Taliban taking over Afghanistan again

Yes indeed. Biden ****ed up and the Democratic Congress did nothing. Listening yesterday to Biden praising the heroic and orderly removal of personnel through the airport guarded by Taliban, deserves a round of applause to everyone involved.

 

They are at the mercy of the Taliban.
The US military will probably be ordered back into Afghanistan soon after the execution of Americans is documented. It will be very difficult to rescue most of them.

 

I would like to think that our intelligence agencies knew that this would be the likely outcome.
Would Biden have made the public comments he made if his advisors told him this would be the outcome? I don't think so, but maybe I am wrong about that.

 

1. Biden could and should have ordered the evacuation of American civilians before withdrawing the military.
2. Biden could have ordered massive air strikes on the access routes from Pakistan as soon they became passable and the Taliban started crossing the border.
3. Biden could have ordered the demolition of the military hardware left behind at our bases.
4. Biden could have ordered the destruction of all the databases that contained the names, photos, and locations of our Afghan allies.

Of course, the military should have done some of those things without specific orders from the CIC.

 

If there had been intel suggesting that Afghanistan's military might not be able to successfully defend against the Taliban I think the entire Trump/Taliban plan would not exist - certainly not in the form that it did.

First of all, the plan was sold as leaving behind a weak but stable Afghanistan.

And, if it had been known that Afghanistan might fall, then there would have had to be extraction planning before Biden became president - even if it were just a contingency. The necessary lead time and the difficulty of coordinating an extraction to some destination protected by a mere 2,500 troops could not have been considered adequate. Even just finding, triaging and documenting potential evacuees is a massive undertaking.

 

Biden was left with 2,500 troops and stopped the reduction that the Trump/Taliban called for. I don't believe this one applies.

There were lots of people crossing borders. Slaughtering them is not a solution. And, it's not at all clear that the attempted slaughter would have made a difference.

The Afghan government NEEDED that hardware. Remember that Biden is also being accused of not shipping in MORE military hardware.

Amen. If the president has to tell our military that when they leave a base they need to destroy any intel, that's a clear sign we don't actually have a functioning military.

I don't mean to write these off. There is at least something behind each one.

But, ALL these items put together don't form a satisfactory policy. They are ALL oriented to lowering the death count of the extraction process - which is not even the overall death count of the catastrophe as a whole.

We needed a decision on whether we were ready to concede Afghanistan to the Taliban.

AND, we needed the intel required to make a plan that would carry out that decision.

We had neither.

 

The Trump plan was to get the finish the withdrawal during the winter before the Taliban could launch its offensive from Pakistan, and before the Taliban could take thousands of American hostages.

That was a good rational plan, as opposed to what has happened because the withdrawal was delayed.
If the military and intelligence agencies did not know how the Afghan military they created trained and equipped would perform - what are they good for?

 

State what you think Biden should have done.

And, start by recognizing that the Trump/Taliban plan called for removing the remaining 2,500 troops Biden was left with by May 1 - leaving zero.

Biden STOPPED the Trump drawdown plan. So, you have zip to back your "running" accusation.

ALL the military departure was planned and executed by Trump.

 

Telegraph UK Destroys the US Media for Enabling Biden, While Biden Whines:

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That pretty well sums it up.

 

Evidence is crystal clear that such a plan had NO CHANCE.

That idea depended on Afghanistan being able to defend itself.

I don't know why our intel was so horrible.

>> I firmly believe that needs to be THOROUGHLY investigated.

We just can't afford to be that wrong.

 

The decision was made to let the Afghans carry on the fight with our "over the horizon" support.

 

I'm really sick of the profoundly STUPID ad hom that is ALL the partisan idiots have.

 

OK, then let's investigate that, too!

My own view at this moment is that it seems unlikely that "over the horizon" support would have stopped the Taliban, as the collapse of Afghanistan was so rapid and covered the entire country.

 

This, if we at least maintained the air force we could have at least made it so that the Afghans could continue the fight/stalemate forcing the Taliban to make concessions. But we gave up that air base because...reasons?

 

The MSM has become a house organ for our corrupt political class.

 

Your outlet couldn't even get the name of the D party right!

Yet you suck up the total crap the print.

 

I am sure their reasons are highly classified. Biden should declassify them immediately.

The Afghan military might have lost anyway, but they would not have been betrayed by the people who created, trained and equipped them to fight with air support.

 

My "outlet"?

 

The Taliban could have done nothing to prevent the evacuation of American civilians if it had been conducted before May 1.

I doubt that our intel was all that bad, but I suspect they did not share it all with Biden given his public statements before the collapse of the Afghan military.

 

The Trump/Taliban plan called for our total departure by May 1. That's why our military gave up NUMEROUS bases.

I don't believe we have a valid analysis of the pre-fall capability of the Afghan military.

Clearly, the Trump/Taliban plan was created with OUR belief that the Afghan military could (and would) defend at least the cities.

That was clearly not even close to being right.

So, now it's hard for me to believe this idea that the Afghan military could have defended the cities if only we had NOT actually departed and instead used Bagram as a base for the USA to continue fighting the Taliban.

 

That may be true.

 

Wow - did I ever blow that!!

I meant that as a response to Zoro and his UK outlet.

I do not see your comments as being partisan. You are asking hard questions that do need answers.

And, I greatly apologize.

I'm still going to disagree with you on stuff and I need you to do the same with me.

 

NP. I made a similar mistake with another poster recently.

The MSM seems to be suddenly turning on Biden.
Biden and his supporters should be happy that some of his opposition do not trust the MSM.

 

The key seems to be understanding how the Taliban were able to do this so quickly. Where was the intel on their activity??..Having the leadership escape to another county........ is another variable that should be investigated. Something was seriously missed If an Afghan leader does not think it worth staying and fighting for his country..........and the people............why should the people?? If the leader's impulse is to run......... that sets an example..........and then it is every man /person for himself. The Taliban must have had a pretty good idea of what the potential dynamics were .......so the deals they made and their "intel" served them well.

If we don't understand how the "enemy" operated........ we can't learn from this experience.

The Afghan leader is not without responsibility in

this matter. But I think that the cultural issue played a very big part here. as well.

 

The "Telegraph" can be comparable to a tabloid ..........It tends to sensationalize the negative.