Race to oblivion ! Afghanistan vs. South Vietnam edition

[Kevin]

3 hours ago, Blarg said:

Obama didn't want this collapse on his record along with the Syria collapse when ISIS raged through there and Iraq. Trump kept pulling troops out and got criticized because this instability was bound to happen and the generals didn't want their 20 years to look like wasted time. But the drawdown of troops was initiated by Trump, not Biden. 

The troop level in Afghanistan when Obama took office was a lot bigger than when he left. Trump continued to reduce the numbers along with withdrawing troop levels in Syria but unfortunately some of those troops just got re-deployed elsewhere in the ME, some guarding oil fields.

No president has the balls to get out completely. 

[Kotchman]

Yes we need to step  out the way and let these fools kill each other. A Muslim civil war or Saudi/ Iran war is a win win for the world.  

[Lhalo]

They cut the power to Kabul. This will be an interesting 24 hours. We’ll see if the Taliban decide to attack the airport or not. From what I understand the airport is nearly impossible to defend and there are hills around it. All the Taliban would have to do is lob a few mortars on the runway and the evacuation would become extremely difficult. 

[gotbeer]

14 minutes ago, Lhalo said:

They cut the power to Kabul. This will be an interesting 24 hours. We’ll see if the Taliban decide to attack the airport or not. From what I understand the airport is nearly impossible to defend and there are hills around it. All the Taliban would have to do is lob a few mortars on the runway and the evacuation would become extremely difficult. 

They will let the US and other countries leave.  Taking hostages and/or killing Americans/other countries will only bring everyone back in the fight.  They have the country, so why risk a proxy drone war.

[Lhalo]

50 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

They will let the US and other countries leave.  Taking hostages and/or killing Americans/other countries will only bring everyone back in the fight.  They have the country, so why risk a proxy drone war.

One reason I see them attacking is for optics. The videos of Saigon 2.0 with repeating aloha snackbars being yelled in the background would go a long way to put fear in the Taliban’s enemies and make the US look weak. 

Another reason is because they want to kill every American they see. Either way that place looks exactly how we found it except there are new aircraft, infrastructure and weapons for the Taliban to play with. 

[Lhalo]

There’s a good chance China will control Afghanistan soon. They wants them some rare earths and they’re not afraid to annihilate entire cities. There aren’t any rules of engagement with those organ harvesting commies. Just ask the Uighurs. 

https://nypost.com/2021/08/13/china-prepares-to-recognize-taliban-if-it-topples-afghan-govt-report/amp/

[Redondo]

6 hours ago, Lhalo said:

There’s a good chance China will control Afghanistan soon. They wants them some rare earths and they’re not afraid to annihilate entire cities. There aren’t any rules of engagement with those organ harvesting commies. Just ask the Uighurs. 

https://nypost.com/2021/08/13/china-prepares-to-recognize-taliban-if-it-topples-afghan-govt-report/amp/

The Russians and Americans both couldn't fix the situation

China will find out that it's not as easy as it appears

[tdawg87]

Fuck China.

[gotbeer]

8 hours ago, Lhalo said:

One reason I see them attacking is for optics. The videos of Saigon 2.0 with repeating aloha snackbars being yelled in the background would go a long way to put fear in the Taliban’s enemies and make the US look weak. 

Another reason is because they want to kill every American they see. Either way that place looks exactly how we found it except there are new aircraft, infrastructure and weapons for the Taliban to play with. 

 

The more I think about it.  I think this might be Iran 2.0.  Whatever you say about Trump, other countries wouldn't pull crap on us, because Trump was crazy enough that he would have thrown everything we had back at them.  Biden on the other hand seems more of a Carter type.  

[St1ck]

AP News: Officials: Afghan president has left the country
https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-bagram-e1ed33fe0c665ee67ba132c51b8e32a5

 

[Spirit]

90 days ... 72 hours.  Close enough.

 

[Blarg]

1 hour ago, Redondo said:

The Russians and Americans both couldn't fix the situation

China will find out that it's not as easy as it appears

They are not trying to fix anything. It's one totalitarian government making a trade deal with another. They don't give a shit if it comes with human rights violations or even genocide. 

[fan_since79]

copied from another site:

I wonder if the Taliban has enough discipline to wait for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 before blowing up the embassy.

[Lhalo]

 

[Lhalo]

Not looking good. 

 

[Blarg]

Meanwhile Biden is on vacation until Wednesday. 

[Crampknees]

Nuke the place and let God sort it out

[Rico]

Chatter is the Afghan army hadn't been paid in months.

[Lhalo]

Just now, Rico said:

Chatter is the Afghan army hadn't been paid in months.

Ya I’ve read that too. All the “leaders” over there kept it for themselves and then bailed to Uzbekistan. 

[Blarg]

Twenty years and we proved you cannot train tigers not to eat their young. 

[gotbeer]

19 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Twenty years and we proved you cannot train tigers not to eat their young. 

 

[fan_since79]

The Taliban is saying there will be a peaceful takeover and some form of 'amnesty', but few believe that. It will probably be more like the Killing Fields. 

We're dealing with savages and always have been. The incredible stupidity of American policymakers. Never ends.

 

[Crampknees]

After 9/11 we went and strung up Saddam for hummus farts and occupied a country thinking we would change cave people pedophiles under the guise of freedom and protection, meanwhile the Saudi's are buying up Park Avenue.  If it weren't so profitable we would never have this problem. 

[fan_since79]

“We are not withdrawing, we are staying, the embassy is staying, our programs are staying … If there is a significant deterioration in security … I don’t think it’s going to be something that happens from a Friday to a Monday.”

-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, July 7.

[Kevin]

2 hours ago, gotbeer said:

 

The more I think about it.  I think this might be Iran 2.0.  Whatever you say about Trump, other countries wouldn't pull crap on us, because Trump was crazy enough that he would have thrown everything we had back at them.  Biden on the other hand seems more of a Carter type.  

And that would have perpetuated the notion of the "forever war." Bush, Obama and Trump  have thrown everything at the ME for the past twenty years and this is still happening. Biden is occasionally lobbing shit at them and in Syria dealing with the Iranians. It's pointless and it is exactly what Bin Laden wanted when it came the U.S. spending valuable resources waging war in the ME. 

Hell, NK was still trying to develop their nuclear programs while Trump was in office. In today's world, no amount of flexing is going to do anything. Just not how the world works anymore.