Afghanistan - 20 years on
- Thread starter GreatAuk
- Start date
Man of Honour
Its weird; did the US/Allies think the Afghan Army was much stronger than it is/was?
They had assurances from the very honest Taliban representatives that they wouldn't blitzkrieg the past 20 years in a few weeks.
I do think the army of Afghanistan needs to accept some responsibility. They've had training from the west for years. From my understanding they were even having their salaries paid for by the US. Were they expecting NATO/US to help defend the country for the next century?
With how poorly they put up a fight, it almost begs the question of their loyalty to the Afghan government. Maybe they want the Taliban back in power.
Caporegime
The Sky news reporter is awfully calm for someone standing in the middle of a city being invaded by one of the worlds most savage armies.
Soldato
They're 99% useless.
Soldato
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Many layers of issues,
Some of the issues are incorrectly presenting information from "us" US/UK chain of commands, glossing over negative aspects in favour of "looking good". I'd hazard a guess this could be a layer of how things panned out.
Other layers, the obvious corruption rife in areas of the world like that. Either way, we should have been an enduring presence there, people like to bang on about we can't be there forever, well why not? We got involved, we should show some courage in staying there through thick and thin. We were there as a presence and a bit of force protection in Kabul, we weren't hunting the Taliban in Helmand, not for years. No one was talking about ending Op TORAL ...? or were you?
For some strange reason, against a lot of opinion the US (Biden Admin) have decided to completely leave on a set date, regardless. Some really bad information has been presented somewhere.
Soldato
Nexy hollywood movie inbound
Exact samething happend with the iraqi army and isis too.
Did the airbase they took have any ani air defences?
B52/c130 could be vunerable to something couldn't they?
Caporegime
Wasn’t it Trump who started the pull out originally?
Because for many people they didn't get involve their parents or grand parents got involved.
Yes. But Biden had the hot potatoe and looks just as much as an idiot as the orange one.
Obama
https://www.rand.org/blog/2019/03/trumps-latest-move-on-afghanistan-is-a-repeat-of-obamas.html
The withdrawl has been going on for 3 sitting presidents
Caporegime
Never thought it possible, but he looks an even bigger idiot than Trump now
Man of Honour
I can't blame any of the US Presidents (Obama, Trump or Biden) for wanting to get the withdrawal done; to an extent it feels like regardless of when we had pulled out (this year, next year, in 10 years) this would have happened anyway.
Why hang on for another decade for the same result? The Afghan Army are clearly woe-fully trained and scared of fighting the Taliban; given their extremist views I can't blame them.
Why hang on for another decade for the same result? The Afghan Army are clearly woe-fully trained and scared of fighting the Taliban; given their extremist views I can't blame them.
Soldato
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The draw down was always based on the security situation, i.e. not just letting the Taliban steam role the entire country.
Either Biden is totally lost the plot, or the information was massively incorrect at the time of confirming the end date. Either way, Biden has made the call so ultimately his failure at the moment.
Either Biden is totally lost the plot, or the information was massively incorrect at the time of confirming the end date. Either way, Biden has made the call so ultimately his failure at the moment.
No. From what I've heard from actual soldiers they always thought they were clowns.
This day was always going to come tbh, we can't stay there forever.
I bet many of the same people saying we should stay now are the same ones who whined for years that we should leave.
Man of Honour
I did wonder; I had family serving over there a decade ago who said the same; I guess I thought all the money and time we've spent might have improved things since then!
ANA are clowns, albeit there are some good ones. However, the majority will fight forever pays them - Taliban one week, ANA the next and vice versa. But what can they do? They need to feed their families etc and keep them alive.
I've seen ANA use their presence to extort what little other Afghans have - go into their homes late at night, shining torches in their faces, threatening them for money - this is the Police and ANA.
Most smoke, chew naswar contaning trace amounts of opium etc, both on and off duty.
But then i've seen ANA/ANP walk up to IEDs and rip them out of the ground with their bare hands - only works a few times before your luck runs out.
These aren't greatly educated people, so i have no idea what they answer is
I've seen ANA use their presence to extort what little other Afghans have - go into their homes late at night, shining torches in their faces, threatening them for money - this is the Police and ANA.
Most smoke, chew naswar contaning trace amounts of opium etc, both on and off duty.
But then i've seen ANA/ANP walk up to IEDs and rip them out of the ground with their bare hands - only works a few times before your luck runs out.
These aren't greatly educated people, so i have no idea what they answer is