NFT/NGT: Leaving Afghanistan

[jimmyz]

Biden sounds serious about leaving Afghanistan.  He should have said effective immediately instead of May 1st but I'll take it assuming he can hold on.  Word on the street is the Pentagon is melting down. 

They're already playing up the "American Troops will die" and the "but what about Women's Rights in Afghanistan??!!" angle.

Biden is going to have to fight off a coordinated attack from the Military Industrial Complex and the Media.  When Trump talked of withdrawal, there were suddenly American troops getting 'bounty gated' by Russian operatives and stories about how we need to stay in Afghanistan to 'send Russian operatives home in body bags' and how Trump knew about it and refused to do anything.  The media eagerly ran with this sh!t story to bolster their Trump is a Russian spy narrative.  And you had so called 'honorable' military leaders lying to Trump about how many soldiers there were in Afghanistan in the first place.  You see how the story seemed to fall off a cliff once the machine knew it wasn't having effect?

Is Biden going to make it to the finish line?  Again...he seems to have honest intentions about this.  Then again, I believe Obama came in with every intention of leaving Afghanistan.  He got pushed around and he fell in line.  Stay tuned.  Watch the machine at work.

20 years.  It's so old its not even news anymore.  People are so tired and accustom to it that it seems they don't even care or see the significance of this. 

[jimmyz]

Oh look!!!

https://news.yahoo.com/u-intel-walks-back-claim-151105149.html

Looks like the intel community is walking back the bounty gate story.  What timing! 

[Ed Vette]

I thought it was September 11th. Trump had a a May 1st. deal with the Taliban.

[Ed Vette]

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/16/987810008/can-the-afghan-army-hold-off-the-taliban-without-the-u-s

[LennG]

It took us 20 years to learn what the Russians learned a lot quicker.


This war has been thru 4 administrations and great that the next one won't have to deal with it.

Anyone who thinks war is glorious are the ones on the sidelines.

[jimmyz]

I thought it was September 11th. Trump had a a May 1st. deal with the Taliban.

Yeah you are correct.  Biden pushed to 9/11. 

This is unfortunate and a typical move by the intelligence agencies to request an extension which is nothing more than a stalling tactic to buy time to cook up a reason to stay.

[uconnjack8]

I realize that in the wake of the 9/11 attacks there was wide feelings that this attack was able to be coordinated because it happened in a country with a failed central government.  The objective as I understood it then, was to:

- Capture or kill Al-Qaeda leaders 
- Setup a democratic government that could run on its own.

The first objective was somewhat achieved but never finished.

The second objective has never really even been close and may never happen.

I think in the case of Afghanistan we need to pack it up and leave and if there is worry about attacks being planned from that country we can use other means to monitor the situation.  The reaction to the attacks of 9/11 has shaped the current world in many ways and cost a lot of lives as well as money.  Is the world a safer place now?

[MightyGiants]

It's funny, I remember having lunch (prior to 9/11) with a coworker who was from Russia.    At the time Bin Ladin was up to no good toward the US and Russia.  I was telling him that I thought a surgical strike to set back the efforts going on there would be in both nation's interests.

Fast forward to post 9/11.   I really thought at the time that George Bush was rushing into Afghanistan rather than trying to spend more effort negotiating with the Taliban to get them to give up Bin Ladin.   I can't say that efforts would have been successful, but I have a feeling there would have been a price that would have gotten us our man.   I really thought, based on the history of the region, that invading Afghanistan was a really bad idea.

Fast forward to now, and we are faced with a really bad situation.  We can continue to pay in lives and national treasure to sort of maintaining the current status quo which is less than ideal, less than stable, but not likely to hatch any attacks on our country or we can pull out.

Pulling out comes with a great price as it would essentially betray everyone in that nation who has helped us since the invasion.   On top of that, it would show our enemies in the region what they would consider a sign of weakness and lack of resolve (which is less than ideal).

I really think that when it comes to Afghanistan it's a question of which lousy choice you want to take.

[squibber]

From what I have read, 18,000 contractors including mercenaries will remain in the country. So maybe, the US will continue to prop up the country by proxy while at the same time making it appear to the American public that the US is finally out of this mess. This would make Biden look good I think.

[jimmyz]

From what I have read, 18,000 contractors including mercenaries will remain in the country. So maybe, the US will continue to prop up the country by proxy while at the same time making it appear to the American public that the US is finally out of this mess. This would make Biden look good I think.

Yeah, the paramilitary contractor paradigm now allows countries to wage war unofficially.

[uconnjack8]

Yeah, the paramilitary contractor paradigm now allows countries to wage war unofficially.

And making some people very rich in doing it.

[jimmyz]

A make some people very rich in doing it.

Following the money would seem obvious wouldn't it?

Was there ever a war like Afghanistan and Iraq?

CamelBak, Arc-Teryx, Smith Optics, Oakley, Merrell, Salomon, Patagonia.

Recognize any of these brands?  I;ve seen all of their logos on troops in the middle east.  When's the last time you saw a photo of a WW2 or Vietnam War GI with a 'Nike' swoosh on his combat boots?

[katkavage]

The corruption and bloat in the defense budget is draining other much needed resources. Infrastructure could be funded by the waste in defense that just lines the pockets of contractors. Health care could be funded with the same bloat. Yet you rarely hear any politician, right or left, speak up about it.

[Blue4Life]

The corruption and bloat in the defense budget is draining other much needed resources. Infrastructure could be funded by the waste in defense that just lines the pockets of contractors. Health care could be funded with the same bloat. Yet you rarely hear any politician, right or left, speak up about it.

There are some politicians who do, that's the group of candidates who are collectively know as "also ran..."

[LennG]

The corruption and bloat in the defense budget is draining other much needed resources. Infrastructure could be funded by the waste in defense that just lines the pockets of contractors. Health care could be funded with the same bloat. Yet you rarely hear any politician, right or left, speak up about it.

Kat

But then you have the you know who's who preach that taking money away from that bloated military budget is weakening he country. We all knw tha is bull, but certain politicians make a living on those thoughts.
Worse part is, they ae so convincing in hat, that more people believe it.