You're ignoring many times in the past where a high % of those troops (not all) abandoned their posts to let the US fight on their own. Only reappearing after the battle. The US being there had little effect on them either.
Afghanistan - 20 years on
- Thread starter GreatAuk
- Start date
You're ignoring many times in the past where a high % of those troops (not all) abandoned their posts to let the US fight on their own. Only reappearing after the battle. The US being there had little effect on them either.
Another serious incident. What was the first serious incident involving US troops getting killed are you referring to.
??? Yes, almost as if there were a variety of options available...
I think you're too far gone, if you can't see that the current situation is a disaster and that very likely could have been improved upon then I don't think there is anything that would convince you, you're just going to stick your fingers in your ears on this despite feigning interest in hearing alternatives.
You're ignoring that they've been at the front in the fight against the Taliban for the past few years and the US had already pulled back from major combat operations.
This is true, and has been part of my point all along. The sentiment of the country he leads is that they want US forces home.
If he risked keeping them in longer , and likely a Taliban retaliation for doing that , he potentially risks an even worse situation, the deaths of US soldiers, and a massive hit politically.
"Blood on Biden's hands as US soldiers killed in Afghanistan due to Taliban retaliation for breaking withdrawal agreement"
Soldato
To be clear the vast majority of the "Biden did this wrong" stuff isn't because the posters feel that the US should have kept troops in there longer, everyone agrees we/they needed to get out.
The problem is with the way this "agreed by both sides of the House" withdrawal has occurred, and that lays squarely with whoever is currently in charge, both politically and militarily and that is currently Biden. In his defence I absolutely believe he was sold a lie by his various intel services who I think, for some unknown reason, didn't pass on the accurate reports from troops/people on the ground telling them everything is about to go pear-shaped, leading Biden to say things which, with 20/20 hindsight, now look really stupid. However the response of his administration to Kabul specifically (when "the truth" about the collapse became known) and his actions afterwards towards the press trying to ask him questions have been pretty poor.
No you're ignoring that they've lost ground that entire time and were propped up by NATO airpower. They've never been able to contain the Taliban.
I think the majority of people complaining about the withdrawal haven't been paying attention over the last couple of years. You'd have to blind and deaf not to realize the country was lost.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54600781
This whole situation is a serious incident and Biden's approval rating has taken a substantial hit but overall many in the US support withdrawing from Afghanistan so with time it will be forgotten if there isn't another major headline incident. But another major incident at this point which looked bad for Biden, when he is at an all time low, could be another matter and not so easily recovered from.
I'm not ignoring it but it isn't the whole truth - very few were abandoning their posts in later years from the groups like NDS units directly engaged with the Taliban - although from the regular forces there was still a certain amount with some fleeing to Iran for instance as things started to get more serious.
This whole idea that the Afghan army put down their weapons and fled when it came to actually fighting seems to be heavily being pushed by those who messed up the strategy on the ground and seemed to be operating under the notion the Afghan forces were much larger than they actually were in reality.
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Caporegime
The German military says a member of the Afghan security forces was killed by unidentified attackers at Kabul airport.
Let's hope it doesn't escalate.
Let's hope it doesn't escalate.
So there has been no major loss of US soldiers in this withdrawal as you tried to infer earlier. At least so far. Might happen yet.
Kabul being overrun was always going to happen. That's what happens in a withdrawal.
Exactly. I'm sure some might actually want to incite that.
Where has that been ignored? You came out with some rather outdated comment about the ANA seemingly naive to the fact the US hasn’t been involved in major combat operations for years now.
The list seems to be growing all right.
I think you need to re-read what I said earlier - I never said there had been so far I gave it as an example of the kind of incident Biden will want to avoid now - which may be why the US is keeping forces from moving out as that could result in a situation involving the loss of life of US forces which the US population are likely to be far less forgiving of.
Soldato
"The Taliban will not allow western forces to remain in Afghanistan past next Tuesday, warning there will “be consequences” if the US and UK fail to withdraw their troops by then"
https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/taliban-afghanistan-news-live-us-uk-b1906940.html
Hope that's not true.
https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/taliban-afghanistan-news-live-us-uk-b1906940.html
Hope that's not true.
Problem is they’re now rather reliant on the whims of the Taliban, as pointed out in the other thread they’ve ended up completely surrounded at Kabul airport that’s a serious issue if the Taliban decides they’re no longer welcome. Only takes a few mortars to stop flights on top of that the Taliban have MANPADS, it’s one thing when they fire them at planes from a distance it’s quite another when they can get directly under the flight path immediately after takeoff!
As it stands this is mostly a withdrawal without major loss of life. Other than the media frenzy not a lot is happening. The humanitarian crisis was always going to unavoidable.
Soldato
Biden orders troops to leave bagram airfield, gifting the taliban untold amounts of armaments, and not preparing for the evacuation of tens of thousands of Americans
One mistake after another.
True. But there is always a point in a retreat, withdrawal where those leaving lose control.