US and Nato withdrawal from Afghanistan...- threadbanned users in OP

jmreire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117767363#Comment_117767363

For most Taliban ( and isis too) a lot of their soldiers are fairweather fighters...literally, there is no other way to make a living, and thats the bare truth. ( thats not to say that they don't have a core of dedicated fanatical fighters, as they certainly do ) But Iraqi and Syrian friends of mine have been picked up off the street, and 24 hrs later find themselves in military uniform, and in active zones. They would be the first in line to throw down ther weapons , hug the new regime / govt etc. Hard to blame them either. Neither would I consider them to be cowards.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117768333#Comment_117768333

But we don't have an embassy or consulate in Kabul either. I'm not sure what the legalities would be of the Air Corps trying to fly into a country with which we don't have diplomatic relations.

c.p.w.g.w

Genuine question...

Is there any country that's the states have got involved in since WWII that's has not resulted in a complete cluster fcuk?

jmreire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117767479#Comment_117767479

Be interesting to see what you would do, if you were in the same situation....when a group of heavily armed men take over your town /vilage / city. And especially when the said group have a proven history of mindless salughter. I will never call anyone a coward, especially anyone in a situation like this.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117768644#Comment_117768644

South Korea? It is peaceful and stable and regarded as a success story.

Manic Moran

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117768644#Comment_117768644

South Korea? Grenada? Panama? Kuwait? Former Yugoslavia? I guess Haiti is arguable. Operation went well enough, just the country never picked itself up as it should have.

That's with the conventional forces. Things like "deployments to support and train" are happening around the world from Europe to Africa, South America and Asia.

NI31

I don't even care what a screwup it is, I'm so glad Biden did it. Should have never been there in the first place and American taxpayers should not be footing the bill for it. **** Bush for starting this and I'm thankful the Afghani people cannot walk on water or the American public will have to deal with even more of this BS by housing unvetted refugees.

jmreire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117766853#Comment_117766853

Of all of Afghanistans invaders, can you point out one who spent so much time and money on it as the US??? Had there been a referendum held a month or more ago, to decide who the Afghan people wanted to rule them, the Americans or the Taliban, America would have won it hands down. And the Taliban know this too, which is why there was no referendum offered to the Afghan people. They took over at gunpoint, and any resistance they met they had no compunction whatsoever about killing. And for further proof just look at the Nrs trying to escape.

buried

The Taliban are based in Pakistan. That's where they came from, that's where their madrassa's taught them, that is where they fled to 20 years ago. And all they had to do was simply wait in Pakistan for the inevitable clusterf**k to happen once again in order to waltz back into Afghanistan. And make no mistake, the last 20 years was a total clusterf**k. The American military and their allies had no clue who they were fighting in Afghanistan. Mainly because the majority of the ones the Americans were supposed to be fighting and looking for were over the border in Pakistan.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117768657#Comment_117768657

And Germany and Japan

StupidLikeAFox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117767469#Comment_117767469

The rebels of Ireland stood up to an empire who were occupying their country - that's how i imagine the taliban see themselves.

Hande hoche!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117768179#Comment_117768179

True was quite a small one. Even a month ago there were mention of Blackhawk and Super Tucano deliveries to come later in the year.

Imagine the Taliban will be able to keep some of the Mi8/17s flying. Not sure about some of the Western stuff.

NI31

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117768801#Comment_117768801

Do they see the US as the empire they stood up against? Cause if so, they waited until that empire left to take over as there was no way they could fight and win against the US army

riclad

The whole point of being the president is the buck stops here , this is a total clusterf~~ck, 1000s of western civilians left behind, translators and people who worked for the us army left behind to be rounded up. this situation is is 1000 times worse than the fall of saigon.blaming trump for this is pathetic

large amounts of tanks weapons guns explosives hi tech weapons left behind to be used against the west or sold to terrorist groups .the agfhan armu did not fight much, they mostly ran away or left their weapons behind.

from the taliban press conference today ,we will not discriminate against women. really, this is a group who whip young girls for wearing sandals not covered up really, i believe that and i believe the earth is flat and the moon is made of cheese.woman will be used in a few jobs like nurses or maybe teachers which men cannot do or else taken into forced marriage imagine living in a country with no tv ,no music, women cant go outside without a male escort .it is worse than north korea in terms of human rights, at least women can work at many jobs and in theory are treated as equal to men.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117768854#Comment_117768854

The U. S. military didn't win either, otherwise they wouldn't have been there for 20 years. As with other examples in history it's near impossible for a conventional army to win against a guerrilla force and vice versa. Eventually one side wants out and withdraws after a deal is made.

NI31

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769028#Comment_117769028

The point of being there was to provide private security for corporations who didn't want to pay for it themselves, so instead they sent the military (paid for with tax dollars, natch) under the guise of bringing freedom yadda yadda yadda. They succeeded.

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117768992#Comment_117768992

but but surely you are not suggesting you don't believe these men when they say they will uphold the rights of women? 🙃

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769071#Comment_117769071

Bizarre RTE reporting the Taliban statement as if it is something other than the pure propaganda that it obviously is.

Dyr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769113#Comment_117769113

Sure they've years of experience of doing that for the Irish Government

They're doing party politicial broadcasts for the Greens at this stage

StupidLikeAFox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769113#Comment_117769113

In their defence they are just reporting the facts. The taliban are on a weird, uncharacteristic charm offensive - the same article mentions how sceptical people are of that

This was a negotiated return to power by the taliban, wonder what was in the agreement

Kermit.de.frog

Aside from air assets this must make the Taliban one of the better equipped armies in the Middle East with the amount of equipment that has fallen in to their hands.

Not mentioned much but all that gear the US supplied to the Afghan army is now with the Taliban.

tayto lover

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier.

Rudyard Kipling

Mullinabreena

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117768850#Comment_117768850

They might sell the western stuff to China or Russia. I'd say they would be interested in the tech

dirkmeister

Dr Abdullah Afghan is after speaking very well on Prime Time.

He didn’t hold back on Biden.

fly_agaric

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117768644#Comment_117768644

S. Korea is a success I suppose (?) but I don't know if that is down to the Americans really.

I know very little about it...but a bit like many other successful countries in the modern world there is a kind of a natural "state" there to work with. It is one ethnic group that has a fairly long past as a cohesive empire/kingdom etc. back into middle ages I think. Modern N/S Korea division is what is artifical.

edit: sorry see now it was answered.

ChickenDish

Taliban never had it this good, now that the yanks have handed them new hardware.

Seems the slaughter and chaos all the arm chair experts expected didn't happen. Only chaos seems to have been caused by the occupying forces caught napping.

Biden had enough sense to realise Afghanistan was a money pit and unwinnable.

Taliban on a total charm offensive, wonder will they now act as brutal as Americas closest allies Saudi Arabia.

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769284#Comment_117769284

They already have clones of most of the American equipment , there's nothing too valuable and high-tech was given to the Afgans , armour and drones the Chinese have already ,

But terror groups on the other hand ,the Iranians could be interested in buying new kit on the cheap

jmreire

Only time will tell...they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, and as to how they will handle their new found fame and fortune, is anyone's guess....Last time, they were the pariahs of the world...a mistake they do not want to make again. So now we have the charm offensive....but the world is watching, and they know this very well, so for now, they will behave themselves. Despite all the good news for women, its tempered by two words "Sharia Law", and as for the "All is forgiven, and everyone is pardoned" section......that requires an element of belief without seeing at the moment. But having said all that, IF their words are matched by action, then it could indeed be good for Afghanistan.

y0ssar1an22

regardless of how you slice it, this is a disaster of foreign policy of US.

10k americans left there, stranded (https://www.cbsnews.com/video/10000-americans-awaiting-evacuation-from-kabul/#x )

i read earlier in this thread about how this doesnt come near to the disaster of saigon. there, 130k people were evacuated in 1 week. here, its more like 2.5k.

i mean, surely you get civilians out before you pull the troops? common sense dictates that.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117769599#Comment_117769599

It seems ludicrously complacent, but they must have genuinely believed they'd have plenty of time...