Afghanistan - 20 years on

deuse said:
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.
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Yes but that was over a month ago. What were all theses people planning. Some had only recently arrived in Afghanistan???
 
deuse said:
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.
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You think Bagram was left stocked with loads of manpads and mortars? I think you'll find they're still rocking the soviet stuff.

E: a quick search appears that some kit was left to the ANA and it turns out they abandoned it all :rolleyes:
 
ianh said:
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.
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I don't think the West should have fully withdrew.
 
My brother is over there at the moment, get to whatsapp him every now and then when he has time. Said it was chaos first few days but has calmed down last couple of days. They've been going non stop since they got there last weekend and most are on barely any sleep. Most of the brits aren't even at the airport. They're all at a Hotel about 200m outside the airport. Thats where they're telling brit nationals to head to, they process them there and then arrange for vehicles to come pick them up and take them to the airport. Says the yanks are useless but the part about them having to watch them carefully incase they pull out is a lie.
 
dowie said:
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.
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Ah come on. They've had special forces involved and air attacks constantly.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/28/us-afghanistan-war-bombs-2019

"The US dropped more bombs on Afghanistan in 2019 than any other year since the Pentagon began keeping a tally in 2006, reflecting an apparent effort to force concessions from the Taliban at the negotiating table."
 
COD4000 said:
My brother is over there at the moment, get to whatsapp him every now and then when he has time. Said it was chaos first few days but has calmed down last couple of days. They've been going non stop since they got there last weekend and most are on barely any sleep. Most of the brits aren't even at the airport. They're all at a Hotel about 200m outside the airport. Thats where they're telling brit nationals to head to, they process them there and then arrange for vehicles to come pick them up and take them to the airport. Says the yanks are useless but the part about them having to watch them carefully incase they pull out is a lie.
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Without giving specifics. Why are they still in country.
 
RoboCod said:
I don't think the West should have fully withdrew.
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I've got mixed views but I'd agree with the notion of leaving behind a small force being better here. Contractors, enablers/advisors, force protection for those etc..

At the very least getting the various Afghans eligible for visas etc.. out before pulling the rug out could have alleviated a lot of the current **** show. They'd be left with more diplomats, western journalists and far fewer afghans from embassies etc..

OspreyO said:
Ah come on. They've had special forces involved and air attacks constantly.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/28/us-afghanistan-war-bombs-2019

"The US dropped more bombs on Afghanistan in 2019 than any other year since the Pentagon began keeping a tally in 2006, reflecting an apparent effort to force concessions from the Taliban at the negotiating table."
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Yeah, air attacks! Now look at US casualties... when was the last KIA? The ANA was doing plenty of fighting on the ground in recent years, the US troops weren't involved in major combat operations anymore. You've basically had ANA + small numbers of advisors/SF doing the work on the ground etc.. in recent years.
 
dowie said:
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Yeah, air attacks! Now look at US casualties... when was the last KIA? The ANA was doing plenty of fighting on the ground in recent years, the US troops weren't involved in major combat operations anymore. You've basically had ANA + small numbers of advisors/SF doing the work on the ground etc.. in recent years.
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You said the us wasn't involved. Blatantly untrue. Even with that help they lost control of pretty much everything outside the major cities.

Some Afghans especially their own special forces Have been fighting and holding their own. But too few to have any significant impact.
 
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