If you ever played any Civilization game, the further away a city/state is away from the capital, the more corruption it brings. We've been blinded by the success of Japan and Germany to the point where 7,700 miles is no big deal. It's been a joke ever since we focused on Nation Building Iraq and I'd say the moment when Obama doubled down resources into Afghanistan based off hearsay from his generals who played telephone with lies and rumors of success is the bigger failure. Trump started the withdrawal that his generals dragged their feet and clawed their way out of. They essentially wanted to wait him out and not claim Another Vietnam. I imagine Biden saw similar sandbagging where his Joint Chiefs blew similar hot wind of lies and false delay ridden promises so that it would be painful if they did pull out. The fact that initial Intel promised many more months before the fall of Kabul confirms that our eyes and feet on the situation was compromised, yet people now cling onto that fallacy of a peaceful handover, much like how We Could've Won Vietnam. 20 ****ing years later and we still didn't learn ****. The same movies have been lampooning Afghanistan for each dumb admin far beyond their scope and capabilities for the region like a ******* broken record. So Biden with the assist of Trump broke that endless loop of insanity due to arrogance, yet the people 7700miles away "demand better." Fly over there and set up a mission or something. We're Broke.
He sure does, Trump is the one that signed a "Get out of Afghanistan by XYZ day" with the Taliban. Biden was just executing the agreement. And no withdrawl will go smoothly. DD
It was past time to get out, did it go smoothly, hell no. I think Biden got handed a sh*t sandwich and had to make the best of it, bottom line is were out and hopefully we don't make that mistake again. I also think our intel was suspect on what the fallout would be and I doubt they predicted the army who we trained for years would cut bait and desert there own people along with there president, we spent so many years getting them ready and the first sign of trouble they run...............thats on them, we cant continue to fight for them when they wont fight for themselves. Ukraine is a great example of fighting for what you believe in, even though they might not win they are fighting.
Yes we should've withdrawn from Afghanistan and should've done it sooner. It was the handling of it that was terrible. It was fairly obvious that not only was the Afghan government not able to stand but it was in the process of collapsing as the US pulled back from the cities. Biden still kept on saying that the Afghan government would hold for months. There was plenty of intel saying otherwise. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/us/politics/afghanistan-biden-administration.html The US could've secured Kabul and the airport well ahead of time to get an orderly withdrawl along with many more people out. For that matter the Taliban were willing to agree to allow the US to do that. Instead they just expected the Afghan government to hold out in Kabul but once all hell broke loose they still had to rush in 6,000 more troops to secure the airport.
You whine and complain about Ukraine and wasteful spending and when someone finally ends a forever war you folks make up a new thing lol The anti war folks are nothing but dipshit grifters
it sounds like you didn't actually watch the video, which by your standards isn't entirely surprising. Its not my job to explain it for you or waste my time.
You can't have a serious discussion with some of the people here...I don't know what there state of mind is to say "look go watch this 1 minute video and it will explain XYZ and the location of the holy grail." I mean how gullible are some folks here. Social media has killed off critical thinking for the masses and replaced it with a bunch of mindless sheep not capable of independent thought.
You're mistaking a 1 minute video for having a better understanding of the region, having been there and understanding the issues beyond the c*m guzzling drivvel you subscribe to on a daily basis. Instead of pledging allegiance to political figures , learn to think. And no, nobody is debating that we shouldn't have gotten out of afghanistan. If at this point you have to ask that question you are probably mentally r****ded. The irony here is that your ignorance is still beyond a 1 minute, maybe even a ticktok video.
You have some of the shittiest takes on this site and know nothing about the media I consume. I won't be influenced by some random prick on a basketball website claiming he's trying to "educate" people with his nonsensical ramblings. You sound like a dopefiend without his meth fix...
so you follow me around, (to a creepy level I might add), say stupid and nonsensical things (clearly evident by supporting media and articles usually; in this instance Biden himself cautioning against a haphazard hasty withdrawal), get called out, and then subsequently whine about how I’m being mean to you. yes that’s some real emotional maturity there. Again, it’s perfectly fine to make ad hominem fantasies if it’s an easier alternative to accepting that you’re probably a moron. Do better.
What a candidate says vs what POTUS does... I think Biden did a terrible job of executing the withdrawal, and I have stated so in the past. But this video is pretty crappy. The video (summarized): In 2017, Biden said it takes 1 year to withdraw. You can do it in 7M if you leave equipment behind. Equipment left behind will be used against you. What actually happened in the 2020-21 withdrawal: The agreed date between the Trump admin and the Taliban was to reduce from 13k to 8k by July 2020 and complete withdrawal by May 2021. When Biden came into office (Jan 2021), the force was already reduced to 2.5k. The withdrawal was already ongoing. Biden said he would not withdraw the remainder of the 2.5k until May 2021 and complete it by Sept 2021. The withdrawal DID TAKE more than 1 year. The problem wasn't the timeframe; it was that the Afghanistan gov and army folded like a chicken running faster than humans, and the Biden admin didn't adequately prepare for that situation. The Trump admin rushed withdrawal also tied Biden's hand, but that's not an excuse for the poor execution. What happened to the equipment: The plan (from both administrations) was to leave the heavy equipment to the Afghan national army to defend against the Taliban. Again, they folded, and most of it was captured by the Taliban. This is a failure of the DoD believing that the Afghan army would actually try to resist. This is part of the bigger problem with this whole war - the US spent 89B to train and equip the Afghan security force, all of which was for naught.
Not only didn't they resist, we left behind a significant amount of American loyalists who served as guides, interpreters, and government officials that should as well been evacuated and given asylum. It was a cluster****, as can happen with any presidential transition. 9/11 comes to mind. If outgoing Clinton officials weren't petty and spiteful fresh off Bush v Gore, we might've had able people at the helm of the national security apparatus.
Only because of the ignorance of Americans who were just told in the background that "Afghanistan was a mess" and remember a plane taking off with Afghanistan men holding onto the landing gear, etc. Biden won't want to talk about Afghanistan simply because... i hate to say it... but Americans who are willfully ignorant (and there are alot of them, and I don't blame them one bit) will think it's a blunder when really he did the right thing, and it was so obvious that it was the right thing that Donald Trump actually put it in motion to be done at an even faster deadline. At least Biden gave it more time than Trump put in to try and get as many of our allies as possible. There are certain things that Biden cannot help when it comes to the ignorance of Americans due to background media narratives. There's not enough time, or money to be spent on trying to educate and inform Americans on Afghanistan so yeah... he should probably focus on easier to communicate narratives like ugh... the fact that he's running against someone who is openly running on becoming a dictator who is above the law for one. That's way easier to communicate than 100 years of middle east policy.
Stevie Wonder could see it was a disaster. That's like me bumping an old thread to remind everyone about the Trump administration's covid response. It's 2024 and those aren't issues anyone cares about right now...
