I couldn't find a comprehensive Afghanistan thread, so I decided to make one. If there is one, and I just missed it, we can get rid of this one obviously.
Also, I suck at OPs, so deal with it
I couldn't find a comprehensive Afghanistan thread, so I decided to make one. If there is one, and I just missed it, we can get rid of this one obviously.
Also, I suck at OPs, so deal with it
i spent about three years there. it's a blast. that report would be the tiniest tip of the iceberg of the dumb shit and ludicrous decisions i saw.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lashkarg...inkId=38967713
A local police chief in Afghanistan says a suicide car bombing targeted Afghan soldiers lining up outside a bank in southern Helmand province, killing at least 29 people.
The governor of Helmand province put the death toll in the bombing outside the bank at 29, saying most of those killed in the explosion were civilians. Governor Hayatullah Hayat said the attack outside the Kabul Bank in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, also wounded 60 people.
In other news Afghanistan just got Test status for its cricket team.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/40364481
That's good, for those of you who don't understand this silly game.
it's hard not to go off on a pretty terrible racist diatribe here. the place could be a paradise but it won't ever be, and it's in equal measure because the country is sandwiched between iran and pakistan (with russia looming large in the background), our inept involvement post war, and the afghani's own peculiar mix of fatalism, ignorance, and religion.
on the other hand, the people are fucking survivors and there's a lot to admire about them (when they're not too busy trying to kill each other, or you) and holy shit the food is amazing. joe average on the street doesn't hate us, he doesn't give any more of a fuck about us than the average redneck here cares about anywhere else. there's a lot of resentment about the mismanagement that is going into the country but that's more focused inward on its own internal politics than anything else.
things may be radically different now, i don't have many people still in country to talk to any more and i've been home since 2010. the folks i still know say really not a lot's changed, but there's been a ramp up of attacks this year and the hospital i used to work at was actually attacked and shot up, where that would have been suicide to even contemplate when i was there (lot of warlords sent family there).
take that for whatever it's worth. there are volumes written after about afghanistan and it sure as hell makes for fascinating reading. i found the reality on the ground much different. there's a level of pervasive poverty and ignorance that simply has to be experienced to be believed.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...y-acknowledged
Pentagon reveals that the actual number of troops in the country is 11,000. Before they said the number was 8,400. They are to get an additional 4,000 sometime in the near future.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49559493
The U.S. is negotiating with the Taliban to remove 5400 troops within 20 weeks. In the meantime, the Taliban have continued to carry out bombings in the country.
Zalmay Khalilzad revealed details of the long-awaited deal for the first time in a TV interview after briefing Afghan leaders on the agreement.
But he said final approval still rested with US President Donald Trump.
A huge blast rocked Kabul as the interview aired.
The Taliban said it was behind the attack, which killed at least five civilians and wounded dozens more. It said foreign forces were the target.
The bomb targeted a residential compound housing foreigners and the Taliban said gunmen were also involved.
The militants now control more territory than at any time since the 2001 US invasion and have so far refused to talk to the Afghan government, whom they deride as American puppets.
"We have agreed that if the conditions proceed according to the agreement, we will leave within 135 days five bases in which we are present now," Mr Khalilzad said.
Lol, good luck fellas.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49624132
Trump says the deal is off.
In a series of tweets, Mr Trump said he had been set to meet senior Taliban leaders at Camp David on Sunday.
However he cancelled the meeting and called off negotiations after the group admitted to an attack in Kabul that killed a US soldier.
On Thursday, a Kabul car bomb, claimed by the Taliban killed 10 people including a US soldier.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Stonekett...84817307283457
Where is the lie?If Obama had announced he had SECRETLY invited the Taliban to the United States on the eve of 9-11, Republicans would have impeached him, tried him for treason, and hanged him on Washington Mall on live television while waving their guns and their bibles in utter fury.
Happy 18th birthday to Operation Enduring Freedom.
appropriately named
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/1...or-3-militants
The Taliban has released an American and an Australian in exchange for three commanders.
Kevin King, an American, and Timothy Weeks, an Australian, were abducted at gunpoint from a car in 2016 just outside the walls of the American University of Afghanistan, in Kabul. Both worked as teachers at the university.
In an address broadcast on state television, Ghani said he had granted the "conditional release" of three members of the Haqqani network, which is linked to the Taliban.
"We have decided to release these three Taliban prisoners who were arrested outside of Afghanistan," Ghani said, in order "to facilitate direct peace negotiations," The Associated Press reported.
Ghani said the Taliban figures that were being released are Anas Haqqani, Haji Mali Khan and Hafiz Rashid.
Looks like we may be moving towards getting out of Afghanistan, I guess. Guess Trump's 9/11 stunt didn't derail it too much.
Washington Post put out a report today that the military intentionally manipulated Afghanistan reports to paint a better picture as they knew within the first 3 years that we had no chance of success and all the money spent was being wasted.
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
Yeah the meat of that report was floating around when I was there in 2007 and nobody did shit about it then aside from grin sheepishly and shrug.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51264744
An Air Force Bombardier E-11A (spy plane) has gone down in an area controlled by the Taliban.
Supposedly it's one of only four that the Air Force has.Col Sonny Leggett said: "While the cause of crash is under investigation, there are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire."
The aircraft crashed in Deh Yak district, Ghazni province, an area with a strong Taliban presence.
It is unclear how many people were on board.
Taliban social media accounts have posted unverified footage showing a burnt-out plane with US Air Force markings.
The video shows a Bombardier E-11A - the type of jet used by the US Air Force for electronic surveillance over Afghanistan.