Afghan "train, advise and assist" 1984 style

[Derec]

IIRC the last foreigner to conquer Afghanistan was Genghis Khan in the 13-14th Century.

Though I shudder to think how much of the population he killed to do it.

Everybody who was taller than this wheel he had.
(let's see who gets the reference)

 

[Derec]

Acyn on Twitter: "Ingraham: Is it really our responsibility to welcome thousands of refugees from Afghanistan? (link)" / Twitter
Then
Congresswoman Marie Newman on Twitter: "Yes." / Twitter

1000s? It's going to be millions by the time this is all said and done. A repeat of 2015 at the very least, when the Taliban weren't even in control of anything.

By the way, Afghan mass migrants (who left long before Taliban took over and are thus economic migrants and not refugees or legitimate asylum seekers) that are stuck in Bosnia are making themselves deliberately sick (temporarily of course!) in order to fake their way into EU.

‘We eat tobacco, drink shampoo’: Overdosing for asylum in Europe

 

[barbos]

The Taliban was result of the USA. They used to be called the mujahadeen, which the Reagan/BUSH administration supported with money and weapons when they were helping fight the Cold War.

US sadly did support the mujahedeen, but they are not the same as Taliban.

Potayto-potahto

Kinda like ISIS. They're another group of violent Islamists that the USA supported when it was convenient.

When did US support ISIS? That is a conspiracy theory I have seen among the anti-Israel loons, because Hamas and PIJ are enemies of ISIS. But in reality US bombed the shit out of ISIS. And to those that believe bombing doesn't work, it worked quite well against ISIS.

https://southfront.org/leaked-audio...e-john-kerry-shows-obama-wanted-isis-to-grow/
Russia bombed the shit out of ISIS, US was just watching how ISIS was growing and hoping to use them to get Assad.

 

[Trausti]

 

[Harry Bosch]

I never thought I'd say this, but I actually approve of something the Biden administration has done.

I was certain they'd find an excuse to stay. I thought delaying the departure from May 1st to September 11th was a way to try to provoke the Taliban into attacking, and thus say "we are being attacked we have to stay to defeat them."

The Biden administration bungled every step of the pull out, but in the end they did actually pull out of Afghanistan.

They actually pulled out.

Well, I was wrong, but in this case I'm happy that I'm wrong.

But now you know why it's so rare for Presidents to withdraw from military actions. It is just brutally unpopular. Obama withdrew from Iraq - really hurt him politically. Biden's withdraw from Afganistan is the most unpopular decision that's he's made in his presidency to date - by far.

 

[untermensche]

The problem with US involvement in Afghanistan over the last 20 years was that it was too half-assed and not aggressive enough in fighting the enemy.

Do you know how aggressive the US would have to be in order to "win" in Afghanistan? I'll give you a hint - Genghis Khan was the only conqueror to ever succeed there. He did it by killing everybody.

Here's a way we could "win" in Afghanistan. Order the general in charge to rename himself "Grant" or "Sherman" and tell him that the Afghans are actually Sioux.

Here's another way. Kill every male over the age of 15 and every female over the age of 30. Then empty our prisons and give them Afghan women as wives.

I'm glad we weren't aggressive enough to "win" there.

So if we won't win why did we go?

Hint:

https://ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html

I'm a former Marine and I have no problem saying every life lost beyond ridding that nation of a training camp, and that was done badly because neocons wanted to invade Iraq, was lost in vain.

It is the fault of corrupted mindless politicians and citizens who supported those misleaders.

 

[Swammerdami]

Surely that's either a joke video; or the U.S. trainer did extremely incompetent training (with language barrier?).

Please? Tell me it's a joke?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I never thought I'd say this, but I actually approve of something the Biden administration has done.

I was certain they'd find an excuse to stay. I thought delaying the departure from May 1st to September 11th was a way to try to provoke the Taliban into attacking, and thus say "we are being attacked we have to stay to defeat them."

The Biden administration bungled every step of the pull out, but in the end they did actually pull out of Afghanistan.

They actually pulled out.

Well, I was wrong, but in this case I'm happy that I'm wrong.

If Biden bungled every step, the US wouldn't have control over the airport at the moment and we'd have Americans stranded in Afghanistan, being marched in front of cameras and ransomed (or worse).

Mistakes were definitely made, presumably with withdrawing the military first then civilians being a bad idea. Withdrawals however, are extraordinarily hard to pull off. The lack of any resistance to the Taliban movements was a bit unexpected. I don't recall anyone saying that Afghanistan would fall in a couple weeks.

 

[lpetrich]

As Afghans scramble to escape the Taliban, Fox hosts lean into anti-refugee rhetoric - The Washington Post

... But the idea of clearing a path for asylum seekers to come stateside rankled some Fox News television hosts.

On his Monday evening show, Tucker Carlson went so far as to compare Afghan refugees, who aided U.S. military troops and now face grave risk from the Taliban, to an invading force.

“If history is any guide, and it’s always a guide, we will see many refugees from Afghanistan resettle in our country, and over the next decade, that number may swell to the millions,” Carlson said. “So first we invade, and then we are invaded.”

...
Carlson claimed Monday night that the Biden administration’s “official position is that American lives are not more valuable than the lives of foreigners” and conflated the acceptance of Afghan war refugees to the influx of immigrants across the southern border with Mexico.

During his broadcast, Carlson specifically attacked Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who has been vocally pushing for the expansion of asylum for Afghan citizens who assisted the U.S. military over the past two decades.

Mitt Romney on Twitter: "America must not stand idly by as our Afghan friends are brutalized by the Taliban. For honor, for meaning of lives lost, and for simple humanity, the President must urgently rush to defend, rescue, and give and expand asylum. There is no time to spare." / Twitter

“ ‘Bring in the refugees tonight!’ they’re screaming,” Carlson said, referring to politicians like Romney who are advocating for those trapped in Afghanistan. “That’s the only lesson they’re taking from this debacle.”

Similarly, Fox News host Laura Ingraham called the withdrawal a “catastrophic failure” and questioned whether it was necessary for the United States to follow through on promises made to Afghans eligible for refugee status in America.

“Is it really our responsibility to welcome thousands of potentially unvetted refugees from Afghanistan?” she said on her Monday show. “All day, we’ve heard phrases like, ‘We’ve promised them.’ Well, who did? Did you?”

Unlike such rhetoric, many Republican politicians have been pushing for accepting more refugees from Afghanistan.

Among them, former president George W. Bush said in a statement on Monday that the Afghans “at the greatest risk are the same ones who have been on the forefront of progress inside their nation.”

“The United States government has the legal authority to cut the red tape for refugees during urgent humanitarian crises,” Bush continued. “And we have the responsibility and the resources to secure safe passage for them now, without bureaucratic delay.”

 

[Elixir]

As Afghans scramble to escape the Taliban, Fox hosts lean into anti-refugee rhetoric - The Washington Post

Mitt Romney on Twitter: "America must not stand idly by as our Afghan friends are brutalized by the Taliban. For honor, for meaning of lives lost, and for simple humanity, the President must urgently rush to defend, rescue, and give and expand asylum. There is no time to spare." / Twitter

Unlike such rhetoric, many Republican politicians have been pushing for accepting more refugees from Afghanistan.

Among them, former president George W. Bush said in a statement on Monday that the Afghans “at the greatest risk are the same ones who have been on the forefront of progress inside their nation.”

“The United States government has the legal authority to cut the red tape for refugees during urgent humanitarian crises,” Bush continued. “And we have the responsibility and the resources to secure safe passage for them now, without bureaucratic delay.”

George is hardly representative of today's GQP.

This is today's GOP

 

[barbos]

Looks like former vice president had been planning to piss on taliban's parade.
he had moved lots weapons and people to area where taliban has little control just before this debacle.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

As Afghans scramble to escape the Taliban, Fox hosts lean into anti-refugee rhetoric - The Washington Post

Mitt Romney on Twitter: "America must not stand idly by as our Afghan friends are brutalized by the Taliban. For honor, for meaning of lives lost, and for simple humanity, the President must urgently rush to defend, rescue, and give and expand asylum. There is no time to spare." / Twitter

Unlike such rhetoric, many Republican politicians have been pushing for accepting more refugees from Afghanistan.

Among them, former president George W. Bush said in a statement on Monday that the Afghans “at the greatest risk are the same ones who have been on the forefront of progress inside their nation.”

“The United States government has the legal authority to cut the red tape for refugees during urgent humanitarian crises,” Bush continued. “And we have the responsibility and the resources to secure safe passage for them now, without bureaucratic delay.”

George is hardly representative of today's GQP.

This is today's GOP

I was hoping someone would point out the obvious. Thank-you.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Wait, yes he is!

Just because he shows a modicum of humanity doesn't mean he and his administration didn't represent what the GOP is today. His administration was a huge step into the after-birth that is the Trump-GOP. Attack the media for reporting the truth, question American's sincerity and patriotism for questioning their decisions, their campaigning fuckery including the subliminal "rats" ad, actual theft of election with GOP staffers faking a grass roots protest in Palm Beach Canvassing Board, the bullshit "Terror Alert System" which was used when they needed political cover, etc..

W cares so much for the Afghans when he abandoned Afghanistan and the Coalition to invade Iraq. Fuck W and his feigned sense of humanity.

 

[Jayjay]

Surely that's either a joke video; or the U.S. trainer did extremely incompetent training (with language barrier?).

Please? Tell me it's a joke?

Probably real. There is another video of Iraqi or Afghan police training, which is even worse. I imagine jumping jacks might be hard if you've never done them before, and the language barrier is probably an issue too. Or maybe the instructors were told not to be too harsh on the new lads.

I suppose an exercise like this would be a good way to see which recruits take the training seriously.

 

[Elixir]

Surely that's either a joke video; or the U.S. trainer did extremely incompetent training (with language barrier?).

Please? Tell me it's a joke?

Probably real. There is another video of Iraqi or Afghan police training, which is even worse. I imagine jumping jacks might be hard if you've never done them before, and the language barrier is probably an issue too. Or maybe the instructors were told not to be too harsh on the new lads.

I suppose an exercise like this would be a good way to see which recruits take the training seriously.

Meh. If they can do one jumping jack, that's good enough. Give 'em some guns so they can arm the talibangers and we can buy some more guns for our ... uh ... defense.

 

[repoman]

Learning jumping jacks as an adult might be hard for most people.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Without context, the video is meaningless. Forming a police or military force using people that aren't in athletic shape, educated, well fed (?) isn't exactly easy. And mocking them is just vanity.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Without context, the video is meaningless. Forming a police or military force using people that aren't in athletic shape, educated, well fed (?) isn't exactly easy. And mocking them is just vanity.

Sounds like you just hate them for their freedom. Come on, admit it, they just remind you of right wingers here in the US.

 

[funinspace]

All the after game, bitching, moaning, and general dissing of Team Biden cuz they failed to see this coming got me thinking: Imagine if Pres. Biden had responded to the surprise Afghan evacuation crisis much like Clownstick responded to the surprise Covid-19 pandemic crisis.

President: Everything is fine, it will just work out. People just need to find their own way home. There's plenty of commercial airlines to take them home. Just call Uber. Everything is getting better, you just have to wait for the new Afghan administrators to warm up to their tasks. No one could see that this could have happened. The President is doing a GREAT job, better than anyone. And those lying Republicans are just trying to make this political...how dare they. It's the military's fault, I'm smarter than all the Generals.

 

[lpetrich]

Isn't it great to have someone mature in the White House?

When you get someone mature in there would you please let the rest of the world know? God knows we are tired of waiting.

Why do you think that Joe Biden is immature?

He's a LOT better than his predecessor, someone with all the emotional maturity of a toddler.