point person in the White House and at the State Department-led task force coordinating all these efforts.
But our message to those women and men is clear: There is a home for you in the United States if you so choose, and we will stand with you just as you stood with us.
When I made the decision to end the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, I judged that it was not in the national interest of the United States of America to continue fighting this war indefinitely. I made the decision with clear eyes, and I am briefed daily on the battlefield updates.
But for those who have argued that we should stay just six more months or just one more year, I ask them to consider the lessons of recent history.
In 2011, the NATO Allies and partners agreed that we would end our combat mission in 2014. In 2014, some argued, “One more year.” So we kept fighting, and we kept taking casualties. In 2015, the same. And on and on.
Nearly 20 years of experience has shown us that the current security situation only confirms that “just one more year” of fighting in Afghanistan is not a solution but a recipe for being there indefinitely.
It’s up to Afghans to make the decision about the future of their country.
Others are more direct. Their argument is that we should stay with the Afghan — in Afghanistan indefinitely. In doing so, they point to the fact that we — we have not taken losses in this last year, so they claim that the cost of just maintaining the status quo is minimal.
But that ignores the reality and the facts that already presented on the ground in Afghanistan when I took office: The Taliban was at its strongest mil- — is at its strongest militarily since 2001.
The number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan had been reduced to a bare minimum. And the United States, in the last administration, made an agreement that the — with the Taliban to remove all our forces by May 1 of this past — of this year. That’s what I inherited. That agreement was the reason the Taliban had ceased major attacks against U.S. forces.
I intend to maintain our diplomatic presedence [presence] in Afghanistan, and we are coordinating closely with our international partners in order to continue to secure the international airport.
Look for the rainbow/BLM flags flying in Shithole-istan. That will signify our diplomatic presence.
"Woke" General Milley Vanilli to lead the effort.
Let's all let out a collective queef in honor of the General.
Wow, alky.
The sheer power of you plagiarizing Slow Joe's Shithole-istan surrender speech cannot be understated.
If, in April, I had instead announced that the United States was going to back — going back on that agreement made by the last administration — [that] the United States and allied forces would remain in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future — the Taliban would have again begun to target our forces.
The status quo was not an option. Staying would have meant
U.S. troops taking casualties; American men and women back in the middle of a civil war. And we would have run the risk of having to send more troops back into Afghanistan to defend our remaining troops.
Once that agreement with the Taliban had been made, staying with a bare minimum force was no longer possible.
So let me ask those who wanted us to stay: How many more — how many thousands more of America’s daughters and sons are you willing to risk? How long would you have them stay?
Already we have members of our military whose parents fought in Afghanistan 20 years ago. Would you send their children and their grandchildren as well? Would you send your own son or daughter?
After 20 years — a trillion dollars spent training and equipping hundreds of thousands of Afghan National Security and Defense Forces, 2,448 Americans killed, 20,722 more wounded, and untold thousands coming home with unseen trauma to their mental health — I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome.
The United States cannot afford to remain tethered to policies creating a response to a world as it was 20 years ago. We need to meet the threats where they are today.
Today, the terrorist threat has metastasized beyond Afghanistan. So, we are repositioning our resources and adapting our counterterrorism posture to meet the threats where they are now significantly higher: in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
But make no mistake: Our military and intelligence leaders are confident they have the capabilities to protect the homeland and our interests from any resurgent terrorist challenge emerging or emanating from Afghanistan.
We are developing a counterterrorism over-the-horizon capability that will allow us to keep our eyes firmly fixed on any direct threats to the United States in the region, and act quickly and decisively if needed.
And we also need to focus on shoring up America’s core strengths to meet the strategic competition with China and other nations that is really going to determine — determine our future.
We have to defeat COVID-19 at home and around the world, make sure we’re better prepared for the next pandemic or biological threat.
We need to establish international norms for cyberspace and the use of emergenc- — emerging technologies.
We need to take concerted action to fight existential threats of climate change.
And we will be more formidable to our adversaries and competitors over the long run if we fight the battles of the next 20 years, not the last 20 years.
Finally, I want to recognize the incredible sacrifice and dedication that the U.S. military and civilian personnel, serving alongside our Allies and partners, have made over the last two decades in Afghanistan.
I want to honor the significance of what they’ve accomplished and the great personal risk they encountered and the incredible cost to their families: pursuing the terrorist threat in some of the most unforgiving terrain on the planet — and I’ve been almost throughout that entire country; ensuring there hasn’t been another attack on the homeland from Afghanistan for the last 20 years; taking out Bin Laden.
I want to thank you all for your service and the dedication to the mission so many of you have given, and to the sacrifices that you and your families have made over the long course of this war.
We’ll never forget those who gave the last full measure of devotion for their country in Afghanistan, nor those whose lives have been immeasurably altered by wounds sustained in service to their country.
We’re ending America’s longest war, but we’ll always, always honor the bravery of the American patriots who served in it.
May God bless you all, and may God protect our troops. Thank you.
The Taliban is in control of approximately 35% not what you got from a right wing nutcase websites.
Taliban is claiming outright control of at least 85% of the country and there is actual video of Afghan troops literally leaving the country in droves rather than fight against the Taliban, as well as video showing Taliban troops in areas that they otherwise had not previously controlled.
Btw Roger... even with our troops there, it was thought that the Taliban already controlled close to half the country. So are you suggestion that their recent front has actually lost them ground?
rrb hates America
And I was not aware Roger plagiaristically claims to have written that speech himself.
There is making a decision to leave and then there is making a decision to leave without an exit strategy. This was clearly the latter.
Absolutely. A fucking 6 year old would've given this more thought. We've just armed the Taliban for the next several decades, and now we get to sit back and watch the slaughter. The horrors that will be visited upon the Afghani woman are unspeakable.
This withdrawal was so fucking stupid one could think "Dr. Jill" the imbecile cooked it up.
Ch, how many more years do you think we should have remained there supporting a regime that cannot self sustain?
ten years? twenty? fifty? seventy? ninety? 100? another century? three centuries?
We’ll never forget those who gave the last full measure of devotion for their country in Afghanistan...
Geezus.
The dumb fuck couldn't even resist plagiarizing Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
The US withdrawal
On 1 May, US forces began the process of withdrawing from Afghanistan after twenty years of fighting what is so far the longest war in US history.
The process, which is expected to be completed by the end of August, will precede the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that led to the invasion of Afghan territory.
The decision to leave Afghanistan was agreed in the historic agreement between the Taliban and the US, which was signed on 29 February 2019 in Doha, with the aim of finding a way to end the war in the Asian country.
Sleepy Joe Biden was not the President when the agreement was signed by President Trump.
BIDEN SAID:
But that ignores the reality and the facts that already presented on the ground in Afghanistan when I took office: The Taliban was at its strongest mil- — is at its strongest militarily since 2001.
The number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan had been reduced to a bare minimum. And the United States, in the last administration, made an agreement that the — with the Taliban to remove all our forces by May 1 of this past — of this year. That’s what I inherited. That agreement was the reason the Taliban had ceased major attacks against U.S. forces.
_____
Ch, doesn't that sound like TRUMP'S exit strategy? So why aren't you deliriously supporting it?
The departure of US and international coalition forces from Afghanistan leaves Afghan forces in control of 100 percent of operations against the Taliban and other armed groups, marking the end of an era and the beginning of an uncertain future.
Afghanistan, which was invaded by US troops in 2001 to hunt down al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and which has remained in the country until now to fight the Taliban, is experiencing the departure of international forces at a time of extreme violence.
These are the key factors that mark the end of the US presence in Afghanistan after almost 20 years of war:
https://atalayar.com/en/content/five-keys-us-withdrawal-afghanistan-after-20-years-war
Ch, how many more years do you think we should have remained there supporting a regime that cannot self sustain?
ten years? twenty? fifty? seventy? ninety? 100? another century? three centuries?
No one is advocating that we remain, pederast.
It's how we left I take issue with.
Slow Joe:
"Hey! I know! Let's leave behind a few hundred million dollars worth of military assets that the Taliban can used to take over the remaining small percentage of the country they don't already control. Brilliant! Thanks Jill sweetheart!"
If breathing required thought Slow Joe would be dead.
The decision to leave Afghanistan was agreed in the historic agreement between the Taliban and the US, which was signed on 29 February 2019 in Doha, with the aim of finding a way to end the war in the Asian country.
https://atalayar.com/en/content/five-keys-us-withdrawal-afghanistan-after-20-years-war
Plagiarize that seventy more times alky.
In bold.
You know, for effect.
rrb, why are you trying to attack Jill for Trump's exit strategy?
And why, after all this time, have you still not figured out what "plagiarize" means?
Every President has to make difficult decisions about our country and the people we put at risk.
Is it perfect? We have no idea of what will happen in the future.
Blogger Roger Amick said...
Every President has to make difficult decisions about our country and the people we put at risk.
But only DEMOCRAT Presidents get the benefit of the doubt and excuses made for their epic failures.
You left out that standard hypocrisy, alky live blue anon asshole.
LOL.
The laughter is at YOU, rrb.
Smooth:
Taliban officials announced Friday that the Sunni Muslim insurgent group had taken control of 85% of territory in Afghanistan and its fighters were tightening their grip on strategic areas.
Government officials dismissed the assertion by a Taliban delegation visiting Moscow as part of a propaganda campaign launched as foreign forces, including the United States, withdraw after almost 20 years of fighting.
Local Afghan officials said Taliban fighters, emboldened by the withdrawal, had captured an important district in Herat province, home to tens of thousands of minority Shi’ite Hazaras.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/taliban-controls-afghanistan-territory
Worst Photoshop EVER! ODNI is SOOO diverse they had to Photoshop people with disabilities into a STOCK PHOTO for cover of their diversity report
https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2021/07/09/worst-photoshop-ever-odni-is-sooo-diverse-they-had-to-photoshop-people-with-disabilities-into-a-stock-photo-for-cover-of-their-diversity-report/
Plagiarism is the representation of another author's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.
I didn't represent my own words . I used the words of the President and made it clear that they were not my words.
But rrb is to stupid to understand English language.
You gave the former President the benefit of doubt on every single post.
You are too stupid to be anything.
LMAO
THWAP THWAP THWAP THWAP THWAP THWAP THWAP THWAP THWAP THWAP THWAP THWAP THWAP
I almost never look at the links provided by rrb or the other loony toons because they were edited, to distort the evidence.
Plagiarism is the representation of another author's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.
I credited the words to the President of the United States of America because he is a great guy.
Ch, how many more years do you think we should have remained there supporting a regime that cannot self sustain?
Beats me...
But I sure know that someone who is capable of staying awake for more than a couple hours at at time would not haver been surprised when the Taliban overran the Afghan forces in many areas of the country.
But once again Reverend... just like Roger. You simply change the subject, strawman, and toss around a bunch of red herring.
My post specifically does not take a side in what we "should" have done. It addresses the fact that our fearless leader believes that what is happening is somehow a surprise.
Attributed or not alky, every comment of yours is sourced from someone other than yourself. You have no original thought and you don't possess the intellectual horsepower to form and original thought.
This is why I refer to all of your contributions around here as PLAGIARISM.
Scott believes the Taliban militants.
“The Taliban claimed on Friday that they now control 85% of Afghanistan’s territory amid a surge in wins on the ground and as American troops complete their pullout from the war-battered country,”
AP news
Scott, my own words matter..
Our original mission was to prevent further terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda militants. The mission was accomplished by the former President Obama who was the Commander in Chief who captured and killed Osama bin Laden.
Since then Afghanistan was basically an American colony.
We are not abandoning our allies in Afghanistan, we will provide support for the Afghanistan government.
Every President has to make a lot of difficult decisions.
Even the Pentagon supports the withdrawal process.
The way they Taliban treat women is disgusting, but do you really think that we should be an American empire?
We have already inaugurated many people and we have offered asylum to many more.
It's time to move on.
my own words matter Jimmy Hitler Jr.
Our original mission was to prevent further terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda militants. The mission was accomplished by the former President Obama who was the Commander in Chief who captured and killed Osama bin Laden.
Since then Afghanistan was basically an American colony.
We are not abandoning our allies in Afghanistan, we will provide support for the Afghanistan government.
Every President has to make a lot of difficult decisions.
Even the Pentagon supports the withdrawal process.
The way they Taliban treat women is disgusting, but do you really think that we should be an American empire?
We have already inaugurated many people and we have offered asylum to many more.
It's time to move on.
The enemy of the people MSM said the Pentagon said the Taliban militants controlled 35%
Roger - prior to the US announcing their pull out, Taliban controlled approximately 50% of the country and another 30% of the country was considered "contested". This according to MSN as well as https://www.longwarjournal.org/mapping-taliban-control-in-afghanistan
That means that Afghan forces only had firm control of about 20% of the region. There is clear video and eyewitness accounts of Afghan soldiers fleeing these contested areas over the past couple of days.
You stated that Taliban held only 35% of the country?
Where on earth did you come up with that figure?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-j-trump-why-im-suing-big-tech-11625761897?st=barjtqpd0j5sk3r&reflink=share_mobilewebshare
Your hero Trump
The enemy of the people MSM said the Pentagon said the Taliban militants controlled 35%
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/taliban-claim-to-control-most-of-afghanistan-as-us-military-exit-looms/ar-AALXJTV?ocid=BingNewsSearch
The Long War Journal, a website that covers the conflict, tries track changes in control of Afghanistan's districts. By its count, as of July 5, the Taliban fully controls around 46% of the country's’ districts, with a further 30% contested.
You stated that Taliban held only 35% of the country?
Where on earth did you come up with that figure?
He pulled it straight from his wife-beating, restraining ordered, alcoholic, cirrhosis-livered, nursing home ass.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/pakistan-after-rooting-for-afghanistans-taliban-faces-a-blowback-11625822762?mod=mhp
One third of the county
CNN says
Delawar also claimed that the Taliban now control some 85% of territory in Afghanistan. "In this 85% of territory -- all of the offices and hospitals are operational -- active and working. We announce that humanitarian assistance will be delivered to our territory."
Independent monitors of the security situation in Afghanistan believe the Taliban control less than 85% of the territory, but have made substantial gains in northeast, northwest and southern Afghanistan in recent weeks.
Still looking for 35% Nursing Home Rog!
With the Taliban sweeping through a third of Afghanistan’s districts following the U.S. military withdrawal and surrounding the country’s major cities, Pakistani authorities have to grapple with the unintended consequences of their policies. A total takeover by the Taliban or a new civil war in Afghanistan would backfire against Islamabad’s national interests, senior Pakistani officials say.
“We are so closely intertwined with Afghanistan, ethnically, religiously, tribally, that whenever there is civil war, Pakistan gets sucked in automatically,” said Pakistan’s former defense minister, retired Lt. Gen. Naeem Lodhi. “Civil war [in Afghanistan] is the last thing that Pakistan would like to happen.”
The fear in Pakistan is of a flood of refugees across the porous border that would add to the 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees already living in the country. Worse, a triumphant Afghan Taliban would galvanize Pakistan’s own Islamist militants whose power has waned as a result of successive military operations in the country’s tribal border areas.
With the Taliban sweeping through a third of Afghanistan’s districts following the U.S. military withdrawal and surrounding the country’s major cities, Pakistani authorities have to grapple with the unintended consequences of their policies. A total takeover by the Taliban or a new civil war in Afghanistan would backfire against Islamabad’s national interests, senior Pakistani officials say.
“We are so closely intertwined with Afghanistan, ethnically, religiously, tribally, that whenever there is civil war, Pakistan gets sucked in automatically,” said Pakistan’s former defense minister, retired Lt. Gen. Naeem Lodhi. “Civil war [in Afghanistan] is the last thing that Pakistan would like to happen.”
The fear in Pakistan is of a flood of refugees across the porous border that would add to the 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees already living in the country. Worse, a triumphant Afghan Taliban would galvanize Pakistan’s own Islamist militants whose power has waned as a result of successive military operations in the country’s tribal border areas.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/pakistan-after-rooting-for-afghanistans-taliban-faces-a-blowback-11625822762?mod=mhp
Assisted living facility not a nursing home.
I'm free to come and go anywhere by myself.
Quit acting like rrb
With the Taliban sweeping through a third of Afghanistan’s districts following the U.S. military withdrawal and surrounding the country’s major cities, Pakistani authorities have to grapple with the unintended consequences of their policies. A total takeover by the Taliban or a new civil war in Afghanistan would backfire against Islamabad’s national interests, senior Pakistani officials say.
So the Taliban had owned 50% and now the WSJ suggests that they have swept through another third of the country since the withdrawal announcement.
That sounds awful close to the 85% that others are suggesting.
Or did you believe that prior to the announcement that the Taliban didn't control anything?
Yet, the seemingly never-ending succession of battlefield setbacks that suddenly accelerated this weekend is beginning to create a perception of inevitability about a Taliban takeover. It is a perception that, unless quickly reversed, risks snowballing into a self-fulfilling prophecy, Afghan officials warn.
Nearly two dozen of Afghanistan’s 387 districts were taken over by the Taliban, mostly in northern Afghanistan, on Saturday and Sunday, adding to some 30 others seized by the insurgents across the country since early May, according to local reports. The Taliban have also reached the outskirts of several provincial capitals.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/taliban-advances-test-afghan-forces-morale-as-the-u-s-leaves-11624209389?mod=article_inline
We can squabble over the percentage of Shithole-istan currently under Taliban control, but that point is becoming increasingly moot as they are on the march to take over the entire fucking thing.
And the Paki's are shitting a brick right now...
With the Taliban sweeping through a third of Afghanistan’s districts following the U.S. military withdrawal and surrounding the country’s major cities, Pakistani authorities have to grapple with the unintended consequences of their policies. A total takeover by the Taliban or a new civil war in Afghanistan would backfire against Islamabad’s national interests, senior Pakistani officials say.
“We are so closely intertwined with Afghanistan, ethnically, religiously, tribally, that whenever there is civil war, Pakistan gets sucked in automatically,” said Pakistan’s former defense minister, retired Lt. Gen. Naeem Lodhi. “Civil war [in Afghanistan] is the last thing that Pakistan would like to happen.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/pakistan-after-rooting-for-afghanistans-taliban-faces-a-blowback-11625822762?mod=mhp
The least we could've done was to blow all of the US military assets to smithereens on our way out the fucking door.
National security analyst Thomas Jocelyn recently outlined the reality on the ground: "Just two weeks after President Biden announced on April 14 his decision to withdraw all American forces from Afghanistan ... the Taliban launched a massive offensive. Since May 1, the jihadists have captured a large swath of the country, laying the groundwork for the resurrection of their Islamic emirate. America and its allies have remained mostly indifferent — retreating from the battlefield as the jihadists advance. This is what a lost war looks like."
Imagine that. The Taliban can't be trusted. Perhaps that's why Biden got a bit testy yesterday with a PBS journalist.
When asked whether he trusted the Taliban, Biden answered, "Is that a serious question? No, I do not trust the Taliban. It's a silly question. Do I trust the Taliban? No."
It should be noted that we negotiated our withdrawal from Afghanistan with the Taliban.
As the Wall Street Journal editorial board reports, Biden dismissed any suggestions that today's departure from the Afghan capital of Kabul is anything akin to our nation's departure from the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon in 1975. "Let's hope he's right," they write, "but the trends aren't good, which is why the press is finally daring to ask hard questions. Mr. Biden denied media reports that the U.S. intelligence community estimates that the Kabul government could fall within six months."
What must our warriors be thinking? Twenty years, and all our efforts could be overturned in a few months? Here's a sample of what they're thinking, and it comes from Captain Sam Brown, a disabled U.S. Army vet who nearly burned to death in Afghanistan: "Our abrupt departure did real damage to the Afghan army's chances of success. The equipment, vehicles, arms and ammunition we left behind have now been looted by the Taliban, strengthening an enemy that enthusiastically supports terrorism. What we tried to accomplish as a nation, what I and so many other fought for was damaged by the Biden administration's negligence."
On the bright side, as the Journal notes: "Mr. Biden has finally agreed to have Afghan translators and their families who helped Americans airlifted to a third country as they await the visas to the U.S. they were promised. This is welcome news, but it underscores how perilous life will be for our Afghan allies as the Taliban take more territory."
Summing up: It was time to leave Afghanistan. On this matter, Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden and the vast majority of the American people agree. But the way we're leaving is disgraceful. And it was, sadly, an exit all too befitting our current commander-in-chief.
Again: Our troops deserved better.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/81224-afghanistan-our-troops-deserved-a-better-end-2021-07-09?mailing_id=5980&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.5980&utm_campaign=digest&utm_content=body
Biden’s drawdown of troops didn’t come as precipitously as President Donald Trump’s failed lame-duck, slapdash scramble to pull out of the country by the end of last year. Instead, it came after Biden, members of his cabinet, and military advisers carefully considered every option and what the endgame without the United States in Afghanistan would look like. This meant accepting the reality that there would be what Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday called an “uptick” in violence and turmoil in Afghanistan: “The President was very clear . . . that there would be an uptick in violence, that there would be an uptick in turmoil on the ground. We knew that, and we knew the security situation would become more difficult.”
And that brings us back to accepting the possibility that the Taliban may return to ruling the country as they did before our invasion twenty years ago.
That was the point of my question to Psaki in her press briefing on Thursday.
Karem: The question naturally is whether or not, at the end of the day, you’re accepting the fact or the possibility that the Taliban could indeed take over Afghanistan?
Psaki: Well, Brian, I, again, will refer you to intelligence assessments and the fact that the President asked for a cleared-eye assessment—a clear-eyed assessment at the beginning of this process.
Karem: So—
Psaki: And what I can convey to you clearly is why he made the decision . . .
The president and his administration won’t plainly admit that they’re willing to accept the Taliban as the rulers of Afghanistan because that would raise the question of why we spent twenty years there. Admitting that also would taste too much like defeat—and the bile of Vietnam—as reporters noted during the Q&A with Biden.
But Afghanistan is not Vietnam. There has been some sustained, though limited, stability in the country because of the United States. Afghanistan’s political leadership and armed forces now have to learn to take care of the country one way or another, because Uncle Sam the surrogate parent is heading for the exit.
It is vitally important, however, that we take care of those in the country who are vulnerable because they assisted U.S. forces as translators and interpreters and guides over these last twenty years, and Biden referred both to plans to remove them to third countries to keep them safe, and also to his hope that Congress will make it easier for them to come to the United States.
We “did not go there to nation-build,” Biden said of Afghanistan. But the truth is that, ever since President George W. Bush said to a joint session of Congress that “justice will be done,” the United States and its allies have struggled to make Afghanistan a pro-western democracy—in effect an attempt at nation-building.
Now Biden admits that it is “unlikely” that there will ultimately “be one unified government in Afghanistan controlling the whole country.”
That is as close to admitting the Taliban will be involved in governing the country in the near future as Biden dares to get—and it’s a wake-up call to other countries in the region.
The decision to leave, after two generations of American military personnel have served and sacrificed in Afghanistan—literally: some of the troops who have served there recently are children of those who served there soon after 9/11—is a difficult one, made all the more difficult by the impending violence and the Taliban’s return. And then there is the ugly possibility that the country could once again become a staging area for terrorists who could then threaten the United States. Biden is counting on diplomatic efforts to thwart that possibility.
It’s not an easy call to make. It may not be the right one. And depending on what happens in the country, Biden may regret it.
But it is an informed and decisive move. Biden made the hard call.
That’s what we pay presidents to do.
Brian Karem
I still agree with the President.
And don't forget that just a few months ago the former President Trump was planning on a withdrawal plan.
We spent 20 years and again, even if we stayed longer, remember Afghanistan is an ancient nation that has never been stable.
But it is an informed and decisive move. Biden made the hard call.
Not a Sleepy Joe Biden rhetoric bullshit.
But it is an informed and decisive move. Biden made the hard call.
https://thebulwark.com/here-comes-the-taliban/
Dow jumps 440 points to record, rebounding from one-day slide
PUBLISHED THU, JUL 8 20216:06 PM EDTUPDATED MOMENTS AGO
Afghanistan dates back 10 the year 1,000.
Mahmud of Ghazni (971-1030) was the first sultan of the Ghaznavid dynasty in Afghanistan
Political agenda.
Summing up: It was time to leave Afghanistan. On this matter, Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden and the vast majority of the American people agree. But the way we're leaving is disgraceful. And it was, sadly, an exit all too befitting our current commander-in-chief.
Another conspiracy theory from the same right wing nutcase websites asshole.
Raytheon Boards the CRT Train
Another government defense contractor goes woke to appease Biden’s Pentagon.
One of the leading critics of Critical Race Theory, Christopher Rufo, recently alerted folks to yet another major defense contractor that has gone woke. “Raytheon,” Rufo wrote in a recent social media post, “the nation’s second-largest defense contractor, has launched a critical race theory program that encourages white employees to confront their ‘privilege,’ reject the principle of ‘equality,’ and ‘defund the police.’”
Rufo further expanded on his allegation in an article published in City Journal. He observes that last year, Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes launched a company-wide “anti-racism” program based upon CRT ideology that explicitly rejects “equality” in favor of outcome-based “equity.”
“According to documents and videos I have obtained from a corporate whistleblower,” Rufo writes, “the program begins with lessons on ‘intersectionality,’ a core component of critical race theory. Intersectionality maintains that the world can be divided into competing identity groups, with race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and other categories defining an individual’s place within the hierarchy of oppression.”
Like defense contractor Lockheed Martin, it appears Raytheon has jumped on board the woke train, likely out of business concerns in an effort to appease the leftist mob and bow to the cultural zeitgeist. If this is the way the world — and Joe Biden’s Pentagon — is going, the execs at Raytheon want to make sure they’re positioned at the front of the line for winning those government contracts.
However, Raytheon’s execs might want to consider the implications of going woke. “What is the end goal of this program?” Rufo writes. “The rejection of the principle of equality under the law. A Raytheon toolkit explicitly instructs employees to oppose ‘equality,’ defined as ‘treating each person the same … regardless of their differences,’ and strive instead for ‘equity,’ which ‘focuses on the equality of the outcome.’ The company claims that the colorblind standard of ‘equal treatment and access to opportunities’ is not enough; ‘anti-racist’ policies must sometimes utilize unequal treatment to achieve equal outcomes.”
That’s not a recipe for success or justice. In fact, it flies in the face of the very aim of a genuinely anti-racist society, wherein individuals are judge by their merits alone.
https://patriotpost.us/articles/81224-afghanistan-our-troops-deserved-a-better-end-2021-07-09
Another conspiracy theory believer in the big lie and Sleepy Joe Biden bullshit
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