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

I think that I mentioned that when you leave the cities, and go to the rural areas, you are travelling back in time. This is very noticable in the way of life, and has not changed in generations. This is especially true of their way of thinking, it has not changed either. They have completely different outlook on life, even to the molesting case you mentioned, and this includes corruption,which is what eventually defeated the US. It was common practice for the US to give contracts to the local warlords to transport their supplies to the huge US Military bases like Kandahar. It was the most cost efficient and safest way to get the job done. Even if the same warlords were actively involved in attacking ANA / US forces. It was just business, and nothing personal...When the US started to wind down their activities, and needed less contracts, there was a corrosponding rise in lawless criminality, and attacks . Basically, warlords ran the Country. But maybe the 20 years of education ( especially for women) will prove to be the most important benefit to Afghans.

And not only the Tajik / Hazara / Usbek + others, but home grown Afghan Pashtuns, don't want Taliban rule. How could they, when they have previous experience of Taliban barbarities? . The Taliban were and are being supported by the usual anti-US suspects...Russia, Iran and Pakistan. This time round though, they will meet much stiffer resistance.Ismail Khan is organising the defence of Herat, and I'm pretty sure that the Northern Alliance will be active too. Currently, there are mass protests in the main cities, with people congregating on the roof tops and streets shouting "Allahu Akbar" in defience of the Talibar. Will be interesting to see what happens when the US leaves, will the Pakistan-Iran-Russian support continue, especially if / when the Taliban threaten these Countrys? Putin has already offered military help and support to the Tajiks.

Taliban are not waiting around and will have control of that entire country before long.

What excuse will the US have for that?

A good analysis of how the current situation came to be in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have killed a fraction of the people that the Americans have done in 20 years. The Americans could not give a tinker's cuss about women being allowed to wear what they want or kids flying kites or people dancing and/or listening to a fcuking radio. They were there to put a ring of steel around China and to exploit Afghanistan's mineral wealth. They were beaten out of the country like everyone else. If you are so cock-a-hoop about peoples' rights and women and chopping off peoples hands for stealing a bicycle then you should have been screaming at the KSA, Kuwait and Qatar 40 years ago...not Afghanistan today.

The smart move would be pay off the strongest warlord(s) China could work with, rape the country for resources and let the country go to hell.

I'm not sure thats true..."The Taliban and other anti-government elements have been blamed for 4 out of every 5 civilians who were killed in Afghanistan last year - continuing a rising trend since 2007. The number of civilian deaths resulting from pro-government forces has by contrast fallen by 23%.."

Some how I doubt anyone keeping an accurate tally what the Taliban do in their own area's.

Not that it made any sense for the US to get involved in Afghanistan.

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2019/5/28/why-is-afghanistan-unable-to-extract-its-vast-mineral-wealth

If that were true, then why did they not invade Afghanistan earlier than after 2011? And when they did, they behaved very unlike previous invaders have done ( and the complete opposite of what the present taliban invaders are and wil continue doing) They spent billions on education, infrastructure, Hospitals, Airports, you name it and they tried to imorove it. As for stealing Afghan mineral wealth, do you have evidence of that happening in the 20 odd years they were there? ( on the other hand, the Chinese have been doing it for quite awhile, due to deals made with corrupt Afghan officials,) I asked earlier in this forum, if there was a referendum held in Afghanistan regarding the presence of the Americans as to whether they should stay or go what would the outcome be... Now you have an answer ,thousands fleeing the Taliban advance, the barbaric version of Islam already being inforced, stonings, cutting off of hands and feet, women confined to their homes, girls schools being closed. the UN have asked the sourrounding Countrys to keep their borders with Afghanistan open. If you want to talk about death tolls, then dont forget to include the thousands killed due to Taliban policies which put the economy into a nose dive, food production dropped to the extent that there were famines, health services deterioted to the extent that they were only barely functioning. And many thousands died, and only for the intervention of the UN, many more would have died, much more died this way then by bomb or bullet, and the Taliban killed thousands this way too.

Read on BBC News:-

Afghanistan: Panic and disbelief as thousands flee Taliban onslaught

The Trump deal definitely sold out the Afghan people. It was a thumbs up to attack the Afghan government and they said they wouldn't intervene as long as AQ etc weren't involved.

Even a token US presence was enough to scare off the Taliban from launching full scale offensives.

But they dont, thats the problem....they see the Taliban as a tool used by Pakistan to control Afghanistan. The Afghan people voted the present Govt into power, and that was their choice, and not the Taliban, with them they have no choice..they are an armed invasion. But for 20 years the US did try to improve Life there, and to an extent, they have made a great difference compared to Taliban times. But it was never going to not have an end game. And it was always an uphill battle against corruption that finally caused them to leave. Its the same corruption that is now causing the ANA to fail against the Taliban..when elite Afghan commando units dont even have enough bullets to fight with, due to levels of corruption at Govt / Military level. Its easy to see how the Taliban are making spectacular gains.