U.S. mission in Afghanistan was to remove the Taliban but Taliban won!

[rayg]

U.S. mission in Afghanistan was to remove the Taliban from power but Taliban won

Daily Caller: The U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan had been meant to remove the Taliban from power and deny terrorist groups a safe base of operations following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. Just short of 20 years later, however, the Taliban has once again taken control of the Middle East country amid a chaotic U.S. withdrawal.

It might seem inexplicable as to how the world?s most powerful military and its allies in the region lost ground so quickly to a far smaller and less efficient group of Islamist militants. But in recent months, the U.S. military appears to have taken on priorities like teaching critical race theory, promoting gender ideology and monitoring soldiers for ?extremism.?

The U.S. presence in Afghanistan has cost around $2 trillion and resulted in the deaths of 2,400 U.S. troops, according to Fortune. The two-decade effort to train the Afghan national army, which cost around $83 billion, also went up in smoke as the Taliban in recent weeks took over much of the country and captured the capital city of Kabul.

[Art]

While not as bad as the cut and run (very fast) is the fact that we really didn't consult with our allies. Boris Johnson waited for two days for a call back from Biden. Angela Merkel is talking about a new alternative to NATO. The NATO allies had no real choice about participation in this. Once the mutual defense clause of the treaty was activated they were in. Some did some foot dragging but in the end they all ante-ed up. The statement by Biden that US credibility wasn't damaged is a lie of incredible proportions. I have to give our allies in Afghanistan a lot of credit. British and French paratroopers are actively scouring the country for their people. They haven't told their folks to get to the airport they are going to get them. The Germans, actually have their diplomats who are, obviously unarmed, doing the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRljm-zqGgY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rthKSEDw9TU

If you listen to the links one thing comes through. The Brits have decided we are not reliable and are going to rethink who they will cast their lot with in the future. Remember, as I said above, they were compelled by treaty in this one, it wasn't a voluntary effort on their part.

[Vern Humphrey]

This whole episode is disgraceful. The United States is far less influential and powerful as a result.

[Sandpebble]

This whole episode is disgraceful. The United States is far less influential and powerful as a result.

Vern, I'll agree this episode is disgraceful but the United states became less influential and powerful in the eyes of the world four years ago.

As far as this debacle go's.... it started in 1989 .

We supplied arms to the Mujahideen in the 80's for no other reason than to hurt the Russians . Nobody here in the United States gave a chit about Afghans then . And actually they don't now.

In 1989 we had the opportunity ...and we blew it. When the Russians left Afghanistan we turned our backs and invested our arms profit money elsewhere . We left the Afghans to go back to their tribal life and open to the best deal they could find..

Now I'm hearing all this sympathetic Fox stuff about the poor Afghans... bullchit, none of us here give a crap. This is nothing more than an opportunity to attack democrats .

[togor]

It's an interesting though Sandpebble: what if we didn't interfere with the Soviets back in the day. Would the last 40 years have gone better? Boy that's an interesting question.

You're right though, that the average American doesn't see a reason to care about Afghanistan. So long as they're not hatching terrorists, it's just another place in Asia we cannot comprehend.

[Art]

There have been reports that the US Brass is not happy with British and French troops operating in "flying groups" beyond the perimeter of Kabul Airport to retrieve their citizens and requested such missions end. There are two possible reasons for this; the confirmed presence of ISIS fighters around the perimeter makes it risky to come and go and/or it makes the US efforts to get its folks out look bad.

Whether that has happened as reported is almost beside the point. The point is the fact that they are actively in the field scarfing up their people and we are not. especially since the Franco-British operations have rescued some Americans.

Sandpebble is correct on this one. The time to "nation build" as a preventive measure was right after the Russians left before the crazies became too entrenched. There were people who advocated for investment in Afghanistan at that time but were rebuffed. There is no guarantee that would have worked but I believe the chance would have been better than it was in 2001.

[gpb]

There's good news on the Afghan front. President Biden has decided that he would personally negotiate contacts with Pan Am and TWA for flights to return Americans trapped in Afghanistan. President Biden said he expects rapid progress once he can find working numbers for Pan Am and TWA.

[dryheat]

-We supplied arms to the Mujahideen in the 80's for no other reason than to hurt the Russians . -

Truer words were never spoken. I remember the "news" reporting how the Russians were beating up on those poor muslims. Who cares about muslims?