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Again, I feel like this was a well orchestrated move by Trump.  The promise of a Spring withdrawal was to get votes.  If he won, he could do it during a time when there was statistically less expected pushback and violence.  And if he had to wait until Fall, like Biden, it's not like his withdrawal procedure would be touted by the media no matter how well it went.  And if he lost reelection, the failure is now on Biden's shoulders.

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My concern in all of this is 4 fold:

1.  The hit on our image world wide.  Are we now perceived as a paper tiger?

2. China - filling the vacuum.  China has already said they would recognize the Taliban govt once/if it took control.  China now becomes the influential leader in that area of the world with out leading.  One could argue, that Afghan is to China what Central America is to the USA (Perhaps the USA should tend to its own neighborhood's issues??)

3. Taiwan & S. Korea.  China may be all of the more willing to make a bold move to forceably annex Taiwan back into its country.   N Korea may be emboldened to  to move on S. Korea (less likely than a China move on Taiwan but not out of the question wt the Kim family leadership).   Is there concern in Taiwan and S. Korea on the steadfastness of the USA's support of those 2 countries.  Also, does Russia now take advantage of us in East Europe?

4.  A new wave of terrorism around the world aimed at US interests.  Does Afghan now become again a rejuvenated terrorist base?

 

Finger pointing:   Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden - enough to go all around.  Primarily it is on Bush & his failure to understand that we can't nation build in that type of culture.  Should have gotten out after hitting the terrorists and the Taliban.     Obama - caught in  a bad situation.  Perhaps the on going nation building and allowing a corrupt govt to be the recipient of out generosity.   Trump - a date certain exit plan and negotiating wt terrorists without the involvement of the Afghan govt.  Having the naivety of believing the Taliban would abide by any agreement - So Much Winning.   Biden - too rigid in his exit strategy.  He blamed Trump's plan but he is the man in charge and could have altered how this thing would end.   Regardless on who negotiated the exit strategy, it will be perceived as a Biden failure. 

 

 

These 2 articles note the failure of our intelligence team and the administration's failure to understand that we were paying for a house of cards - a corrupt one at that.

An article before the fall of Kabul.
https://vitalinterests.thedispatch.com/p/afghanistan-is-a-failure-of-military

Quote

 

On July 8, President Joe Biden thought it was necessary to defend his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan once again. The president had announced America’s retreat from its longest war less than three months earlier.

Whether President Biden knew or not, the Afghan government was teetering as he spoke in mid-July. He placed the onus squarely on the shoulders of Afghanistan’s security forces. 

“Together, with our NATO Allies and partners, we have trained and equipped … nearly 300,000 current serving members of the military—of the Afghan National Security Force, and many beyond that who are no longer serving,” President Biden said. “Add to that, hundreds of thousands more Afghan National Defense and Security Forces [ANDSF] trained over the last two decades.”

The president went all-in on the ANDSF, arguing that America’s partners had the capacity and capability to defend their country, which America was leaving behind. “We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools—let me emphasize: all the tools, training, and equipment of any modern military,” the president elaborated.  “We provided advanced weaponry.  And we’re going to continue to provide funding and equipment.  And we’ll ensure they have the capacity to maintain their air force.”

A reporter asked: “Is a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan now inevitable?”

President Biden pressed his case, saying the Afghans have “300,000 well-equipped” troops, who are “as well-equipped as any army in the world,” with an air force the Taliban lacked. And they were going up “against something like 75,000 Taliban.”  

“It is not inevitable,” the president said. 

On paper, President Biden may have appeared correct. The Afghans should have enjoyed a numerical and technical advantage. That was the analysis Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave Biden. Later in July, even as the insurgency was racking up wins, Milley claimed that the Afghans “have the capacity to sufficiently fight and defend their country.”

The U.S. military has repeatedly reported—again, on paper—that there are hundreds of thousands of Afghans ready to defend their country. While U.S. generals have expressed reservations at times, they’ve also portrayed the ANDSF as a much more capable force—one that certainly wouldn’t be routed within just a few short months.

It was all a mirage. Wars aren’t fought on paper. 

 

 

 

One after:

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-afghanistan-taliban-5934ef05b0094d0189b5d900d2380179

 

Quote

 

President Joe Biden and other top U.S. officials were stunned on Sunday by the pace of the Taliban’s nearly complete takeover of Afghanistan, as the planned withdrawal of American forces urgently became a mission to ensure a safe evacuation.

The speed of the Afghan government’s collapse and the ensuing chaos posed the most serious test of Biden as commander in chief, and he was the subject of withering criticism from Republicans who said that he had failed.

Biden campaigned as a seasoned expert in international relations and has spent months downplaying the prospect of an ascendant Taliban while arguing that Americans of all political persuasions have tired of a 20-year war, a conflict that demonstrated the limits of money and military might to force a Western-style democracy on a society not ready or willing to embrace it.

By Sunday, though, leading figures in the administration acknowledged they were caught off guard with the utter speed of the collapse of Afghan security forces. The challenge of that effort became clear after reports of sporadic gunfire at the Kabul airport prompted Americans to shelter as they awaited flights to safety after the U.S. Embassy was completely evacuated.

 

 

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21 minutes ago, Redux said:

Translation: "SHUT UP AND LIKE IT AND PRETEND IT DOESN'T MATTER"

 

Also Redux:

On 8/11/2021 at 12:52 PM, Redux said:

https://www.axios.com/inside-the-biden-administration-as-afghanistan-collapses-a4eff347-6d99-471b-931d-22fd52c17e0c.html

 

(Seeds being planted to make people "okay" with us not pulling all the troops)

 

On 8/11/2021 at 3:52 PM, Redux said:

 

Come on what?  Withdraw the troops, people need to stop making excuses.  20 effing years.  And now the media is going to start selling sob stories about "How could we POSSIBLY leave now?  They NEED us there!"

 

And this is exactly what they want, a reason to stay.  They saw this coming, they knew when the violence would upscale and they pushed the withdrawal back to coincide.  Withdrawal successfull or not, how long until we send them back if the media starts telling us it was the wrong move?  And Trump is no better, he set the withdrawal for just AFTER the election.  What a STRANGE time to do it right?  Ensure you get votes because of that promise AND do it during an expected low terroristic violence timeframe.

 

It's complete crap and you know it.  Either get them all out or double down and say "Welp!  We've screwed this up at every turn for 2 decades but we're gonna see it through now!".  What a joke

 

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Just now, Redux said:

 

Are you trying to prove a point by misinterpreting what I said?  Wait, of course you are.

 

Bad faith posting right here ladies and gentlemen, but it goes ignored.

You went on a tirade about how we needed to get the troops out and Biden wasn't going to do it. Now you're on a tirade that there were consequences for getting the troops out.

 

And then you pretend I'm the one arguing in bad faith for pointing it out.

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6 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

You went on a tirade about how we needed to get the troops out and Biden wasn't going to do it. Now you're on a tirade that there were consequences for getting the troops out.

 

What tirade?  Where is this tirade?  I also said, pretty clearly and correctly, that as we started pulling troops the violence would escalate.  But feel free to cherry pick.  I also said many times this thing has been a failure for 20yrs.  Tell me, where have I once backtracked about wanting to pull out?  I wanted to pull out in Spring as originally scheduled.  Instead, we pushed it back to the Fall.  And during the extended withdrawal THIS is the level of competence in which we do it?  Extra measures could've been established during that extended time frame.  Instead we have video of locals plummeting off the side of a plane as we flee.

 

Now, tell me, what was the point of extending the withdrawal?  Because it looks like it made it worse not better.

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10 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

And then you pretend I'm the one arguing in bad faith for pointing it out.

 

I'm not then one pretending.

 

This thing has always been a disaster.  There was never going to be a happy ending.  I wanted the withdrawal sooner rather than later.  This exit has been flubbed and even more embarrassingly flubbed with extra time to do it.  Does that summarize my thoughts or are you going to twist it into something it's not?

 

2 minutes ago, Born N Bled Red said:

20210816_105257.jpg

 

Biden isn't to blame for pulling out.  Biden is to blame for HOW we pulled out.  Swing and a miss.

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