Go to Loosely Speaking
- Add a comment
- Go to Afghanistan: It's complicated.
Re: adnohr, you make a valid point.
We all have varied opinions about this and that is o.k. Only time will tell. The truth always has a way of coming out. Hopefully, it will be for the good of the people that results in peace and the end of bloodshed.
posted by
Sherri_G
on August 31, 2021 at 9:11 AM
| link to this | reply
Re: Re: Re: Yes, they did have their hands tied.
Our different branches of the military are well trained, but there is no bracing for the unexpected. You are right, this is entirely something different, but there are no war games from our side without the signature from the Commander in Chief first signing off.
posted by
Sherri_G
on August 31, 2021 at 9:03 AM
| link to this | reply
Re: Re: Goldiec, you nailed it. The military did have their hands tied.
There were no good calls available to choose.
posted by
Ciel
on August 31, 2021 at 8:24 AM
| link to this | reply
Re: Re: Re: adnohr,
Yes, that's true. If he had not, there would have been all the excuse the Taliban wanted to also dispose of the agreements. Trump 'negotiated' the timing, leaned on the then-Afghan government to release 5000 Taliban prisoners, increasing their manpower. For that, he got pretty much nothing. Some master negotiator!
posted by
Ciel
on August 31, 2021 at 8:23 AM
| link to this | reply
Re: Re: adnohr,
I read that President Biden just honoured the withdrawal date previously agreed upon by Donald Trump and the Taliban. Is this not true? And there is no doubt there are reasons behind the agreement, political or otherwise...
posted by
adnohr
on August 30, 2021 at 9:00 PM
| link to this | reply
Re: adnohr,
I hope you're right about this, that the younger Afghanis will resist more effectively. But Afghanistan, like most countries in the region, still lives by tribal ideals and fears which lead to revenge cycles. How people feel about things has more force than reasoning. Also common to the region is what we decry as corruption, eg, using bribery to get anything done. But there, it is simply an age-old practice and expectation, cost of doing business. (It isn't as if we have successfully put down governmental corruption in this country, we just pretend we don't approve. Unless we are the ones buying legislators and laws. I say we pretend, because we shout about it, but don't actually do anything about it.)
Americans, like the British and other colonial powers have always gone into areas where things are done and systems evolved that we find appalling, and we think we must bring them around to what we consider proper civilized behavior. Strangely, those areas and the people in them are ungrateful for our efforts.
Your point is right on, that the Afghan people themselves need to decide what they want enough to fight their own way to it. And yes, it will probably take a long time getting there.
In the meantime, I agree Biden made a bad call--but there were no good calls to choose from. No call was going to turn out well all around. His choice was to pull the US out of a pointless battleground. The evacuations have been extraordinarily successful, though not everyone got out who wanted or needed or deserved to go. Our military is out, but we are far from done dealing with the fallout.
posted by
Ciel
on August 30, 2021 at 7:55 PM
| link to this | reply
I believe the Taliban will find things more difficult to lay down their law like they did 20 years ago. The new generation of Afghanes are used to so much more freedom than their parents ever had, and I seriously doubt that those young adults are ready to return to the old ways, like our new generations everywhere. My opinion is that this was a good time to leave their country to THEM to build as they see fit. It may take awhile, and there will be lots of trails and tribulations, no doubt, as is with any reorganization in a country. But I believe that they will prevail, and their Afghanistan will only benefit by being led by its people who love her.
posted by
adnohr
on August 30, 2021 at 6:26 PM
| link to this | reply
Re: Re: Goldiec, you nailed it. The military did have their hands tied.
Sassy, I really do think the military had their hands tied. If they would have been in charge I assure you things would not have gone the way they did. In times of war I know there are rules of engagement but I think this was something totally different. If we have to show brute force I guarantee the military will be involved in the decision-making and thankfully so because they are well trained and will know exactly what to do and when to do it.
posted by
Goldiec
on August 30, 2021 at 4:39 PM
| link to this | reply
Re: Goldiec, you nailed it. The military did have their hands tied.
Presidents are human. To err is human. This was a very definite bad call, and now we have to move forward with brute force and show them that we are a force not to be reckoned with.
posted by
Sherri_G
on August 30, 2021 at 4:32 PM
| link to this | reply
Good Evening
I simply do not agree with the way we went about removing our people from Afghanistan. I believe we should have removed anything that was United States property along with all our people before we sent the military home. If we look at it from the point of hindsight the way they went about exiting the country was not clearly thought out. I believe our military higher-ups knew what would happen but their hands were tied by the powers that be. It's a very sad situation. Lives have been lost and I will also say we will never know the full truth about why we left the way we did.
posted by
Goldiec
on August 30, 2021 at 4:26 PM
| link to this | reply
I should have made it clear that I am neither for Biden or Trump
My feelings are based on factual evidence, not the political party. Trump made terrible decisions as well during his presidency. Our military who were stationed in Afghanistan kept the terrorists under control for the most part. His strategic agility is highly questionable as witnessed by the sudden decision to remove the protection that opened the terrorists up for the actions that they just demonstrated. They are not a selective group. They rape and kill women and slaughter children for sport. Now he is talking about economic assistance for the Taliban. I mean, seriously?
posted by
Sherri_G
on August 30, 2021 at 1:16 PM
| link to this | reply
Biden made a bad decision that resulted in needless deaths.
He should have secured equipment and weapons of mass destruction and safely moved innocent bystanders out before making such a radical decision. Having military family and friends in Afghanistan, I can tell you with certainty that it is not Afghanistan's problem, and this is far from being over.
posted by
Sherri_G
on August 30, 2021 at 1:01 PM
| link to this | reply