Afghanistan about to fall to taliban

I liked that President Biden pulled out the troops, its been a long time coming, but the news is coming out that taliban is over taking all the places that were held by afghanistan government and US forces previously. How incompetent does a government have to be to not even fight off these terrorists...I mean we just barely pulled out troops starting a couple of weeks ago and now the taliban nearly over run the country? Afghanistan you're a damn joke.

20 years, all that time, money and lives spent trying to spread some democracy to a backwater turd, and this is what it comes to. At the same time, I really don't think we should stay there longer, but it really pisses me off all our investment there gone to waste.

I don't think anyone was ever trying to free anyone or spread any kind of "democracy." If we wanted to defeat Al Qaeda or Taliban we'd have done so in a few short weeks. The US went into Afghanistan for the sole purpose of creating a long-term conflict they could draw out for as long as possible in order to generate the most profits for the military industrial complex. That's why the number of troops has generally always been low, rules of engagement kept us on the defensive unable to initiate an assault on any of their hiding places, having to wait till they shoot some of our soldiers before we could shoot back.

It's the only logical conclusion.

And that is also why before Biden is out of office, we'll have began a new conflict.

How would that work? They don't have uniforms, they don't have membership cards, they don't even have red hats. How would you ever know who is part of the Taliban if it's like a religion - anyone can be a passive supporter until the active ones start being killed.

It's been no secret who their leaders were, which part of the country they've been hiding in, and in some cases, even where their bases were. Hell we organized, trained, and armed them. They were US allies up until the moment it became financially advantageous for them not to be.

It's not surprising that now that the American occupation has ended those who "own" the country will take what's theirs to take. It's tragic but it is what it is.

The only possible way to stabilise Afghanistan would be if someone like Saddam Hussein (ruthless, progressive and with a deep knowledge of the territory) would take over, but then the US would find a way to murder him because freedom fvck ye!!, like they did Saddam so it's kinda pointless.

what is now happening started to take form 10 years ago, got much worse since 2017 and got unleashed as soon as the right moment arrived.

It's really a fucked up situation. Another criminal piece of American history. All the civilian lives lost, all the war crimes, only for everything to reset and restart. Probably another refugee crisis coming to Europe to be exploited by the far right. Also, I'm genuinely heartbroken for all the Afghan people who've been fighting for human rights over there, for women, sexual minorities, etc, that are about to be swallowed into a nightmare.

@ghost_of_phobos: Saddam's own people "murdered" him.

The Taliban has held half of the country for a long time and this is the inevitable outcome. The hawkiest of war hawks can't even describe a coherent plan to keep this from happening without the continued presence of US troops for another decade.

The best thing we can do now is start granting asylum for those that wish to flee a country about to revert back to religious theocratic rule. It's a total shame given how many Afghan civilians will be lost to the coming conflict and Taliban religious rule.

Western idealogy just don't work there and America will want a faraway enemy to keep the military spending rhetoric. Defense industry needs a reason to exist.

Heck Afganistan just don't work due to how its citizen cares more about tribal affliation than national patriotism. Better the tribes declare independence or create a federation of nations like the UK or UAE and let each tribes govern their lands. Might turn to shit but the place already been bombed to hell anyway.

The pace this is happening at does lead one to believe that the only thing that kept the soldiers in the army there was the US forces along with them.

@HoolaHoopMan: its pretty messed up what's going to happen to Afghanistan, after thousands of US lives lost, hundreds of thousands of civilians, trillions of dollars spent, all to go back to zero. What was the point then? In the first place it was the Saudis responsible for 9/11, and all that effort spent for the last 20 years to make Afghanistan a better place. It worked too...its much better off than before. Now you're going to let it go to shit? My opinion is to keep Afghanistan govern it using the resources of the country. Develop it and in a few decades it would be able to fend for itself. This half assedness is the worst, I'm disappointed in biden and all the families of the soldiers who fought and died in Afghanistan are disappointed too.

I'm now wondering at this point if this whole mess was purposely laid out in order to justify a "rescue" and full-blown military intervention, and around/around we go on the crazy train.

Edit; especially when videos from a couple weeks ago have Biden saying this:

It certainly wasn't the wages. They (and many other services) haven't been paid in weeks because the Afghan president has been hoarding wealth and power for himself and his cronies.

@ghost_of_phobos: That is why people like Assad need to stay in power. I know he is not the best, but far better than the alternative.

Could be. I mean, I said Biden would get us into another conflict, that could be a re-invasion of Afghanistan. A perfect scheme to ramp up spending to the MIC.

No, Biden isn't behind any shenanigans. I don't think Biden even knows/remembers what he had for breakfast. He is enjoying a vacation at Camp David though.

well...that is about as bad if not worse than the foot in mouth trump videos we've seen in the past. This will end up being a blow to the democrats. I'm not a big fan of sending troops out in the middle of nowhere, but surely theres a better way??

Heck, the afghan government and people would probably be willing to PAY to some extent to keep the US army in place and maintain / help develop the region. I mean, theres been US troops, nearly 30,000 in Japan for the last 80 odd years, so whats the issue with developing a middle east base in afghanistan, and in the process helping them become more stable and less extreme. The cost is of course an issue, but you could get those from the host nation to some degree.

You have to question the decision of biden in this mess. Obama for all his issues and people calling him a war mongerer would have been far more thoughtful.

So, we should stay there, and tell those countries that the big bad terrorists are going to get them if they don't pay their protection money?

the big bad terrorists almost toppled everything the US and its allies worked 20 years to build, in just a few short weeks. And basically yes, pay the money to support the cost of keeping an army on site, and that would at least pay to some extent.

Well, its over now anyways, all it took was a single bumbling geezer.

20 years of nothing, money wasted, American life lost and Civilian life lost and we accomplished nothing

@sheep99: At least we're not continuing for another 20 years.

Funny how some people in here were okay a year ago when trump negotiated with the taliban, released some of their prisoners, and gave them a deadline for troop removal. Seem they all have selective amnesia in the R party now.

That Taliban would take over so quickly can not come as a surprise to the US military forces (and other countries forces) that were stationed there and trained these guys...

The video was cringe worthy and sounded as if he was trying more to convince himself than others. Even today his administration is admitting errors on their behalf. Didn't they make the bold claim of Kabul not falling for months rather than a handful of days?

Well, that would be ideal, but you don't seriously think the US won't just find another conflict, do you?

Fall of Saigon 2.0

There is no good way to spin this. Just another shameful failure in American intervention.

Cold war with China?

Biden has atrocious foreign policy. He should be impeached.

Obviously the US had a major role in this downfall, but at the same time....did the Afghan military try? Or did they just let the Taliban steamroll right over them?

I feel bad for the Afghani people but I guess you get the government and country you deserve and your history dictate.

I mean what do you say to that now? Ooof.

Two shameful conflicts that we are better for withdrawing from. Both are two examples of administrations running into a country head first with no long term plans.

The end date was originally May as per trump's agreement with the Taliban after he released the prisoners for them. Are you saying we should impeach trump a third time?

I hope we think real real hard about going into another country in the future. Everything, every single life and dollar we spent went up in smoke. How horrific to let the terrorists win.

Honestly speaking I didn't want troops there either but if I thought the taliban would take control so quickly and easily, I'd definitely have second thoughts. These Afghanistan troops and government are super weak.

Trump isn't in office, Biden is. Happening on his watch.

@LJS9502_basic: Impeach the man for something he didn't actually do...again. LOL

I don't believe there were any serious policy experts that thought that Taliban wouldn't regain control. The question was at what rate, which as we've seen, is faster than originally thought. Another year wouldn't have made a difference.

You think the Taliban was going to sit quietly if the US didn't leave? Also maybe he shouldn't have released Taliban prisoners.

Should have just turned that place into a parking lot 20 years ago.

@silentchief: I didn't want to be the one to say it, but this outcome could have been avoided.

@blaznwiipspman1: By turning the country into a parking lot?

Maybe, the last one was very profitable, or at least all the proxy wars that stemmed from it was. "if we don't arm these groups, Chinese backed forces will take over that country and dominate that part of the world."

@HoolaHoopMan: as biden would say cmon man. The man was preaching for the past few months that Afghanistan wouldn't fall, the Afghanistan troops had training, equipment and all that. Even if the US left, Afghanistan would be fine

That 300K "well-equipped as well as good as any army in the world" army doesn't resonate confidence? Your lack of faith is disturbing. Honestly though, who in the hell thought they'd actually ball up and fight for their country?

I didn't expect much, but a guy can hope.

Those 300k all come from different tribes that have been fighting eachother, and they don't really lose anything by reverting back to sharia law and religious fundamentalism.

Literally the only way this outcome could have been avoided was by staying there forever.

Pretty much.

@fizzz: not really, a few decades of American TV, mcdonalds and the population would have converted

This is precisely why I’m against isolationist policies.I didn’t agree with Trump withdrawals, I don’t agree with Biden’s.

What a mess. People can moan about being the world’s policeman, about the MIC….what’s happening now is bad for all, especially if it’s allowed to progress.

Looks like the world is getting dangerous by the hour :(

there never appeared to be any clear mission. sure you killed a shitload of taliban fighters and captured / killed ubl. after that, then what? that taliban that didn't fight were smart enough to melt into the background and wait you out. yeah, you can say "we're going to help the afghans set up a stable government / security forces" but is that what they even WANT?

if the us were actually committed to building a stable nation in afghanistan, their presence would be required for generations. you basically need to maintain a stable, freeish country for decades to allow those thinking the old ways to basically just die off.

it doesn't seem like there are enough people who really WANT a different afghanistan who are willing to fight for it. sure they'll take advantage when others are doing some of the security heavy lifting, but with that presence removed, where are they?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58223231

The Taliban has claimed victory in Afghanistan after seizing the capital Kabul, bringing to a swift end almost 20 years of a US-led coalition's presence in the country.

Fighters have taken over the presidential palace. The government has collapsed, with President Ashraf Ghani fleeing.

A spokesman for the group has told news network Al Jazeera: "The war is over."

Will be interesting to see how the world responds politically and/or militarily, if they do.