Joe Biden has been hailed by the corporate media for withdrawing Americans troops from Afghanistan when all he has really done is break the peace deal that the Trump administration had negotiated with the Taliban.
“The Taliban threatened to launch attacks on U.S. and NATO troops on Saturday as the May 1 deadline for the complete withdrawal of foreign troops brokered by the Trump administration came and went.
Why it matters: President Biden announced last month that the U.S. would begin withdrawing troops from the country on May 1 but would not finish until Sept. 11, and the Taliban in response vowed to resume attacks on U.S. and NATO personnel. …”
Funny how a bunch of slipper wearing, towel wearing fighters can go toe to toe with an occupying US military.
Read Jake Tapper’s The Outpost, an oral history of an Afghan War battle. Despite the noxious author, it’s valuable in showing how hamstrung the troops were by the rules of engagement. An older NCO laments that newer, younger soldiers hesitated to fire at an Afghani who was clearly a hostile enemy invading their post. By the time he ordered them to shoot, the Afghani had left or found cover.
If casualties, and an infinite timeline are accepted by rebels they will always eventually win. Trillion dollar, conventional armies cannot beat a proper guerilla force. They are too large, too cumbersome. The logistics, cost, and politics simply cannot keep pace. The goliath will always be forced to the bargaining table, and eventual retreat.
The U.S. military, just like the Soviet military before it cannot and has not been defeated in Afghanistan, it is simply too powerful in weaponry and logistics. Everything that flies is friendly to the U.S. (likewise to the Soviet forces in the ’80s) and a danger to the Taliban. The Taliban gets defeated or withdraws then inevitably returns after U.S. forces leave. The Taliban also has the northwest part of Pakistan as their sanctuary to rest and reequip after battle.
The only way the U.S. Government (and the Soviets in the 1980’s) could win is by exterminating at least 10 million people in Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan next door. This would require the tactics of Tamerlane, Genghis Khan or the NKVD starving to death 20 million Kulaks in the USSR. Such tactics are abhorrent and not politically possible even for the amoral leaders of Western nations. As long as there are foreigners in Afghanistan there will be war against those foreigners.
The wise thing to do is to declare victory, go home and have a parade and barbecue to celebrate. Unfortunately, there isn’t an ounce, not even a grain of wisdom or morality in the ruling class of the U.S.
@12XA7
Yours not only is an extremely well-informed comment, it is extremely sage.
Sorry you are not in charge of the foreign policy of The United States, for, not only would we benefit by it, the whole world would!
Hello Ivan, hope you are well. Not only would I withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan if I were able to but I would also withdraw from the rest of the Near East, stop antagonizing Russia, try for a Grand Strategic Bargain with China to avoid war over Taiwan and start minding our own business. Domestically, the Federal Government Should mind its own damn business too.
A 20 foot tall, 50 yard wide concertina wire fence on the Mexican border, an end of immigration coupled with a vigorous deportation program would be next on the agenda. There are many other good things that should have been done over the years but weren’t. Unfortunately, Trump was the last best chance to do these things through the political system and he failed. What comes next will probably be outside the political system as the Government fails in everything.
Thank you for the well wishes, My Vermont Friend.
I totally, completely, and totally agree with every one of your policy proposals!
Let me know when you are running for president and, if we are still one divided nation – instead of several united nations – I’ll be an officer of your North Carolina campaign!
We’re not fighting the Taliban. We’re fighting the Pashtun, 40 million strong. The Taliban are merely the Pashtun militia. And they have the support of the Pakistanis.
BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!!!!!!!
I totally agree, Dear Patrick.
Unfortunately, that is extremely unlikely.
At best there will be a cosmetick and fake withdrawal, but, in the grand scheme of things, maybe that is an improvement from where we are now.
Should read “The CIA/mossad-backed Taliban threatened to attack ZOG Armed LGBTQ Forces in the area so that the US does not withdraw troops from Afghanistan ensuring that the US can continue to maintain airbases on Iran’s Eastern border. Oh, yeah – and so the poppy fields remain in CIA hands, too.”
What a cruel joke we’re subject to.
All these wasted live and assets , that could be applied to advancing our nation and the world.
Between wars and social wrecking, we are being ground to dust.
At this point, I have come to believe that The United States’ will never leave Afghanistan.
No, even after the United States divides up into new Confederacies, I think the new New England/New York Empire will continue on there.
Whether it is the proceeds from poppy, the platinum mines, fears over Pakistani nukes being vulnerable to those who do not wish to be equal, or just a desire to begin a new Transgender Advocacy group amongst the veteran Pashtun Mujahideen, I do not think that The Blue States can ever let this go.
Nope, when James Monroe laid down The Monroe Doctrine, (not a good idea in the first place) he really meant for it to include Afghanistan…
So called “legacy media” is already ramping up “we need to stay, we need to bring Afghans rainbow flags and feminism” propaganda.
Also, as if they don’t keep mercenaries and “military advisors” in place…
Axios got it backwards. There is now an agreement between the Afghan government, the Taliban, Pakistan, the US, Russia and China to wind down the fighting and set up some sort of joint government.
https://asiatimes.com/2021/05/afghan-breakthrough-signals-great-power-settlement/
Since WWII ended when did our ruling overlords every disband a policy once started? We went to Afghanistan to “get Bin Laden”, got him 10 years ago, 10 years later we’re still there. NATO was established as a defensive organization against a Soviet attack on Western Europe, USSR fell in 1990, NATO still there. These are just a few examples, never mind the ceaseless “war on poverty”, “war on drugs”, “war on terror”.
Now, does anyone really think the “Pandemic” policies are going to go away even after endless “mandatory” vaccines and God only knows what else?
How are all of those weapons of mass destruction doing?
Though the Afghanis are terrible marksmen, and terribly equippt, but, they have the most important traits you need to beat anybody, no matter what technology comes against them.
And those traits are?
They know who they are, won’t be intimidated or misdirected by snow jobs, are infinitely patient, and the prize their own sovereignty.
They’re also completely unspoiled by Modernity, and, kudos to them, they are that way because they have the wisdom to not value Modernity.
You can’t beat people like that.
You’d have thunk it that the United States’ Government learned their less about this in Cambodia and Vietnam, but, apparently not.
You cannot beat a people, who, as a group, are prepared to die to kill your ass.