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Another report was published today, although I believe some of this info was already previously reported when it happened, but most of the media at the time just glossed over it at the time.
Many high ranking Afghan Special Operators, along with all their men, some who even trained with SF teams inside the US, had no choice but to cross into Iran with specialized weapons, equipment, and vehicles to escape being slaughtered and overrun by the Taliban when the rest of the Afghan Army laid down.
3,000 highly trained security force members went with them into Iran.
This is a very dangerous situation because some of these guys know the identities of some of their trainers, military members in US Special Ops, plus they are also trained in our tactics, which the Iranians surely have discussed with them by now.
In addition to the tens of billions of equipment left behind and the hundreds of billions in infrastructure, we are now talking about highly trained special operators potentially already being turned by the Iranians to go along with the loss of 300,000 light arms, 29,000 heavy weapons and 61,000 vehicles while the Taliban builds a 110,000 man Army to utilize those free weapons and equipment.
Even if you don’t agree with me that we should’ve stayed, how can you continue to defend this botched surrender that just keeps getting worse and worse as more information gets out? Gen Milley and Gen McKenzie both advised Biden not to pull out when and how he did, but he did not listen.
Another report was published today, although I believe some of this info was already previously reported when it happened, but most of the media at the time just glossed over it at the time.
Many high ranking Afghan Special Operators, along with all their men, some who even trained with SF teams inside the US, had no choice but to cross into Iran with specialized weapons, equipment, and vehicles to escape being slaughtered and overrun by the Taliban when the rest of the Afghan Army laid down.
3,000 highly trained security force members went with them into Iran.
This is a very dangerous situation because some of these guys know the identities of some of their trainers, military members in US Special Ops, plus they are also trained in our tactics, which the Iranians surely have discussed with them by now.
In addition to the tens of billions of equipment left behind and the hundreds of billions in infrastructure, we are now talking about highly trained special operators potentially already being turned by the Iranians to go along with the loss of 300,000 light arms, 29,000 heavy weapons and 61,000 vehicles while the Taliban builds a 110,000 man Army to utilize those free weapons and equipment.
Even if you don’t agree with me that we should’ve stayed, how can you continue to defend this botched surrender that just keeps getting worse and worse as more information gets out? Gen Milley and Gen McKenzie both advised Biden not to pull out when and how he did, but he did not listen.
The Afghans did not really trust the Americans, as after all Afghanistan became a highly corrupt society, with the American presence. The Americans well outstayed their welcome for the typical Afghan. If only the US administration really got into fighting against the massive corruption instead of massively contributing to it, then the US administration would have not such a mess with Afghanistan.
The Taliban’s swift conquest is attributable to many factors. But one that crosses multiple administrations yet is getting very little attention right now is corruption. Specifically, the kind of corruption the U.S. aided and abetted over many years, glad-handing crooked officials and stalling anti-corruption investigations, as ordinary Afghans struggled and watched officials grow wealthier and wealthier. While corruption can hardly be described as the sole reason for the Afghan government’s disintegration, it is a consistent through-line of multiple American administrations — and an element that the U.S. has consistently overlooked.https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinio...it-ncna1277327
Since you turned this poster into a political poster on condemning Biden Administration, I will have to say the previous administrations also played a big part of the mess with Afghanistan war.
Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump missed opportunities to end the war, as the narrow, time-bound policing action to target al-Qaeda and the Taliban after 9/11 became the giant ideological struggle of the war on terrorism.
“In retrospect, I think we really lacked a sound Afghanistan policy for years,” James Warlick, a retired ambassador who worked as deputy special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2012 to 2013, told me. “We realized that our efforts at nation-building couldn’t be successful, at least for years and years to come, and we weren’t prepared to engage with the kind of forces to ensure a military victory, if that was even possible.”
Parsing the mistakes requires looking inward. Too often, US officials, journalists, and military leaders have eagerly portrayed Afghanistan as the good war, glossing over the atrocities the US committed there, as journalist Emran Feroz has documented.
But the US government spent years telling the American people that there was progress even as military leaders admitted privately that, as Obama’s Afghan czar Douglas Lute put it, “We didn’t have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking.https://www.vox.com/world/2022/8/15/...en-white-house
The withdraw was a big mess, and it could have been handled more wisely. Even so the US should have withdrawn their forces long ago.
Another report was published today, although I believe some of this info was already previously reported when it happened, but most of the media at the time just glossed over it at the time.
Many high ranking Afghan Special Operators, along with all their men, some who even trained with SF teams inside the US, had no choice but to cross into Iran with specialized weapons, equipment, and vehicles to escape being slaughtered and overrun by the Taliban when the rest of the Afghan Army laid down.
3,000 highly trained security force members went with them into Iran.
This is a very dangerous situation because some of these guys know the identities of some of their trainers, military members in US Special Ops, plus they are also trained in our tactics, which the Iranians surely have discussed with them by now.
In addition to the tens of billions of equipment left behind and the hundreds of billions in infrastructure, we are now talking about highly trained special operators potentially already being turned by the Iranians to go along with the loss of 300,000 light arms, 29,000 heavy weapons and 61,000 vehicles while the Taliban builds a 110,000 man Army to utilize those free weapons and equipment.
Even if you don’t agree with me that we should’ve stayed, how can you continue to defend this botched surrender that just keeps getting worse and worse as more information gets out? Gen Milley and Gen McKenzie both advised Biden not to pull out when and how he did, but he did not listen.
I'm suspicious of the report because it is completely an effort by the republican minority. When I believe they are trying to do anything other than make the Biden Administration look bad I will pay attention.
These weapons were mostly put in Afghanistan during other administrations. The problem in terms of evacuating and destroying weapons before we left was that the Afghan government collapsed in a much shorter period of time than was imagined to be possible.
We were trying to defend people who were not interested in defending themselves against the Taliban.
I know you don't like Biden. Many of us still feel he is better than what came before him.
This is a bit off topic, but I'm going to ask it anyway.
I see comments like this quite often. What exactly is it that you feel better about? Border security, foreign policy, inflation, unemployment record, crime, America first policies, deportations???
Seriously? You have no evidence that the Taliban has committed dozens of atrocities since taking over?
Do you also need me to provide you evidence that the sky is blue?
1). Over 500 people have been executed, or “disappeared” since the Taliban seized the country. The 500 number is a conservative estimate
2) The Taliban has taken a sledgehammer to women’s rights. Way too many to list out, but saying that women are being being abused is putting it mildly.
3) 97% are in danger of slipping into severe poverty as a direct result of Taliban decision making.
I don’t have much sympathy for the Afghan people either. They knew exactly what was going to happen, but they laid down their arms and demonized the one country (USA) who was shaping their country for a better tomorrow.
Freedom isn’t free, and when you won’t even fight for it, you deserve whatever you get.
If they did prefer the Taliban over the Afghan government, that’s definitely their prerogative. But don’t sit there whining about the Taliban now, like so many of them are doing now.
Sources please, and I hope its not along the lines with Adrian Zenz and his Uyghur Genocide disinformation campaign, or the ridiculous propaganda coming out of UKR against RU.
Basically, House GOP members are about to publish a 118 page report outlining these 5 points where Biden blatantly lied to all of us:
1) He said he consulted with military leaders on the withdrawal and it was done with full coordination, but both Gen McKenzie and Gen Milley advised Biden to keep 2500 in country indefinitely (keep Bagram Air Base open). Biden lied about everyone agreeing on the withdrawal.
2) He said that if we stayed in AFG, it would be a return to war with the Taliban. But Milley and McKenzie did not say that at all. They said the US could stabilize the country and could protect themselves from attack short of an all out war. Biden lied.
3) Biden said he must follow Trump’s agreement. But the agreement clearly stated that the Taliban must follow the conditions of the agreement in order to go forward. They absolutely did not meet those conditions. Again, Biden lied by stating he had to follow the agreement. If he followed the agreement, he would’ve dissolved it.
4) Biden stated we accomplished the goal that Afghanistan wouldn’t be used as a base for terrorism ever again. That’s the dumbest thing anyone has ever said right there and an obvious lie. Zawahiri moved to Kabul and was living out in the open.
5) Biden stated that the Afghan Military had 300,000 and they would fight valiantly. The Afghan Military only had 180,000. The other 120,000 were police, which is a vastly different thing. Also, they did not fight valiantly.
My takeaway on all this is that I’m glad to finally see some leaders agree with me that we could’ve stayed and should’ve stayed.
We also now know why Gen Milley and Gen McKenzie were not asked to resign their positions. Because they were 100% right, and they even advised Biden on what to do, but he ignored them and chose to do the opposite.
Because of the decision to surrender:
1) We are paying 100,000+ Afghan refugees to be guests in our home, free airfare, free food, free housing, free medical, free everything.
2) Afghanistan is now a base for terrorism exactly as it was pre-9/11
3) The Taliban are tyrannizing their own people, exactly as it was pre-9/11
This post was not meant to be political at all. It’s intent is to discuss just one issue, not the entire presidency, and show the poor decision on surrendering our position in Afghanistan.
One final note is that this report surprised me as I thought Milley and McKenzie advised Biden to withdraw, and the reason I believed it is because Biden said they did just that in his speech on April 14th 2021. I should’ve known better to take his words at face value.
Good list.
Biden also failed to consult the Afghan Government and Afghan forces, and also failed to consult key allies including NATO allies.
Many countries and world leaders were furious with Biden, and the lack of a credible withdrawal strategy only made things worse.
Biden also failed to consult the Afghan Government and Afghan forces, and also failed to consult key allies including NATO allies.
Many countries and world leaders were furious with Biden, and the lack of a credible withdrawal strategy only made things worse.
Indeed, and this goes back much further than Joe Biden.....and I do NOT mean President Trump, either. Anybody remember back in 2008, when a relatively unknown Presidential candidate, said the words, "we're going to fundamentally change America"?
That man was elected, however given the fiasco over the 2020 election, I can't help but wonder if any "vote rigging" was involved back then, therefore "elected" would be a relative term. Nonetheless, yes, America did change, and not necessarily for the better. And the current President, IMHO, is nothing but an extension of the 2008-2016 administration.....
It's called "The Graveyard of Empires" for a reason. That said, I spoke with a field grade officer who was there and they said the whole thing was a CF.
Biden also failed to consult the Afghan Government and Afghan forces, and also failed to consult key allies including NATO allies.
Many countries and world leaders were furious with Biden, and the lack of a credible withdrawal strategy only made things worse.
I wonder if calling the Afghan government a "government" isn't some kind of a joke. This was the same "government" that took billions from the USA and than collapsed within hours when we withdrew our support. Government? Maybe a corrupt kleptocracy is a better way to describe it. No point in consulting that bunch of fools about anything at all. It makes me wonder for all that money we spent over twenty years that we couldn't have bought something that was a little bit better. My analogy is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a broken down 75' Ford Pinto.
I haven't heard any NATO countries criticize the USA for our withdrawal from Afghanistan. If they did criticize us they were countries that weren't doing their share and there were plenty of those. In fact, Britain was probably the only country that ever really tried to do its share.
I think the withdrawal strategy deserves some scrutiny. However, it needs to be done objectively and not by the pack of whackjobs that makes up the republican caucus in the House of Representatives these days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by leadfoot4
Indeed, and this goes back much further than Joe Biden.....and I do NOT mean President Trump, either. Anybody remember back in 2008, when a relatively unknown Presidential candidate, said the words, "we're going to fundamentally change America"?
That man was elected, however given the fiasco over the 2020 election, I can't help but wonder if any "vote rigging" was involved back then, therefore "elected" would be a relative term. Nonetheless, yes, America did change, and not necessarily for the better. And the current President, IMHO, is nothing but an extension of the 2008-2016 administration.....
Of course, our problems in Afghanistan began the day George W. Bush authorized the invasion in 2001. I don't criticize his decision though. He really couldn't do much else. It was clear that the attack on the World Trade Center had originated among Al Quaeda operatives that were residing in Afghanistan. When we asked the country to turn those men over to us they refused. However, Bush was President through January of 2009 and his eight years marked a period of accomplishing very little of substance in Afghanistan. There were elections, but they apparently didn't mean much to Afghans.
The big mistake we made in Afghanistan is not getting out after Osama Bin Laden was found and killed. At that point, our national interests did not justify the effort and money we were spending in Afghanistan. I do think Obama should have looked for an exit at that time.
Got to love the way some groups challenge every election they lose. No vote rigging was involved in 2008. If you remember, Obama beat McCain by about eight percentage points. Sane people don't argue that millions of votes are fabricated. Bush/Cheney were terribly unpopular by 2008 and the likelihood any republican winning that election was remote indeed.
Than we had Trump in office who became an international pariah and laughingstock. People still ask me when I visit Europe if there is any chance "that maniac Trump will be president again".
Here's something that's really hard to accept, but I believe is the truth: The bulk of the Afghan people preferred rule by the Taliban to rule by that inept, corrupt government we put in power following the invasion in 2001. That explains why the Taliban has been in power twice.
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