Discussion: Afghanistan/The Taliban

[KRYPTON INC.]

Don't forget to mention the part where he checks his watch while paying his respect.

Your back and arms must be SO tired from all this reaching you do.



Doesn't fake outrage for nonsense get tiring? I mean do you have to double down on the silliness if he were wearing a tan suit?

PS Where was your outrage when conservatives were LYING about Biden not even being there at all?

But please, do continue with this Serotonin feedback loop you've got going shouting into the void.

 

[cronosred]

Last of the troops have been pulled out, American citizens left stranded. Have fun defending Biden.

 

[Sithborg]

Going to need specifics on americans still there.

Because, yeah, not going to care too much about mercenaries being left there.

 

[InCali]

Going to need specifics on americans still there.

Because, yeah, not going to care too much about mercenaries being left there.

Yeah. I want to see how this all plays out. The early days of the evacuation was a mess. Things picked up dramatically in terms of people getting out, but we don't have a lot of details yet.

 

[Marvolo]

Last of the troops have been pulled out, American citizens left stranded. Have fun defending Biden.

Well, last I checked Americans with passports are mostly free to travel where they want to, and they are responsible for their own safety. Its not our military's duty to protect Americans that travel abroad for personal, business, or humanitarian reasons.

You didn't seriously think our military was going to evacuate every single American out of Afghanistan did you?

 

[Sithborg]

Aaand of course Trump only cares about the "billions" worth of stuff we left.

 

[Marvolo]

America always leaves equipment and weapons when we leave a region. We'd spend more time and money shipping it to another country.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Reminds me of a back and forth I had years ago here on the Hype with one of our many resident well educated silly fools.

I posted a reply along the lines of "It's too early in the morning for this" to something.

This "genius" (Who loved to remind people that he was/is an academic, in astronomy/astrophysics or what have you...) tried to make it as though I just proved my ignorance because it wasn't "morning" where he was.

And I thought to myself... "You're a college educated scientist... And you don't get the concept of time zones or that the Earth is... A sphere?"

Which is dumb but I'm betting our argument was a dumb one about some fanboy nonsense.

That's just it though... There's a side in the States that's using the level of discourse and depth (or lack of...) one finds on the Hype when we go at it over whatever BS disagreement we are in about men and women who fight bad guys in their bright colored costumes to debate issues of society and government policy.

 

[:eek:]

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

The Afghan army had ALL that at their fingertips and pretty much just gave up before the real fighting could start.

WHY?

I know... it was a Potemkin army based on bribery which we tolerated for close to 20 years. Still, fight for what you know will be a better life and standard of living than you'd get under the Taliban.

 

[chamber-music]

The Taliban doesn't have expertise to maintain a lot of the heavy artillery vehicles and aicraft. We were contracting out maintenance to the Afghan military.

The small arms, explosives and operational gear they have would be useful for them though.

 

[Sithborg]

Yeah, given how much it takes for the police who buy armored vehicles from the military, good luck with those Taliban.

 

[squeekness]

The Taliban doesn't have expertise to maintain a lot of the heavy artillery vehicles and aicraft. We were contracting out maintenance to the Afghan military.

The small arms, explosives and operational gear they have would be useful for them though.

I heard they have no pilots for those planes and choppers too. On the other hand why wouldn't we use drones to take out ordinance that we left behind?

 

[Sithborg]

Because blowing up the Taliban on the way out is a good way to make a peaceful exist harder. Doesn't take a whole lot to make Kabul airport near unusable.

 

[Marvolo]

Because blowing up the Taliban on the way out is a good way to make a peaceful exist harder. Doesn't take a whole lot to make Kabul airport near unusable.

To be fair, after we leave I doubt the Taliban is going to let a bunch of people use that airport. No one they dont approve of anyways. If its a choice between damaging the airport or giving the taliban all that military equipment we should blow up the equipment with drone strikes. An airport can be repaired. The lives taken by that equipment can't be.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

USA Today - Fact check: Biden checked watch after ceremony at Dover Air Force Base

The Daily Beast - Trump Reveals His Master Plan for Afghanistan: We Should’ve ‘Let It Rot’

Huffpost - Trump Rants About Media Spending 'All Night' On Ida Instead Of His 'Great' Taliban Deal

 

[Sithborg]

To be fair, after we leave I doubt the Taliban is going to let a bunch of people use that airport. No one they dont approve of anyways. If its a choice between damaging the airport or giving the taliban all that military equipment we should blow up the equipment with drone strikes. An airport can be repaired. The lives taken by that equipment can't be.

The Taliban have been trying to get allies to reopen flights into Kabul airport, now that we are gone. As bad as the Taliban is, they do understand some things that the country needs.

 

[Marvolo]

The Taliban have been trying to get allies to reopen flights into Kabul airport, now that we are gone. As bad as the Taliban is, they do understand some things that the country needs.

Then their allies could help them rebuild the airport.

 

[chamber-music]

The Taliban are seemingly aware they face a brain drain.

Plenty of Afghans are heading for the borders. I imagine a sizeable amount of the population wants out. Neighboring countries have been getting swamped with Afghans at their borders trying to get out.

It's gonna be a challenge for the Taliban to governing a modern country with most of the skilled and educated population gone. The limits they put on their female population was already holding them back the last time they were in power.

Afghan Soccer player and soon to be Surgeon Nadia Nadim fled Afghanistan as a refugee kid with her family in 2000 after her Afghan general father was murdered by the Taliban. Nadim got refuge in Denmark. No way she would of been a well paid pro women's soccer player, have nike endorsements or be able to be a surgeon if she stayed Afghanistan.

 

[:eek:]

Afghan YouTuber, 20, who chronicled vibrant life recorded goodbye video days before she was killed | Daily Mail Online

Taliban show off captured weapons at Kandahar victory parade - CNN

 

[Marvolo]

I just can't believe how meek and civilized the Afghani people are being about all this. Are they fighting at all?

 

[Sithborg]

The Afghan vice president seems to have taken charge of what anti-Taliban forces remained, and seem to have set up in some of the more northern provinces. Add in ISIS, and you are looking at a nasty civil war. Which is definitely one reason why the Taliban are doing a PR offensive, in order to get legitimacy in the eyes of the world.

 

[Sithborg]

I do find it interesting that Biden seems to have had doubts about the war since he was VP. I definitely am going to pick up the Afghanistan Papers tomorrow.

 

[:eek:]

Taliban claims complete control of Afghanistan’s Panjshir - YouTube

 

[Sithborg]

Yeah, tracks with our record.