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

I don't think so. There were voices 20 years ago like Noam Chomsky who were saying that the Taliban were kinda sick of Al Qaeda and were seeking an out regarding them. They are more interested in their rule in Afghanistan than messing about in outside terrorism. And considering that the leadership is still the same Afghans that were around 20 odd years ago, they might have learned their lesson regarding the support of groups like Al Qaeda/Al Nusra Front etc.

Frankly I'd be very surprised if they were to be behind any support (verbal notwithstanding) of any group who'd be interested in carrying a 9/11 style attack anywhere.

On the other hand, they've received outside support from somewhere over the last 20 years. So maybe they have a few favours to owe.

Awful, however, in reality it’s not surprising.

how many Irish people are we talking about and when was the last time such a fleet would have been used ?

The problem is that there's so many ways for terrorists to stage an attack. The twin towers probably being the worst ( so far ) but could it be repeated? Much more difficult, for sure, but impossible? Too many advantages are with the terrorists, and on a much smaller scale the suicide bomber still remains the greatest threat.But for the terrorist,the range of attack possibilities are endless, and its a physical impossibility to cover all the bases.The US always had good intelligence, and still Sept 11th slipped under the radar. What form will the next attack take? I don't know, but for sure we are not finished with them. That the US has the ability to strike any target on Earth if it has to is a given.

One of the reasons Ahmad Masood was able to drive the Taliban out of 3 locations that they had taken, was because they had the weapons to do so.The had them because they kept gathering them even after the Taliban were driven out post Sep11. always fearing a talib return. The Taliban had already declared control of Panjshir after meeting with the elders and leaders, under certain conditions one of which was no house searches. But then by looking for weapons and people, they broke this rule. And so Mashood attacked. There is currently a mass drive by the Taliban to remove weapons from the general population, for obvious reasons. Even now, genuine support for them is extremely limited, and will get even worse as they show their true colors. Support for Mashood will grow. There's reports on TV and the Press world wide about what might or might not happen with the Taliban.....are they the same as before, or have they really changed? Only time will really tell, but the signs so far are that they are still the same as old. Personally, I'd be taking the word and opinions of Ahmad Mashood and Ismail Khan in Herat seriously.Likewise, as to who they will align with, that remains to be seen.As for the 20 years of support, my candidates are 1 Pakistan, 2 Iran, 3 other. And your point about favours is very valid.

Its wait and see time, no one knows the answer to that question at the momen.But for sure, there will not be any lobbying of shells /missiles while there American / EU citizens there. And as the Taliban's version of Islam, thats exactly what destroyed the Country last time they had control. People died needlessly ( especially women) as the only doctor available was a man.... it was Ins'h Allah. Thousands of Babies died..it was Ins'h Allah. Thousands died when there were food shortages....Ins'h Allah. The water systems failed....Ins'h Allah. If the electric grid failed...Ins'h Allah.And as for the list of things that were forbidden as being un-islamic, thats pretty endless...but basically, if you were not working, you should be praying.

The Taliban sprung out of the Mujahideen and it's founders were Afghan Mujahideen fighters. It was a Sunni Pashtun group supported by money from Saudis initially who mainly drew their ranks from Afghan and Pakistani Mujahideen men, with a mix of others who were in favour of their type of Islam.

The leaders of the Taliban and the early rank and file were definitely men who fought against the Russians in the 80's and on the back of that they were welcomed by Afghans when they started out from southern Afghanistan. So much so that by the late 80's they had spread across much of the country. By the 90's they controlled it. It was only when they started to implement the harsh realities of their idea of Sharia that some of the Afghan started to question them.

This commercial plane thing is also counterintuitive when you consider that the USAF has an estimated 12 billion military planes at last count.

WTF is going

Not all military planes are passenger aircraft, which is what they need more than anything else,makes perfect sense bringing airlines in who's expertise is flying millions of passengers around the world..

In fairness they are not actually doing that. Here is the exact quote "Eighteen aircraft will transfer people to third countries from safe sites outside Afghanistan, the Pentagon said"

This was discussed on rte 1 radio today BOC show the government hardly had power outside the city's the country was run by graft, cronyism, corrupt officials and payoffs to local warlords the taliban were very clever they told local officials don't be on the losing side give up join us or face defeat the aghfan army is not a well trained organised army it had low morale it also relied on us army air support to hold back the taliban in most areas there was no combat the taliban moved in and took control of us army weapons humvees trucks weapons helicopters guns etc the aghfan army disappeared. Local people did not have faith in local government or Politicans as it was viewed as currupt or simple controlled by America the lesson here is you can't build a modern democracy by force or by paying bribes an article in the guardian said if the USA stayed on one more month they could have made the taliban form a government with local Political groups like a coalition once they announced a date for leaving the taliban knew we can. Just wait a few weeks and take over the country

And Biden rejected a plan by ngos to move local allies like translators a month ago instead we see total chaos as 1000s of people desperate to leave surround the airport in kabul even people with us visas and passports are struggling to reach the airport as they have to pass thru taliban checkpoints and 1000s of people in the area

This is the first major misstep in Bidens presidency not even have a basic coherent plan for getting American citizens out of the country before the taliban took control of the country

The people left behind are really hampering any effort to at least destroy some of the massive armoury they have left behind, but the US cannot do anything about that while they remain. And for defence of the Panjshir and resistance fighters, the Talib airforce needs to be destroyed.

The US government formed the CTAF agreement with USAirlines in the 50’s, the airlines get paid each year and must release aircraft to military operations if required, such as now. These aircraft are only operating to the Middle East, the actual military fleet are doing the flights into Kabul. So it’s not as dangerous or reckless as some may think.

The response of the Taliban commander in Kabul on hearing that

Its one thing getting a lift in from the French, but if things go bad it might be another getting out again.