Going well

Because I can't post it on the Afghanistan thread, there's a really good 2 part documentary by Rory Stewart about how historically terrible it's been going into Afghanistan.
It's called The Great Game after the Kipling book and is on YouTube


I remember writing blueys to my cousin in Helmand, and even then he seemed to think the whole exercise was a waste of time/life/effort.
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
Biden saying US troops shouldn't be dying in a war the Afghans won't fight, he's got a point.
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You have to agree, if 300,000 massively armed and trained military drop their weapons and disappear into the ether why should the Americans fight for them. When would it end. Never.
 
So ...... if Afghanistan becomes a base for terrorist groups once again and they attack targets in the west ...... what do we do ?
 
Biden has a point, but the support the Afghan army needed to fight was withdrawn and so they couldn’t fight in effect.
Clearly all too much too soon and everyone has been taken by surprise by the speed of the Taliban takeover.
In the short-term best we can hope for is that they will allow the aerial evacuation to continue for those who they do not really want around.
 
glasshalffull said:
Biden has a point, but the support the Afghan army needed to fight was withdrawn and so they couldn’t fight in effect.
Clearly all too much too soon and everyone has been taken by surprise by the speed of the Taliban takeover.
In the short-term best we can hope for is that they will allow the aerial evacuation to continue for those who they do not really want around.
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It was always on the cards. All the democratic candidates campaigned on withdrawal. Trump facilitated the release of thousands of Taliban when he met with their leader and would have pulled out in May if elected.
They/ we gave been there 20 years. Lots of lives lost/ trillions of dollars spent in arms and training. The way the Afghan government capitulated proves that any decision by whichever sitting president to withdraw is the right one.
I just wish they'd got all those Afghans who had worked for the West had had a chance to get out.
 
U
southshorepool said:
It was always on the cards. All the democratic candidates campaigned on withdrawal. Trump facilitated the release of thousands of Taliban when he met with their leader and would have pulled out in May if elected.
They/ we gave been there 20 years. Lots of lives lost/ trillions of dollars spent in arms and training. The way the Afghan government capitulated proves that any decision by whichever sitting president to withdraw is the right one.
I just wish they'd got all those Afghans who had worked for the West had had a chance to get out.
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I agree with a lot of that, and I suppose it depends on what happens from here.
The Taliban have got what they wanted and have been burned by the presence of terrorist insurgents on their patch before.
I presume they will have enough control to prevent that from happening again to any great extent if they want to?
In which case I imagine the West will move on and turn a blind eye to their abuse of power. If not how long before we are forced to go back in at far greater cost, and loss of life military and civilian than if a small supporting presence had maintained order.
 
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Does ‘this lot’ include all those women, children and the elderly that you seemed so concerned about yesterday or the 30 odd million Afghani’s who just want to lead a normal life

As for Haiti, aid is good but perhaps think twice before giving any to Oxfam
 
Recidivist3 said:
Does ‘this lot’ include all those women, children and the elderly that you seemed so concerned about yesterday or the 30 odd million Afghani’s who just want to lead a normal life

As for Haiti, aid is good but perhaps think twice before giving any to Oxfam
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I was just asking where they were Reci, I didn't say I was concerned.
 
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