Afghanistan - 20 years on

Malevolence said:
They've had over a decade of training and have been equipped with some of the latest weaponry. There is not a single reason why they couldn't have held back this Taliban advance. The truth is they didn't even try.
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Agreed they took their pay and basically put down their weapons without doing their job.

If they weren't ready to defend the country now, when would they?

20 years of training and really not one notable victory. I mean there has to be a will by the army and the people to stop the taliban but seems they basically ushered them in.
 
Mr Biden's predecessor Donald Trump accused him of "weakness, incompetence, and total strategic incoherence" but some have pointed to a withdrawal deal his team hatched with the Taliban last year as partly to blame.
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Trump would have been out even sooner, and the situation would be exactly the same.

Typical politics.
 
More footage of civilians at the airport:


I guess for rural Afghans there isn't a massive change or perhaps even a slightly positive one as they're still tribal and ungovernable, local leaders will just carry on as usual and slot in within the new Taliban framework. It's the urban Afghans in the big cities who face potentially big changes to their lives now depending how far the Taliban decide to go.

There have been statements from elements of the Taliban indicating a more "progressive" (for them) approach compared to last time around, though they seem so fragmented that this might not happen or could be quite variable across the country depending on local leaders in place - perhaps girls getting to go to school in some regions and covered up with light blue burqas in other areas.
 
Minusorange said:
Isn't that what started this whole mess in the 80's along with giving them weapons and training just to beat the Russians ?

Let Russia & China deal with it, they seem to be buddying up maybe they can do better, they certainly can't do any worse
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They’ll get on like a house on fire, they have the same ethos.
 
VincentHanna said:
Trump would have been out even sooner, and the situation would be exactly the same.

Typical politics.
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I don't think the situation would been any different no matter when we pulled out. There is no point in dragging it out longer.

Russia and China would deal with it by not dealing with it. They would move into take the riches from the land and shoot anyone who comes near.
 
Note this is a different part of the airport to the military enclave, don't see how these civilian planes will be able to depart with no security, surrounded by people etc.. saw another tweet stating that the US military have control of the tower.


Lots of people will be stranded there, unfortunately:


State department application system has crashed today:

 
Hopefully in some way the USA can hold the airport for as long as possible to get as many civilians out that want to leave. This of course relies on the Taliban not shooting at them, the planes or the airport in general.

Those scenes are the stuff of nightmares. Cannot begin to imagine what those poor people must be going through right now. :(
 
physichull said:
Hopefully in some way the USA can hold the airport for as long as possible to get as many civilians out that want to leave. This of course relies on the Taliban not shooting at them, the planes or the airport in general.

Those scenes are the stuff of nightmares. Cannot begin to imagine what those poor people must be going through right now. :(
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Its awful; and if they now face Taliban checkpoints if they head back into the city. NATO is planning to hold the airport for now; aren't there also meant to be a number of Turkish troops there too?
 
Can one ask where the Arab league is during all of this?

Why didn't the leaders in Kabul make plans going back to last year to get assistance from friendly bordering countries.

They could have tried to at least partially fill the void left by the withdrawing US forces with local friendly armies , ask them to provide logistical and air support, even troops on the ground.
 
physichull said:
Hopefully in some way the USA can hold the airport for as long as possible to get as many civilians out that want to leave. This of course relies on the Taliban not shooting at them, the planes or the airport in general.

Those scenes are the stuff of nightmares. Cannot begin to imagine what those poor people must be going through right now. :(
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I'd like to think they'd just let them go/not interfere as they won't want to risk the easy ride to power they've had so far. But who knows..
 
physichull said:
Hopefully in some way the USA can hold the airport for as long as possible to get as many civilians out that want to leave. This of course relies on the Taliban not shooting at them, the planes or the airport in general.
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That's a problem that is usually (or at least used to be) tackled out there by sending patrols out a few km from the airfield along the flight path... though granted that was when the airfield was a bit remote (as per Bagram etc..). In this case, we have a city airport and god knows who is in control of the areas along the flight path - presumably the Taliban by now!

KiNgPiN83 said:
I'd like to think they'd just let them go/not interfere as they won't want to risk the easy ride to power they've had so far. But who knows..
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You'd hope so, though that depends on how much control the leadership has of the various groups/factions now in Kabul. Earlier today they said they were going to wait outside Kabul, if some groups choose to do their own thing then...
 
physichull said:
Hopefully in some way the USA can hold the airport for as long as possible to get as many civilians out that want to leave. This of course relies on the Taliban not shooting at them, the planes or the airport in general.

Those scenes are the stuff of nightmares. Cannot begin to imagine what those poor people must be going through right now. :(
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Hopefully this is a more level headed taliban. If they start killing allied forces they risk a much larger conflict that isn’t in their interest. There are always renegades and fanatics though.
 
Anyone know where all the 5000 US & 600 UK troops intended to 'assist evacuation' and 'relocation' and 'provide logistical support' in Afghan actually are?

I assumed they were going to be guarding the embassies until they closed and then just keeping the airport safe to allow flights to continue. But it sounds like they never had any role on the civilian side of the airport (hence why it's rather out of control as per videos perhaps) and are either just holed up in a separate military area of the airport or guarding the embassies (although it sounds like essentially everyone has already left the US embassy now https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...-as-last-government-stronghold-in-north-falls) while they close up shop.

I guess they must mainly just be holed up in a separate area of the airport, which we've not seen much of so far. Or are they actuality at the airport perimeter or beyond?
 
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