Afghanistan

[wheelnut]

Well, that didn’t take long.

[Noggin]

???

[wheelnut]

???

Do you not have access to the news where you are?

[Rockburner]

???

Do you not have access to the news where you are?

Some people don't follow the news religiously....
I know the situation is deteriorating, but is there a particular story you were referring too?

[wheelnut]

Some people don't follow the news religiously....
I know the situation is deteriorating, but is there a particular story you were referring too?

If that’s your level of interest I wouldn’t worry about it.

For those that do have a vague interest in international news, the Taliban are converging on Kabul, after having taken control of most of the other Afghan cities.

British ambassador still in residence with the British army on their way to try and extricate him and his staff.

[Yambo]

Well, that didn’t take long.

After initially kicking out the Taliban one of the long term reasons for British and other forces to stay was to train and support the Afghan military and police.

I think it can be safely said that, quite clearly, that part of twenty years of our mission in Afghanistan has been a complete, utter and abject failure.

There's only one question left to be answered regarding our 20 year presence in Afghanistan.

Twenty years, for what?

[wheelnut]

Well, that didn’t take long.

After initially kicking out the Taliban one of the long term reasons for British and other forces to stay was to train and support the Afghan military and police.

I think it can be safely said that, quite clearly, that part of twenty years of our mission in Afghanistan has been a complete, utter and abject failure.

There's only one question left to be answered regarding our 20 year presence in Afghanistan.

Twenty years, for what?

Yep.

300k Afghan troops and to all intents and purposes they seem to have just stood aside and let the taliban take control. I doubt Kabul will be different.

I suppose, given the history, we shouldn’t be surprised at the outcome, but I think the initial mission was to break up al-quaeda rather that to explicitly depose the taliban. You could say that has succeeded. For now.

I would imagine that at some point the Afghans will get the government that the Afghans want.

[Cousin Jack]

I would imagine that at some point the Afghans will get the government that the Afghans want.

I think that in about a month or less the Afghans will get the government they deserve.

If no one gives a shit except the religious fundamentalists don't be too surprised when the religious nutters take over.

It is a crying shame that so many UK troops were sacrificed for zero result.

[Count Steer]

It is a crying shame that so many UK troops were sacrificed for zero result.

Not to mention the 3000 others - Finns, Belgians, Bulgarians, Australians, Canadians, Czechs, Danes, French, Georgians, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Icelanders.....or the 71,000 civilians.

It wasn't a zero result for some, the hardware suppliers have made a killing.

They said that the Russian adventure in Afghanistan was a failure but the government they installed lasted 10 years. This lot lasted about 10 minutes.

[Cousin Jack]

It wasn't a zero result for some, the hardware suppliers have made a killing

They said that the Russian adventure in Afghanistan was a failure but the government they installed lasted 10 years. This lot lasted about 10 minutes.

Quite like the US-led adventures in Vietnam and Iraq. One might almost think US military hardware firms like having wars half a world away.

[slowsider]

It is a crying shame that so many UK troops were sacrificed for zero result.

Not to mention the 3000 others - Finns, Belgians, Bulgarians, Australians, Canadians, Czechs, Danes, French, Georgians, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Icelanders.....or the 71,000 civilians.

It wasn't a zero result for some, the hardware suppliers have made a killing.

They said that the Russian adventure in Afghanistan was a failure but the government they installed lasted 10 years. This lot lasted about 10 minutes.

It's a point to ponder that if the US hadn't armed the forces fighting the Russians, then their govt might have lasted a bit longer, and al Qaida not got a foothold.

[irie]

Whichever way you look at it, it is an utter disaster for Afghan women.

[wheelnut]

Whichever way you look at it, it is an utter disaster for Afghani women.

Yep, for a generation they’ve had the ability to go to work, to drive and to get an education.

Reports of them being refused access to schools and universities now.

[Noggin]

???

Do you not have access to the news where you are?

Not in English very often unless I look for it online. Which today I haven't because have been doing other things

Had a quick look on here and your post was a bit cryptic - to me

But now I understand, having read what else has been posted.

So sad. Devastating for all

[Yambo]

Whichever way you look at it, it is an utter disaster for Afghan women.

Indeed.

But I'm tempted to suggest it's what they, the Afghans want. Let's face it they've never put up a lot of resistance to the Taliban, they've just let coalition forces do that for them. If you don't want the Taliban in charge with their own version of Sharia then fight them.

It's long been said that you'll never win in Afghanistan. Well the Taliban have proved twice now that you can, and easily. And for that to happen I think there's been a bit of patriotism - at list they're Afghans*. Coalition forces were just outsiders, there for their own reasons.

*

Historically, the ethnonym Afghān was used to refer to ethnic Pashtuns.[28] The Arabic and Persian form of the name, Afġān, was first attested in the 10th-century geography book Hudud al-'Alam.[29] The last part of the name, "-stan" is a Persian suffix for "place of". Therefore, "Afghanistan" translates to "land of the Afghans", or "land of the Pashtuns" in a historical sense. According to the third edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam:

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is going to be a proper Islamic State. That's reason to rejoice and give praise to Allah who wrote their rules. They can't dislike that, can they. If they don't like that then their probably not proper Muslims so deserve everything that Taliban Version 2.0 dish out.

For the rest of the world, we can just ignore them until they start harbouring other terrorists that are going to affect our way of life. Then we'll forget the lessons of history and more Western young men can help to show our politicians that you can't win in Afghanistan unless you're an Afghan.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

A waste of lives, time and money, anyone who has moderately studied history could have predicted this, an utter fuck up by George W Bush and Tony Blair, the pair of them need kicking in the bollocks until they're nearly dead, and then once they've healed the process repeated

[slowsider]

A waste of lives, time and money, anyone who has moderately studied history could have predicted this, an utter fuck up by George W Bush and Tony Blair, the pair of them need kicking in the bollocks until they're nearly dead, and then once they've healed the process repeated

That's a proper Taliban punishment

[cheb]

The Taliban punish men?

[Screwdriver]

After initially kicking out the Taliban one of the long term reasons for British and other forces to stay was to train and support the Afghan military and police.

Turns out they were rubbish, probably because their heart isn't in it because: Islam.

The other problem is ISIS/Taliban/Al Qaeda are vicious animals who specialise in torture. Fight us and risk the worst possible death we can think of or join us and take your pick of any women you want.

Which is fine, let them get on with it. If they want to ignore two thousand years of human achievement and step back into the dark ages, knock yourself out. Except unfortunately their other ambition is to support terrorism against any and all non-Islamic infidels.

Again that wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for state sponsored terrorist activities by proxy from the likes of Pakistan, Iran, Russia and most likely China. While none of those countries would dare stand up to a western superpower or necessarily support the ambitions of an Islamic state, they are quite happy to watch the world burn.

I note that whoever is running Biden has asked the Tallyban (sic.) if they could please not burn down the US embassy. Looks bad on TV...

[Cousin Jack]

It's a point to ponder that if the US hadn't armed the forces fighting the Russians, then their govt might have lasted a bit longer, and al Qaida not got a foothold.

I have read that the problem 'started' when the US built dams and irrigation schemes after WW2. Prior to that tribal warlords had a relatively stable agreement over water rights. Lots of skirmishing and petty feuds but major wars were avoided. Lots of new dams, new canals, and all the old agreements were null and void.

Of course we poked out nose into the region a long time before that, so that probably left a legacy too.