Afghanistan: Mission Accomplished

[Pickman's model]

What like the predictable cheering on a US 'defeat'? Or something else?

tbh it's far worse than just a us defeat and far broader than the borders of afghanistan - it's going to embolden jihadis around the world, who will never have thought this would come to pass. don't get me wrong, i love seeing the us government's nose rubbed in the shit as much as anyone else. but i'm not sure the price people will pay inside and outside afghanistan is worth it. i think that at a time when what was needed was focus on the most important thing facing the world, climate change, the world's just been made a rather more dangerous place.

 

[xenon]

What on earth is this rubbish? I'm well aware that people are dying, and I'm pointing out that the British Military doesn't care about them. It never has and it never will. Your post is just incoherent abuse so fuck you

This is actually offensive bollocks. I have no personal links to the military but listen to people who've been there, read something. Yeah it was a job. But I don't know about you but if I'm given a job, i like to try doing it well, not leave the place in a worse state than I found it. That's what the people on the ground dealing with this shitshow have been trying to do the last 20 years.

The failings are on the high strategic level, policy level and a failure to accept the reality of what sort of place Afghanistan is. The limitations of what could be done and naive hopefulness and lack of a longterm cohesive fully supported plan.

Not cos the military don't give a shit.

 

[bimble]

bloody hell. Look at it, this video is taliban fighters hanging out in the gilded palace that was home to a general & US ally who has just fled to uzbekistan.




The corruption wasn't some kind of side issue was it, why on earth would you be motivated to risk your life to fight to uphold a system that created absurd mansions like this, in a country where half the kids are malnourished.

 

[xenon]

Dunno if that was the same general heard on WATO about a week ago. I thought he was doing a great job of bolstering western confidence in the fact Kabul would be defended, that he and his soldiers were capable... I mean I didn't really buy it but he gave good talk.

 

[brogdale]

why on earth would you be motivated to risk your life to fight to uphold a system that created absurd mansions like this, in a country where half the kids are malnourished.

Indeed.

 

[Sasaferrato]

What has happened is no surprise to anyone. The speed at which it has happened should be no surprise to anyone.

Immediately prior to the Western withdrawal, the troops were closer and closer to base, large areas of the country weren't under control of the West or the government.

The end was inevitable, no one was giving an open ended commitment to 'garrison' Afghanistan for ever more, because that is what it would have taken to secure some sort of peace.

 

[spitfire]

bloody hell. Look at it, this video is taliban fighters hanging out in the gilded palace that was home to a general & US ally who has just fled to uzbekistan.




The corruption wasn't some kind of side issue was it, why on earth would you be motivated to risk your life to fight to uphold a system that created absurd mansions like this, in a country where half the kids are malnourished.

Jesus. That's billionaires level of opulence, not millionaires. How much have they been skimming off the top over the years?

 

[elbows]

Just spoke with a friend who has a lot of family left over there, not my story to tell tbh but between those lucky enough to be getting out and the mental trauma this is laying on whole generations Afghanistan is screwed for decades to come. Even if the old militias and warlords kick off again and the Taliban magically disappear a year down the road nobody who's left is going back, nobody who's still there is going to be in a position to properly rebuild. If ever a place was devoid of hope Afghanistan would be it.

Missing from that picture is the likes of China doing their version of empire, which involves money and infrastructure investment. And they've been talking to the Taliban for a while already.

 

[brogdale]

Noticable that most tories on twitter are staying well clear of this topic today.

 

[planetgeli]

bloody hell. Look at it, this video is taliban fighters hanging out in the gilded palace that was home to a general & US ally who has just fled to uzbekistan.




The corruption wasn't some kind of side issue was it, why on earth would you be motivated to risk your life to fight to uphold a system that created absurd mansions like this, in a country where half the kids are malnourished.

That's what you get for swapping sides with regularity. Man's a cunt. 'Rumoured' to have killed 1000-2000 Taliban by suffocation. Pawn of the CIA. And, in the past, Russia.

Viewed as a 'liberal' by some commentators.

He'll be just fine in Uzbekistan.

 

[killer b]

Jesus. That's billionaires level of opulence, not millionaires.

Nah, you can get rank chairs like that in down at heel suburban furniture shops in Manchester.

 

[Pickman's model]

Missing from that picture is the likes of China doing their version of empire, which involves money and infrastructure investment. And they've been talking to the Taliban for a while already.

be interesting to see how china and pakistan get on, given pakistan's great support of the taliban over many, many years

 

[skyscraper101]

bloody hell. Look at it, this video is taliban fighters hanging out in the gilded palace that was home to a general & US ally who has just fled to uzbekistan.




The corruption wasn't some kind of side issue was it, why on earth would you be motivated to risk your life to fight to uphold a system that created absurd mansions like this, in a country where half the kids are malnourished.

So tasteless innit. Probably used the same interior designer as Hussein and Trump.

 

[YouSir]

Missing from that picture is the likes of China doing their version of empire, which involves money and infrastructure investment. And they've been talking to the Taliban for a while already.

Won't be holding my breath for Chinese resource exploitation and pay offs to the Taliban securing anyone's rights or protecting them from their brutal, reactionary rulers.

 

[brogdale]

This 40 year old clip from ITN seems quite popular today on SM...

 

[xenon]

That's what you get for swapping sides with regularity. Man's a cunt. 'Rumoured' to have killed 1000-2000 Taliban by suffocation. Pawn of the CIA. And, in the past, Russia.

Viewed as a 'liberal' by some commentators.

He'll be just fine in Uzbekistan.

Sounds like the same one who enjoys a wisky, crushing prisoners under tanks and vowed to turn northern Afghanistan into the graveyard of the Taliban.

 

[planetgeli]

Sounds like the same one who enjoys a wisky, crushing prisoners under tanks and vowed to turn northern Afghanistan into the graveyard of the Taliban.

That's yer man.

 

[spitfire]

Nah, you can get rank chairs like that in down at heel suburban furniture shops in Manchester.

The billionaires ones look exactly the same, they're just heavier, trust me.

 

[bimble]

That video of the men sat around chatting having what looks like a picnic in that general’s gold house will stick in my mind. What will happen to all that stuff, didn’t look like they were at all interested in smashing it up, some new big man will just move in won’t he.

 

[cupid_stunt]

The UN Security Council has just started a emergency meeting, to discuss doing bugger all.

 

[extra dry]

That video of the men sat around chatting having what looks like a picnic in that general’s gold house will stick in my mind. What will happen to all that stuff, didn’t look like they were at all interested in smashing it up, some new big man will just move in won’t he.

they will move in families and other friends in high places.

 

[Sasaferrato]

The UN Security Council has just started a emergency meeting, to discuss doing bugger all.

What do you suggest is done?

 

[elbows]

Won't be holding my breath for Chinese resource exploitation and pay offs to the Taliban securing anyone's rights or protecting them from their brutal, reactionary rulers.

Indeed I make no claims on that front, but since you mentioned being in a position to rebuild properly, I have to point out some of the powers that stand ready to fill and exploit the void.

 

[extra dry]

tbh it's far worse than just a us defeat and far broader than the borders of afghanistan - it's going to embolden jihadis around the world, who will never have thought this would come to pass. don't get me wrong, i love seeing the us government's nose rubbed in the shit as much as anyone else. but i'm not sure the price people will pay inside and outside afghanistan is worth it. i think that at a time when what was needed was focus on the most important thing facing the world, climate change, the world's just been made a rather more dangerous place.

if you happen to see any of the FOX news coverage you would think that Al quada/ISIS/Taliban suicide bombers are marching to Washington DC right now, flying in helicopters and launching nukes. Panic stations all round.

 

[cupid_stunt]

What do you suggest is done?

There's bugger all that can be done, I was taking the piss out of the UN Security Council trying to look important, when they are in fact impotent.

 

[elbows]

be interesting to see how china and pakistan get on, given pakistan's great support of the taliban over many, many years

Wikipedia says that China and Pakistan have a close and special relationship, bound on numerous fronts including Pakistan being a huge customer for the Chinese weapons industry.

I am not currently in a position to judge how much of the article may be bullshit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China–Pakistan_relations

Pakistan has served as China's main bridge to the Islamic world, and also played an important role in bridging the communication gap between the PRC and the West by facilitating U.S. President Richard Nixon's historic 1972 visit to China.[13] The relations between Pakistan and China have been described by Pakistan's ambassador to China as "higher than the mountains, deeper than the oceans, stronger than steel, dearer than eyesight, sweeter than honey, and so on."[14] According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Pakistan is China's biggest arms buyer, counting for nearly 47% of Chinese arms exports.[15] According to a 2014 BBC World Service Poll, 75% of Pakistanis view China's influence positively with only 15% expressing a negative view. In the Indo-Pacific region, Chinese people hold the third most positive opinions of Pakistan's influence in the world, behind Indonesia and Pakistan itself.

 

[kebabking]

Wikipedia says that China and Pakistan have a close and special relationship, bound on numerous fronts including Pakistan being a huge customer for the Chinese weapons industry.

I am not currently in a position to judge how much of the article may be bullshit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China–Pakistan_relations

There's an old joke - China will fight India down to the last Pakistani...

 

[elbows]

if you happen to see any of the FOX news coverage you would think that Al quada/ISIS/Taliban suicide bombers are marching to Washington DC right now, flying in helicopters and launching nukes. Panic stations all round.

My mind wanders to the time when some people lost their shit that ISIS had gained control of an airport. Although that may be cemented in my mind in part because someone clueless at work got confused by a conversation and declared with some alarm "UKIP have got planes?". They said it with a straight face and were not even aware of Farages history with a light aircraft accident.

 

[Yossarian]

That video of the men sat around chatting having what looks like a picnic in that general’s gold house will stick in my mind. What will happen to all that stuff, didn’t look like they were at all interested in smashing it up, some new big man will just move in won’t he.

The Taliban have a reputation for being incorruptible, especially when compared to the governments the West was shoveling money at for 20 years - not sure how deserved the reputation is but it's made them popular in some areas - did Mullah Omar live in a fancy house last time they ruled the country?

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

bloody hell. Look at it, this video is taliban fighters hanging out in the gilded palace that was home to a general & US ally who has just fled to uzbekistan.




The corruption wasn't some kind of side issue was it, why on earth would you be motivated to risk your life to fight to uphold a system that created absurd mansions like this, in a country where half the kids are malnourished.

Wasn't Dostum one of those who when the US first went in was up to stuff every bit as brutal as anything the Taliban managed, but managed to get himself on the right side (until this week anyway)? Seems the last decade or two has been kind to him.