The Many Faces of US Politics...

[Gmac]

He needs to get in front of a camera today and explain what the plan is!!

3-45 today

[J70]

Trump was right and Biden was right. The fact people are so far down the Dems and Republican rabbit holes is scary. Why should the US continue to fight this war? Send good men and women to early graves? Blow billions on a corrupt state? Afghanistan is a mess. No military or money changes that. Contain, cut off and move on.

Contain, cut off, move on, and right back we go to square one, as if they'd never gone in there in the first place.

Its a massive stain on the US, across the board, and especially so for Biden, even if Trump did leave him holding a bag of shit.

I was in the company of 2 (reluctant) Biden voters yesterday and they are blaming him 100%

What do YOU think?

[screenexile]

He needs to get in front of a camera today and explain what the plan is!!

3-45 today

At least that's something. Last I read was "in the coming days".

The problem now is the only thing he can do to change the situation is send thousands of troops in to take back control from the Taliban but he's not going to do that so where can he go??

[J70]

He needs to get in front of a camera today and explain what the plan is!!

3-45 today

At least that's something. Last I read was "in the coming days".

The problem now is the only thing he can do to change the situation is send thousands of troops in to take back control from the Taliban but he's not going to do that so where can he go??

There is nowhere to go.

The options were to stay there for the foreseeable future and at least try to keep the country somewhat stable and secure, or get the f**k out and let the Taliban return to power, which is the option Biden was left, and which he seems to have executed in the most ham-fisted possible way.

Not much he can do now except, as you say, send the units back in, but there is zero appetite in the US for that.

[tbrick18]

He needs to get in front of a camera today and explain what the plan is!!

3-45 today

At least that's something. Last I read was "in the coming days".

The problem now is the only thing he can do to change the situation is send thousands of troops in to take back control from the Taliban but he's not going to do that so where can he go??

I wonder will they open diplomatic relations with the Taliban and recognise them as the official government.
Pay them off from afar to be less militant in their enforcement of their interpretation of Islam. Not sure that approach will work with such extreme views but might be worth a try to save lives.

[whitey]

Trump was right and Biden was right. The fact people are so far down the Dems and Republican rabbit holes is scary. Why should the US continue to fight this war? Send good men and women to early graves? Blow billions on a corrupt state? Afghanistan is a mess. No military or money changes that. Contain, cut off and move on.

Contain, cut off, move on, and right back we go to square one, as if they'd never gone in there in the first place.

Its a massive stain on the US, across the board, and especially so for Biden, even if Trump did leave him holding a bag of shit.

I was in the company of 2 (reluctant) Biden voters yesterday and they are blaming him 100%

What do YOU think?

Is he to blame for the war or the resurgence of the Taliban-NO!

Is he to blame for bungling the pullout? Debatable

Joe has armies of advisors and intelligence officers who should have a good feel for what's happening on the ground.

Did he get bad advice or he he ignore good advice?  That's the question that needs to be asked

(I highly doubt someone with his foreign relations experience would just make a decision without serious consideration of all potential outcomes)

[J70]

Trump was right and Biden was right. The fact people are so far down the Dems and Republican rabbit holes is scary. Why should the US continue to fight this war? Send good men and women to early graves? Blow billions on a corrupt state? Afghanistan is a mess. No military or money changes that. Contain, cut off and move on.

Contain, cut off, move on, and right back we go to square one, as if they'd never gone in there in the first place.

Its a massive stain on the US, across the board, and especially so for Biden, even if Trump did leave him holding a bag of shit.

I was in the company of 2 (reluctant) Biden voters yesterday and they are blaming him 100%

What do YOU think?

Is he to blame for the war or the resurgence of the Taliban-NO!

Is he to blame for bungling the pullout? Debatable

Joe has armies of advisors and intelligence officers who should have a good feel for what's happening on the ground.

Did he get bad advice or he he ignore good advice?  That's the question that needs to be asked

(I highly doubt someone with his foreign relations experience would just make a decision without serious consideration of all potential outcomes)

Good point on the underlings. There's a fair few will be updating their CVs this week in State and Defense as there are going to be sackings.

The story going around seems to be that everyone is "shocked" at how quickly the  Afghan government and security forces folded, but surely this was foreseeable? Maybe the speed was unpredictable, but the endpoint was surely the Taliban retaking the country in most scenarios?

Whatever the reasons, and there have to be investigations obviously, I just can't believe how little discussion there was about this, both from the administration and in general (and this goes back to the last one too, when they negotiated the treaty). Where was the preparation of the public for the fact that, despite 20 years of war, spending, military service and sacrifice, and massive civilian casualties, that the US was basically walking away and giving it back to the Taliban (albeit, they hoped, in a restrained "we promise we'll be good this time" form)?

Or maybe there was discussion, but nobody in the US cared, with Covid and all the races issues and the election and, you know, Trump himself.

[whitey]

If any Americans are captured and held by the Taliban all hell is going to break loose

[Muck Savage]

It's a messed up situation, seeing people cling to US planes, people trying to get into planes etc. reminded me of images from the Vietnam exit. So many lives in danger now, anyone that helped the US troops while they were there are now in danger I suspect.

Biden and his administration have to take full blame for this mess. Three other presidents are to blame for different aspects of the war over the past 20 years but this exit is a mess. All last week we heard the Taliban were racing through the country taking over cities, towns and the country without any resistance so it should not come as a surprise that they tool over the capital this fast.

[Eamonnca1]

[J70]

Think most honest people get that, but that doesn't excuse the abandonment (for whatever reason) of so many people such as translators and their families to the Taliban takeover.

[Eamonnca1]

Ahh.....FFS. Now Joe is sending troops back to Afghanistan

What a cluster

Well, on the bright side at least Saddam is gone, I guess.

Have the US anything else to show for twenty years, billions of dollars, and hundreds of thousands dead in the Middle East?

Nope. 20 years spending $2 trillion building up an Afghan army that folded in a couple of days and offered no resistance.

It'll take decades to undo the damage done by GW Bush in Afghanistan alone, to say nothing of the Iraq clusterf**k. Trying to impose democracy at gunpoint has been a failure. It's up to the people who live in these countries to defeat the hateful virus of Islamic extremism.

[Gmac]

Prediction for joes press conference it's all Trumps fault , book it

[J70]

Ahh.....FFS. Now Joe is sending troops back to Afghanistan

What a cluster

Well, on the bright side at least Saddam is gone, I guess.

Have the US anything else to show for twenty years, billions of dollars, and hundreds of thousands dead in the Middle East?

Nope. 20 years spending $2 trillion building up an Afghan army that folded in a couple of days and offered no resistance.

It'll take decades to undo the damage done by GW Bush in Afghanistan alone, to say nothing of the Iraq clusterf**k. Trying to impose democracy at gunpoint has been a failure. It's up to the people who live in these countries to defeat the hateful virus of Islamic extremism.

According to this article, the "no resistance" and deal making amongst rival groups is a feature of Afghan conflicts about which the US should have been well aware, but for whatever reason, were not.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/08/16/afghanistan-history-taliban-collapse-504977

[Eamonnca1]