President Biden thread...

[Cotton]

What's to stop any of them from immediately heading to Mexico and strolling up through our southern border?

Not a damn thing.

 

[jsmith6919]

 

[Cotton]

So damn sad.

 

[bbgun]

oh boy

 

[jsmith6919]

 

[bbgun]

20 years, billions of dollars, and we couldn't beat a bunch of guys in tattered robes wielding bolt-action rifles.

 

[NoDak]

20 years, billions of dollars, and we couldn't beat a bunch of guys in tattered robes wielding bolt-action rifles.

It's not that we couldn't, but that we were not allowed to.

It's no different than Vietnam.

 

[bbgun]

 

[1bigfan13]

I don't see how anyone can blame the current or any of the previous administrations for this. IMO, the fault lies squarely at the feet of the Afghan government and security forces.

For 20 years US and international partners gave them endless supplies of money, military equipment (armored vehicles, weapons, helicopters, unmanned surveillance aircraft, etc.), countless hours of training and mentorship, and much more. And those bastards didn't even have the guts to even try to fight for their own damn country.

I wouldn't fault them if they lost to the Taliban in a long drawn out fight, but when you simply abandon your posts without even putting up a fight.....after you've received 20 years worth of international support....that tells me that you just didn't care. If the US would've stayed for 20 more years we'd see the same outcome we're witnessing today. Because they just don't care.

If you want to blame Trump, Biden, Obama, or Bush for anything you can blame them for painting false pictures in the public regarding the competence of the Afghan military and government. But other than that I'm not blaming any of them what's playing out in Afghanistan.

I remember being in Iraq in 2008 when Petraeus was in charge and he and other Generals used to run the same PR game. One time in particular Petraeus was doing an interview with the media from the streets of Baghdad during spring 2008. During the interview he and the members of the media walked the streets of Baghdad in order to portray this image of calm and tranquility in a newly "secured" Baghdad. But unknown to members of the media and general public was the US conducted a ton of security sweeps and clearing operations for about 2 weeks leading up to that interview in order to stage that scene of tranquility. Before those 2 weeks and after the interview, Baghdad was the same security mess that it's been since 2003.

 

[1bigfan13]

This Afghanistan cut and run is the biggest foreign policy disaster of our adult lifetimes. We abandoned all our positions and left them our enemies tons of military equipment without even destroying it first.

Wrong.

We didn't leave them anything. The Afghan government/security forces left that stuff.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Wrong.

We didn't leave them anything. The Afghan government/security forces left that stuff.

Did we give it to them, the Afghan forces? The whole thing is a fucking mess.

 

[1bigfan13]

Did we give it to them, the Afghan forces? The whole thing is a fucking mess.

Yep. Americans and other international partners. Because we were dumb enough to assume that after 20 years of side-by-side operational training and such that they'd actually pick the equipment up and at least attempt to use it to defend themselves.

 

[Sheik]

Texas, Arizona, and California should be welcoming in some pretty dangerous “asylum seekers” here pretty soon.

Stay away from ball games and shopping malls.

 

[1bigfan13]

They're saying the Taliban immediately released up to 5000 prisoners, the most hardened terrorists and haters of America.

I'm pretty sure but not 100% positive that the worst of the worst that you're referring to actually get moved to GITMO. But if you're in Bagram prison you're associated with terrorism in some shape or form. I'm sure there are a good number of actual trigger pullers in there but my guess is most of them are the admin/propaganda/financier types.

I haven't worked with detainee ops information in several years so I'm not sure what the ratios are now.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Wrong.

We didn't leave them anything. The Afghan government/security forces left that stuff.

So our intelligence was so stupid it had no idea they'd immediately surrender it to our enemies?

Just like Biden and Blinken said this would not happen... and then it not only happened, it happened at light speed.

 

[Cotton]

I'm pretty sure but not 100% positive that the worst of the worst that you're referring to actually get moved to GITMO. But if you're in Bagram prison you're associated with terrorism in some shape or form. I'm sure there are a good number of actual trigger pullers in there but my guess is most of them are the admin/propaganda/financier types.

I haven't worked with detainee ops information in several years so I'm not sure what the ratios are now.

Well, if they control the cities, they control the prisons and can do whatever they like with the prisoners. This situation is just going to get much much worse.

 

[Cotton]

Texas, Arizona, and California should be welcoming in some pretty dangerous “asylum seekers” here pretty soon.

Stay away from ball games and shopping malls.

This is why this whole thing bothers me. 100%.

 

[1bigfan13]

So our intelligence was so stupid it had no idea they'd immediately surrender it to our enemies?

Just like Biden and Blinken said this would not happen... and then it not only happened, it happened at light speed.

Those in the intelligence community and those military members who have served as military advisors and trainers have always known about the incompetence of the Afghan military. Unfortunately the talking heads in DC and top military brass have a bad habit of painting rosy pictures of conditions on the ground.

 

[Cotton]

Those in the intelligence community and those military members who have served as military advisors and trainers have always known about the incompetence of the Afghan military. Unfortunately the talking heads in DC and top military brass have a bad habit of painting rosy pictures of conditions on the ground.

This is a problem.

 

[1bigfan13]

Well, if they control the cities, they control the prisons and can do whatever they like with the prisoners. This situation is just going to get much much worse.

Something to help you sleep better at night.

Russia has been negotiating and have been in political talks with the Taliban for about a year now because even they knew the Taliban would likely control a majority if not all of Afghanistan.