Afghanistan Thread: 16 years Later, America is still there

[Andalusian girls]

but in earnestness, robust air support may have proven enough to allow the government forces to hold, it did in Iraq, and would have posited 0 risk of American casualties. war fatigue is understandable, but would not expending a handful of ordinance be worth the possibility of forestalling the horrors of the Taliban being revisited upon the region? not to mention the geopolitical risk to the United States if Jihadist groups begin fomenting under the umbrella of Taliban protection, as they once did.

there are no guarantees in war but given there hasn't been a combat casualty in Afghanistan in the past 18 months, and air support is essentially riskless for our personnel, it will prove a serious geopolitical misstep of the Biden administration to allow the nation to fall without lifting a finger. the only thing we risk is a handful of our stockpiled bombs and missiles, what we stand to gain is forty million people. one would have hoped this lesson had been learned with the experience of Iraq and ISIS.

[Andalusian girls]

i don't want American boys dying in a war Afghani boys should be fighting, but if it ain't gonna cost us any blood at least we could throw a drone or two their way damn

[Byrthnoth]

Temporary air support gives them an edge while they dig in / organize and could let them hold Kabul if it is close, but with the heretofore pitiful defense they have put up it really isn't clear to me that it will be even kind of close.

Afghan defense forces seem a lot like "Never Trump" Republicans in that they technically exist but it doesn't seem to matter to anyone but them.

[Andalusian girls]

ye reports are there's been a total collapse in Afghani Army morale since the U.S. withdrawal, warlords switching sides, generals of the regular army negotiating surrenders without a fight as their regulars melt away, etc. as BG servicemen have attested Afghan army soldiers were always more interested in getting high and getting a paycheck than learning to fight. right now almost the entirety of the government resistance is being borne by the nation's special forces (who are eager and effective but limited in number and stretched to the breaking point) and loyalist warlord militias.

[Anoat]

President Barack Dronebama would have never allowed this, COME ON PAPA JOE

[mallister]

Evacuating the embassy to a skeleton crew. Deploying 3000 troops within the next few days.

https://news.google.com/articles/CAI...S&ceid=US%3Aen

[6souls]

https://twitter.com/JulianRoepcke/st...56417617801222

[Anoat]

What a disaster.

[Outlaw]

I'm all for air support and drone strikes. As in striking anything so much as a microbe that tries to leave the country after everyone else is gone..

[chazzyphizzle]

what

[Cail]

The Taliban has already entered Kabul

[6souls]

The Taliban has already entered Kabul

Sounds like a total surrender. The Afghan government to give them a peaceful transfer of power.

[NotGreyheim]

20 years, 2 TRILLION dollars, so many lives...

[NotGreyheim]

GOOOOOOOOD MORNING KABUL

[Xno Kappa]

Good ol Aghani President has fled the country.

https://apnews.com/article/e1ed33fe0...a132c51b8e32a5

[Zealot]

The swiftness and completeness of this campaign really points to the conclusion that the Taliban had already been coordinating rolling in and taking control with local leaders/defenders long before U.S. soldiers pulled out.

[Day]

none of my business

[Tyrath]

The swiftness and completeness of this campaign really points to the conclusion that the Taliban had already been coordinating rolling in and taking control with local leaders/defenders long before U.S. soldiers pulled out.

I mean we did announce we were leaving ahead of time

[Byrthnoth]

It is pretty hard to look at this and say that air strikes would have done more than annoy them and step us towards the slippery slope of reengagement. There basically was no oppositional military here.

[Tymon]

If you polled the citizens prior to this you might have even seen majority support. For better or worse we were delaying the inevitable, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if the inevitable was what they wanted anyway.