I'm going to argue against myself as the Afghan government appears far weaker that many further believed. Kabul falling is a distinct possibility. It will still be a question of whether the Taliban can hold control of the country. Either way things continue to look very dark for the people of Afghanistan.
I had a long discussion with a recent Afghani immigrant. He was obviously upset that Americans were leaving since he still had family there. He said most of the Taliban weren't Afghani but were Pakistani. They were just hanging out in Pakistan waiting for the Americans to leave. It's pretty sad. It's pretty obvious that if we don't want the Taliban there, we would have to be there permanently just like Korea, Germany, and Japan.
The rapid capitulation of the Afghani army/government shouldn't be surprising to anyone at all. I thought it was fairly obvious this would happen.
The Afghan government had 20 years to build legitimacy. If they haven't done yet, it was never going to happen. It was an occupation we never should have started in the first place, and while it is all unfortunate that someone like the Taliban will run the country I'll be glad to stop trying to dictate to them what sort of country they should have.
Credit to the Taliban and their backers in Pakistan and China. They persevered 20 years of the American war machine and are now on their way to redeploying barbaric rule over Afghanistan. But as barbaric as it may be, it must have some kind of on the ground support to be happening this fast.
Rarely do countries change when they are forced to from the outside......Japan is the exception - it will need to come from the people of Afghanistan. There is no army to fight, just get a multinational hit squad together to take out leadership if they are too harsh......easier than having an entire war. DD
The Taliban have seized both Kandahar and Herat. The second and third largest cities in the country. This is turning into a rout...
It’s kind of ironic that, at the same time Congress is passing a 1 trillion dollar infrastructure bill, we have basically spent the same amount on a nothing war that was a complete failure and resulted in a paper Afghan army who can’t fight but crumbles easier than cake. There is no way this war was ever going to succeed. The Afghan people are sheep and the Taliban are the brutal sheep herders. Sadly, the US will not learn from this just as they didn’t learn from Vietnam. Something will come along that will drag us back into war. Just remember this...we are not nation builders so don’t even try. Occupation isn’t an answer. We told Afghanistan back when this started that we wouldn’t abandon them again. But, that was a lie. In our defense, we spent a trillion dollars trying to build your nation for 20 years and it didn’t work. It’s not like we didn’t try. At some point, we had to turn the faucet off as money isn’t free. Just think what we could have done with that trillion dollars back home. Oh yea...infrastructure!
“Not Our Tragedy”: the Taliban Are Coming Back, and America Is Still Leaving https://www.newyorker.com/news/lett...-are-coming-back-and-america-is-still-leaving excerpt: At least Joe Biden is owning it. “I do not regret my decision,” the President said this week, as provincial capital after provincial capital in Afghanistan fell to the Taliban while the Afghan government—propped up by two decades of U.S. support—looked soon to suffer its long-predicted post-American collapse. “Afghan leaders have to come together. We lost thousands—lost to death and injury—thousands of American personnel. They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation,” Biden said on Tuesday, making it as clear as he could that he would not revisit his decision to pull out. America is finally, definitively, done with the war in Afghanistan after two decades, never mind the consequences. more at the link
Well, yes, why not? I am surprised, if as someone who tends to be so moderate and sanguine you think that they will not follow the general path of other populations such as the Chinese, as I believe you argue can be worked with. Actually there were indications that the Taliban was negotiating with the US government prior to our massive deployment there. Also aggressive oppression never seems to make religious folks more moderate.
Joe Biden's age may be what is helping us escape this mess. He may have decided not to run again so he can go against the whole US establishment, who if nothing else believes that Americans will always rally to war presidents who engage in foreign wars even under the flimsiest of reasons. Look how the Dems being weak and losing China or Vietnam etc has been such asuccessful meme for the Repubs.
Anybody going to actually argue that prolonging the civil war in Afghanistan to keep the inevitable winners the Taliban for 20 years was good for the United States or the people of Afghanistan?
Should never have taken over Afghanistan or Iraq. This country will never learn. Watch for another crisis and another invasion in the future.
Are you saying that the Chinese are like the Taliban? As far as the Taliban negotiating with the US it appears that it was only one faction of the Taliban and for that matter they might not have been doing so in good faith.
I suspect the generation of women have come of age who had the chance for education or even just being able to leave the home and show their face might have a different opinion.
