Afghanistan in Transition with US Departure.

Isn't Pakistan the elephant in the room? They sort of invented the Taliban and still support them. Dealing with them is not that much different from dealing with radical Islam anywhere in the region. We can't trust them as evidenced by where Osama was found.

 

I view it more as a split within Pakistan. I could be wrong; it's been some time since I read briefly on it. But I think that there is a part of Pakistan that opposes the Taliban. My worry is that AQ/ISIS type groups are there to increase that division in hopes of one day achieving a level of instability that allows them to obtain at least some nuclear material or weapons.

 

Osama was not Taliban, he was Al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda and ISIS are not Taliban.

The concern is that the Taliban will allow Al Qaeda and ISIS to set up camp in Afghanistan again, which could happen because Taliban suddenly find themselves in a situation where they have a nation to run, and they have no idea how to do it and no money to do it. They might not have time to police the countryside, and they also might not have the will to do so, as they didn't in 1990s. The Taliban might strike deals with other countries, and maybe even the US. After all, the 2020 deal was all about transitioning power to the Taliban, so its not like its a surprise that they are now in power.

 

I didn't say Osama was Taliban. Might note that he was living in Taliban held Afghanistan when 9/11 was planned and executed so there were ties. Pakistan version of CIA supported both. That compound where he was living was almost in rock throwing distance from Pakistan's West Point. The whole area is a Gordian knot.

 

OK... so the ultimate goal of a thug is to get money... that's the same goal as a guy that goes to Harvard business school. So Ivy League grads and thugs are the same too? Your reasoning isn't flawed... its silly.

 

In what way?

 

@Pro_Line_FL
@Heartburn


Uighur insurrection will be China's new worry.
Afghanistan Islamist will be the teachers and China's problem.


Moi

​

 

No One risked their life for me over there.
Not those with no uniform
And those in uniform should know better than to
merely follow orders.

BTW I supported Tulsi Gabbard and still do​

https://www.tulsigabbard.com/
Active military service, deployed during her campaign.
She addressed the problem of deployments without
firm goals. I mean Osama bin Laden is still dead.
After so eloquently taking down Kamala on her record

​

Gabbard's campaign was later sabotaged by no coverage.


Moi

​

 

In transition indeed.

• 
  Retribution and revenge high on Taliban's domestic agenda

 

Last U.S. military flight leaves Kabul, bringing an end to America’s longest war

"
The Pentagon said the United States had pulled out the last of its troops and the evacuation operation at Kabul’s international airport had ended. The departure caps a chaotic withdrawal that was rushed by the Taliban’s rapid takeover of the country and scarred by a deadly suicide attack that killed 13 U.S. service members and scores of Afghans. More than 120,000 people had been evacuated since Aug. 14, amounting to one of the largest airlifts in history, but the deteriorating security situation and chaos at the airport resulted in some Americans and thousands of Afghan allies being left behind."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...9.Hmuo6bBkLHp9KHBBaT0Y_4-oWnMqBdINAD1iCFux02w

It is the 31st in Afghanistan..........so Military operations are over. Diplomatic operations take over.



The Taliban will have their hands full with the ISIS -K and other factions.

 

Get a new calendar and join the rest of us in 2021.... see you then.

 

Biden says there was unanimity among U.S. military leaders to end Afghan airlift mission as planned, will address nation Tuesday

In a statement, President Biden praised U.S. forces for evacuating more than 120,000 Americans and allies. The president said he will address the nation on Tuesday on his decision not to extend operations beyond Aug. 31, but as of today, he said the Joint Chiefs of Staff and all commanders on the ground agreed that ending the military mission was “the best way to protect the lives of our troops and secure the prospects of civilian departures for those who want to leave Afghanistan in the weeks and months ahead.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...9.Hmuo6bBkLHp9KHBBaT0Y_4-oWnMqBdINAD1iCFux02w


Some countries in the region view this as "freeing of Afghanistan...........from the occupiers. . And the Occpiers LOST this twenty year war in just a few weeks at the end.

A moment for the history books.

 

China needs to watch its step when trading with Afghanistan. It is are a very unreliable trading partner.

 

Its far to simple to say NATO lost the war. In my eyes Afghanistan lost the war, again. The military went home, the President could not get fast enough out of there. There was hardly any fight. The Taliban called a taxi to drive to Kabul.
Yes one can say NATO lost, but only in its mission to establish something like a stabile western type democracy. But it always fails, if the people are not behind it, or just a very small, mostly governing, group understands it. Those elites only understand the part which makes them rich, while the rest of the country lives in poverty.
Democracy comes from within of a well educated population, which is willing to stand up for it and it needs a historical background.
Our Western democracies developed over many centuries. The Reformation caused a 30 year war, which depopulated central Europe, as much as the plague. The gene pool of central Europe has not recovered of it, 400 years later. Think about all those endless wars in Europe, world wars, how many millions had to die, from the Napolean to WW2 and all the smaler revolutions in between, till we in the West finally understood democracy and made it OUR standard of society and government.
It is OUR standard and it is a bloody standard, 100s of millions had to die for it.
We have to accept, that outside of our world, people live different, do not have the division of religion and government, or the division of powers, are middle age cruel and so on.
For the West Afghanistan is over, finally.
But for Afghanistan it is not over, there is a brutal, ruthless civil war coming, again.

 

Afghanistan will never be over for thousands of Americans who served there and the families that love them.

 

That is the effect of any war. The shadows os Americas' previous wars still remain.

Lesson: DO NOT START any WARS. The whole notion of preemptive wars or wars of revenge end up badly. Leave a trail of pain for decades. for all concerned.

 

There are times when there really isn't any other choice. Allow a 9/11 and there will be more.

 

Shouldn’t the war have been with Saudi Arabia, if 9/11 were the touchpaper? ( That would then have galvanised all Arab countries against the west and heaven knows how it would have ended.)

 

True. Some places just aren’t interested in Democracy.

 

The Saudis have been valuable allies.

 

How would have a war (and o n who) prevented 911??

 

Retaliation is a deterrent, it's how we have survived all these decades with the atom bomb.

 

And how did what work out?

 

I have always thought that the reason Osama tried to push us out of SA was that he had plans to take it over. No US and I think he could have done it. AQ with all that petroleum wealth.

 

They were the breeding ground for bin Laden and Co.
they are valuable trade allies but they are not very strong otherwise.