Interesting how the heroine trade will be affected. Before the war, the Taliban cracked down on poppy growth and heroine manufacture but then it became a lucrative source of income to fund fighting against NATO forces so they ended up in the drug industry. I wonder if they'll kick that habit but I'm guessing not.So, how will things go after the withdrawal? Taliban take over? Heroin the main export and huge? Repression, women under men's thumbs completely? Hotbed of terrorism? I mean that's the worst case scenario, right? Is that where it's heading?
Not the *worst* scenario; it is the expected scenario. We still have drones, and, SpecOps teams for critical terrorist targets.So, how will things go after the withdrawal? Taliban take over? Heroin the main export and huge? Repression, women under men's thumbs completely? Hotbed of terrorism? I mean that's the worst case scenario, right? Is that where it's heading?
So, how will things go after the withdrawal? Taliban take over? Heroin the main export and huge? Repression, women under men's thumbs completely? Hotbed of terrorism? I mean that's the worst case scenario, right? Is that where it's heading?
Dick Cheney and his defense contractor buddies. It was a very inefficient way of lighting taxpayer money on fire though. I said over a decade ago we would have been better served just directly paying the billions to Cheney's buddies instead of indirectly via extended warfare.Still, at least some people made a lot of money out of it. Not really sure who - as I understand it an awful lot of funds intended for nation-building just disappeared.
Hate to even mention it, but the Iraq War numbers must be even worse.2,300 American troops dead. 65,000 Afghan troops dead. At least 47,000 Afghan civilians dead. Trillions spent. Ludacris amounts of CO2 pumped.
Wtf.
The war with Iraq was much more lucrative than the one in Afghanistan. But, yeah, something like $4-6Trillion dollars spent on these two wars for, again, nothing. The Taliban taking over Afghanistan and Iraq is cozening up to Iran. A foreign policy master class in how to do EVERYTHING wrong .Dick Cheney and his defense contractor buddies. It was a very inefficient way of lighting taxpayer money on fire though. I said over a decade ago we would have been better served just directly paying the billions to Cheney's buddies instead of indirectly via extended warfare.
Hate to even mention it, but the Iraq War numbers must be even worse.
I seem to remember also about pallets of US money.The war with Iraq was much more lucrative than the one in Afghanistan. But, yeah, something like $4-6Trillion dollars spent on these two wars for, again, nothing. The Taliban taking over Afghanistan and Iraq is cozening up to Iran. A foreign policy master class in how to do EVERYTHING wrong .
So, just giving the US defense contractors $1T and calling it a day would have been waaayyy better.
Most Americans supported the war in Afghanistan then, and I'd still support the initial invasion today. The Taliban was harboring and supporting terrorism against the U.S. and at the least, we needed to go in and degrade AQ's capabilities to strike again. Obviously hindsight being 20/20, we know that nation-building in AF isn't really a thing since Alexander the Great did it. We also know the bogus Iraq War diverted resources away from the theatre we needed to be in to one we should never have entered. Who really knows if we had conducted a better strategy for Afghanistan from day 1 if we would have been out a lot sooner with a better overall outcome. I can only hope that when history books are written, Donald Rumsfeld's name (and those within his Iraq War cabal) goes down in infamy.The war with Iraq was much more lucrative than the one in Afghanistan. But, yeah, something like $4-6Trillion dollars spent on these two wars for, again, nothing. The Taliban taking over Afghanistan and Iraq is cozening up to Iran. A foreign policy master class in how to do EVERYTHING wrong .
So, just giving the US defense contractors $1T and calling it a day would have been waaayyy better.
I feel much better. They only lost 6 billion.Oh, yes, good memory. I recall some photo of pallets off cash in Iraq. Here's the best article I can find (from 2011):
Billions Of Lost Iraq Cash Finally Accounted For
Billions Of Lost Iraq Cash Finally Accounted Forwww.huffpost.com
Sounds like the last of days. Afghan soldiers being executed after surrendering. Women being rounded up and basically sold into forced marriages. US pleading with the taliban to spare the US embassy days before the city holding it is supposed to fall.
All i can hope is that we honor our promises and offer a ticket out of there to anyone we promised to get out, though fat load of good that will do them when their families are killed and their sisters sold as sex slaves to horrible men.
Obviously the US sucks at nation building, and we should learn to stop trying.
We needed to leave Afghanistan the moment we decided that we were not willing to kill every last Taliban.
Hot topic. Iran is the reason ISIS was stopped from taking over Iraq.
Certainly not the Iraqi military we formed, who under-manned Mosul and abandoned it at the approach of the first pickup truck.
Between Afghanistan and Iraq. It must be argued that the United States does not understand armed conflict. For the forces we build are horrifically crushed. There must be an underlying reason for that failure. Could it be we handicap them from the onset? We pretend they have our strength to uphold our values, as opposed to allowing them the freedom to handle their situation in a manner befitting their limited resources?
We build foreign armies that fail.
Yes, it would have sent the signal that anyone that has a little nuke is free to use it against whatever enemy does not.One little nuke in some fucked up mountains woulda sent a strong signal too.
Yes, it would have sent the signal that anyone that has a little nuke is free to use it against whatever enemy does not.
We create armies based on our culture, education, and money. That doesn't work well for countries that have none of that.Hot topic. Iran is the reason ISIS was stopped from taking over Iraq.
Certainly not the Iraqi military we formed, who under-manned Mosul and abandoned it at the approach of the first pickup truck.
Between Afghanistan and Iraq. It must be argued that the United States does not understand armed conflict. For the forces we build are horrifically crushed. There must be an underlying reason for that failure. Could it be we handicap them from the onset? We pretend they have our strength to uphold our values, as opposed to allowing them the freedom to handle their situation in a manner befitting their limited resources?
We build foreign armies that fail.
Nukes save lives because of the MAD assumption, if you open the Pandora's box on their casual use it's going to be extremely hard to reclose.Yea, that's why they've been like bird droppings since fat man and little boy.
You know why they have not? Cause the US dropped them. Biggest military complex blablabla.
Gonna swing the dick swing the fucking dick.
The taliban is funded by the ISI .Yep.
Taliban obviously has funding and I cant imagine that intelligence is unaware of the cash and materiel flow, but for reasons, jfc, wont go after the source and glass it over.
One little nuke in some fucked up mountains woulda sent a strong signal too.
If you are going to do something do it proper well and maximum effort, or dont do it at all.
Yes I know im gonna catch flak for the nuke bit but then US, allies, should never have been there to begin with.