Afghanistan What a tragedy!

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Jacques Strap
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7:58p, 8/15/21
I suspect many of us will look back and realize just how stupid it was to pull out like this. Only 2,500 troops in Afghanistan and no KIA in over one year. Now we are sending 6,000 back to secure the evacuation. Billions (Trillions?) invested in infrastructure and equipment all flushed.

EDIT: General Milley moves up terror threat to US after Taliban's gains in Afghanistan



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whiterock
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8:20p, 8/15/21
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whitetrash
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In reply to Jack Bauer • 8:36p, 8/15/21
Jack Bauer said:
Nothing scares the Taliban more than warnings from octogenarians

Using the old Obama foreign policy strategy of sending a strongly worded memo, stating that if our adversaries did not cease and desist their behavior, we would send a second, even more strongly worded memo.
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STxBear81
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8:38p, 8/15/21
I'm sure the Taliban is concerned with what the heck Pelosi says
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BellCountyBear
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In reply to whitetrash • 9:01p, 8/15/21
whitetrash said:
Jack Bauer said:
Nothing scares the Taliban more than warnings from octogenarians

Using the old Obama foreign policy strategy of sending a strongly worded memo, stating that if our adversaries did not cease and desist their behavior, we would send a second, even more strongly worded memo.
Don't forget BO's "red line" in Syria. Super effective!
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Jacques Strap
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9:06p, 8/15/21
Reddit updates from Kabul

https://www.reddit.com/r/afghanistan/comments/p4pc44/taliban_has_take_over_my_neighborhood_qanbar/

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Jacques Strap
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9:09p, 8/15/21
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Jacques Strap
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9:13p, 8/15/21
USAF having a gold medal night. Thank God for these and all the military people on the ground.



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Doc Holliday
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9:15p, 8/15/21
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Jacques Strap
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9:26p, 8/15/21
WSJ: 'Saigon on Steroids': The Desperate Rush to Flee Afghanistan

Today was one of the worst days of my life we are leaving people we know behind in danger. It's terrifying"


Quote:
KABULThe lucky few were already inside, crowded onto the last patch of government territory that hadn't fallen to the Taliban. Outside, as thousands of civilians surged to break through the perimeter of Hamid Karzai International Airport, security forces fired gunshots into the air to force them back.

Afghanistan was falling and hundreds of civilians struggled to get on board the few remaining planes waiting to carry people to safety. Afghan security forces and several dozen U.S. Marines rushed through the military terminal to secure the tarmac. A warning boomed in Pashto: "Please go back, please go back."

"It's crazy. It is out of control now," said Shoaib, an Afghan interpreter who had talked his way through several checkpoints.

Inside the terminal, Afghans with small children sat dazed next to European special-forces operators with their sniper rifles and high-tech helmets equipped with night vision and infrared tags. Outside, the engines of helicopters and transport planes provided a steady, almost lulling, hum. Once in awhile, groups of evacueesthe staff of the Indian embassy, or Bulgarian security contractorsdonned helmets and body armor and set off toward their plane.
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ATL Bear
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In reply to bear2be2 • 9:27p, 8/15/21
bear2be2 said:
ATL Bear said:
The question isn't about the right/wrong of the exit, but the poor planning of the actual departure. I have a friend at the Kabul airport right now. It's getting very real.

How do you depart in a way that ends differently? If the Afghan army is incapable of or uninterested in combatting the Taliban, how do you pull ever pull the troops in a way that doesn't end in disaster?
You draw down the military last. It's not that difficult. We clearly overestimated the Afghan Army's resolve.
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Jacques Strap
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9:40p, 8/15/21

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Jacques Strap
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9:45p, 8/15/21
I guess this means every single US military plane that can carry a load of people is flying to Kabul.

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Jacques Strap
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9:54p, 8/15/21
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LIB,MR BEARS
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In reply to Jack Bauer • 10:14p, 8/15/21
Jack Bauer said:
Joe Biden - "'There's going to be no circumstance where you're going to see people being lifted off the roof of a embassy of the U.S. from Afghanistan'


Biden's statement indicates that this possibility existed and they discussed it. The fact the administration still thought it wouldn't happen demonstrates their complete ineptitude. If it's not ineptitude, it's arrogance.
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Whiskey Pete
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In reply to LIB,MR BEARS • 10:17p, 8/15/21
LIB,MR BEARS said:
Jack Bauer said:
Joe Biden - "'There's going to be no circumstance where you're going to see people being lifted off the roof of a embassy of the U.S. from Afghanistan'


Biden's statement indicates that this possibility existed and they discussed it. The fact the administration still thought it wouldn't happen demonstrates their complete ineptitude. If it's not ineptitude, it's arrogance.
With a splash of dementia thrown in
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Jack Bauer
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10:58p, 8/15/21
WH Press Secretary Psaki is going on vacation this week!!!

Not much going on the world or anything.
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Jack Bauer
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11:04p, 8/15/21


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midgett
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11:14p, 8/15/21
Our military leaders have been focused on more important things than withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Soldiers need to complete critical race theory training and plan their mandatory vaccinations. Kudos!
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RD2WINAGNBEAR86
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In reply to midgett • 11:21p, 8/15/21
LOLOLOLOLOL!!!! What an embarrassing Cluster **** we have become. Thank you, Democratic Party warriors!
"Never underestimate Joe's ability to **** things up!"

-- Barack Obama
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Basement Brigade
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In reply to whitetrash • 1:35a, 8/16/21
whitetrash said:
Jack Bauer said:
Nothing scares the Taliban more than warnings from octogenarians

Using the old Obama foreign policy strategy of sending a strongly worded memo, stating that if our adversaries did not cease and desist their behavior, we would send a second, even more strongly worded memo.


Lol sounds like Monty python
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riflebear
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In reply to bularry • 5:26a, 8/16/21
bularry said:
4th and Inches said:
Huge issue during Obama administration, not so much an issue during the Trump administration, becoming a huge issue again in the Biden administration. I may be reaching here but I think there is a common thread..
explain. how was it not an issue in Trump's admin? Biden is doing what Trump had in his platform.. which is ironic


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Jacques Strap
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6:11a, 8/16/21






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Jacques Strap
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6:11a, 8/16/21
Jacques Strap
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6:12a, 8/16/21
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LIB,MR BEARS
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6:31a, 8/16/21
If our strategy was to neutralize Afghan forces, get our "friends" killed, and to look like complete fools, would we have done anything different?
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HuMcK
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In reply to riflebear • 6:32a, 8/16/21
That's extra rich coming from him. Taliban was already violating the terms of their "deal" with offensives before Trunp left office. They wanted us gone months ago, Trump literally criticized Biden for pushing the date from May to September, if anything the withdrawal would have been more chaotic and unorganized back then if that's possible. Extra irony is someone that admin had released from prison in 2018 is the presumptive next Taloban leader of Afghanistan.

It's not an accident that the deal they struck scheduled the handover during the next admin's term, they knew how this was always going to end no matter who was in office, especially after the large prisoner release.
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HuMcK
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6:35a, 8/16/21
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Jacques Strap
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6:40a, 8/16/21
Three stowaways 'fall to their deaths from plane' and five are killed at airport as increasingly desperate Afghans climb on MOVING US Air Force jet as they flee from Taliban:

  • Three stowaways are believed to have died after bodies were seen plunging from a US transport aircraft
  • Video showed thousands rushing across the runway as US troops fired warning shots into the air
  • US official said the troops opened fire to deter people forcing their way onto plane filled with US diplomats
  • It is not clear whether the five who died on the ground were killed in a stampede or American gunfire
  • Chaos comes amid a 'shameful' silence from Joe Biden despite greatest foreign policy disaster for decades
  • President released a statement on Saturday to blame Donald Trump but has not spoken publicly on the retreat
  • Taliban marched into Kabul victorious on Sunday after a blistering advance in the wake of US withdrawal
  • One chieftain in the presidential palace proudly proclaimed he had previously been an inmate at Guantanamo

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Jacques Strap
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6:50a, 8/16/21
Not much cover. Civilian airport. Why did Biden not protect and maintain Bagram AFB until all people were out?!? Hope no mortar attacks occur from civilian locations forcing us to return fire into civilian area.

I suspect (hope) the Taliban will leave the airport alone.

I think Taliban will round up as many hostages as they can who are trapped behind their checkpoints. Best case scenario is we ransom them. Worst case I do not want to think about.

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Jacques Strap
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6:54a, 8/16/21
Joint Statement from the Department of State and Department of Defense: Update on Afghanistan

Begin text:


At present we are completing a series of steps to secure the Hamid Karzai International Airport to enable the safe departure of U.S. and allied personnel from Afghanistan via civilian and military flights. Over the next 48 hours, we will have expanded our security presence to nearly 6,000 troops, with a mission focused solely on facilitating these efforts and will be taking over air traffic control. Tomorrow and over the coming days, we will be transferring out of the country thousands of American citizens who have been resident in Afghanistan, as well as locally employed staff of the U.S. mission in Kabul and their families and other particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals. And we will accelerate the evacuation of thousands of Afghans eligible for U.S. Special Immigrant Visas, nearly 2,000 of whom have already arrived in the United States over the past two weeks. For all categories, Afghans who have cleared security screening will continue to be transferred directly to the United States. And we will find additional locations for those yet to be screened.

End text.
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Canon
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In reply to HuMcK • 7:03a, 8/16/21
HuMcK said:
That's extra rich coming from him. Taliban was already violating the terms of their "deal" with offensives before Trunp left office. They wanted us gone months ago, Trump literally criticized Biden for pushing the date from May to September, if anything the withdrawal would have been more chaotic and unorganized back then if that's possible. Extra irony is someone that admin had released from prison in 2018 is the presumptive next Taloban leader of Afghanistan.

It's not an accident that the deal they struck scheduled the handover during the next admin's term, they knew how this was always going to end no matter who was in office, especially after the large prisoner release.


Your relationship with reality is so tenuous, you might as well be posting about Hogwarts.
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ATL Bear
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7:18a, 8/16/21
Just FYI, my friend was able to get on a transport to Bulgaria. Interested to hear the full story when he's back stateside.
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Jacques Strap
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7:23a, 8/16/21
I wonder if they are clearing the runway of debris for takeoff or clearing the runway of people. Some stowaways tried to hang onto a USAF jet earlier and ultimately fell to their death so maybe they are worried more will try the same.

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Jacques Strap
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In reply to ATL Bear • 7:23a, 8/16/21
ATL Bear said:
Just FYI, my friend was able to get on a transport to Bulgaria. Interested to hear the full story when he's back stateside.
Thank you for the update!
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