Afghanistan

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I believe the British Empire got it's arse kicked so comprehensively by the Afghans 3 times that the only legacy left was a trail of bodies from Kabul to the Khyber.

[Cousin Jack]

I believe the British Empire got it's arse kicked so comprehensively by the Afghans 3 times that the only legacy left was a trail of bodies from Kabul to the Khyber.

A point that more recent British politicians should have remembered.

[Bigyin]

The speed of movement was probably assisted by them now having access to Afghan Army helicopters flown by pilots who have either switched sides or been coerced into flying Taliban about by threats against them or their families

I am not surprised the Taliban are back in control as soon as the coalition removed troops as reports over many years said the training of the local police and army was all well and good but only a small minority seemed to actually want to be trained, the rest saw it as a pay cheque and hid at the first sign of Taliban.

Success in keeping them under control in the provinces was achieved by multi million pound air support to pummel Taliban fighters .... for an example we were firing Hellfire missiles from Apache helicopters into treelines to kill/subdue a small group or individuals firing at UK troops. The cost of those is 116,000 dollars a shot based on a figure of $46,000,000 dollar order from the UK government for 395 latest Hellfire missiles. The Apache can carry 16 on a mission and often came back empty so just under 2 million dollars a mission in missiles and thats without the unguided rockets, flechettes and gun ammunition they always depleted .....per helicopter as they fly in pairs or fours

Once that airborne threat was gone then they were free to roll where they wanted

[slowsider]

The speed of movement was probably assisted by them now having access to Afghan Army helicopters flown by pilots who have either switched sides or been coerced into flying Taliban about by threats against them or their families

The fleet of motorcycles seen on news reports seems to have been enough...

[Horse]

SF and intelligence services have been setting the country up for years, IMO this was always part of the plan.

If it wasn't the plan it should at least have been expected.

[Rockburner]

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.

There you go with them negative waves again!

I'm (and others) are not disinterested, but unless I'm reading the news 24/7 and happen to glance at exactly the same story you have, at the same time, and come to RTTL a moment later, I've not a clue what story you're actually referring to.


TLDR: Could you please post a link or two in future to the stories that you're talking about.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I don't think any of you know what is happening and I cba to get into it.
SF and intelligence services have been setting the country up for years, IMO this was always part of the plan.

If the new Afghan government can't get the country into order then they'll be removed and the west will support someone who can.
The Taliban only got removed in the first place because they didn't have full control and couldn't guarantee to protect oil and gas lines - but they seem remarkably well organised and more prepared now to take over full control, how did that happen?

It's the new and improved Taliban, the ones with connections that run all the way back to the west.

That's possible, not altogether unlikely, but it's also a bit tin foil hat.

[slowsider]

I don't think any of you know what is happening and I cba to get into it.
SF and intelligence services have been setting the country up for years, IMO this was always part of the plan.

If the new Afghan government can't get the country into order then they'll be removed and the west will support someone who can.
The Taliban only got removed in the first place because they didn't have full control and couldn't guarantee to protect oil and gas lines - but they seem remarkably well organised and more prepared now to take over full control, how did that happen?

It's the new and improved Taliban, the ones with connections that run all the way back to the west.

That's possible, not altogether unlikely, but it's also a bit tin foil hat.

Surely there's still someone in the State department that can remember what happened when they did that in Iran.

[Asian Boss]

You want to know what we are up against in trying to save Afghan lives?

We can't send money because all the banks and Western Union is closed, we booked some people on flights this morning (the price was literally doubling in the time it took us to book) but this afternoon commercial flights were cancelled so we lost the money. We are scrambling to get people onto evacuee lists but even where we can, these people are now stuck in a Kabul awash with gun toting Taliban supporters. 30 mins ago armed men came to the house of one of the women we had booked a flight for this morning. She's now disappeared.

One of my friends said this sounds like something from The Handmaid's Tale. It is. Let me describe some of the types of cases we have been scrambling to help today. And the descriptions in our urgent brevity we give to these very real women who until 3 days ago were living their normal lives.

Documentary maker. Has two children under 5. Social activist. Currently in non-secure location. Urgent help needed
Musician and actress. Under threat. Staying with neighbour after armed men at her house. Neighbour has said she must leave tonight.
Doctor. 3 children. In hiding. Recent location unknown.

And so it goes on. All day since 5am this is what we've been doing. And we will be working late into the night. I need to sleep soon as can barely function now. I will wake tomorrow in the absolute certainty some of these women will not be waking up.

Biden and Johnson have women's blood on their hands.

[Yambo]

SF and intelligence services have been setting the country up for years, IMO this was always part of the plan.

If it wasn't the plan it should at least have been expected.

It was expected. Trump expected it when he put the withdrawal of US troops on the agenda. Biden expected it when he actioned the withdrawal and said it'll take a few months for the Taliban to reach Kabul. He was quite clear that the Taliban would get to Kabul.

What wasn't expected was for the Afghan national army to refuse to get out of bed and the president to be a self serving arsehole. Biden knew the Taliban would take over he just wasn't told how quickly it would happen. But tbh I think that has surprised everyone. The Afghan national army have been hugely overestimated and the Taliban hugely underestimated. And some of you worry that big brother are tracking your every move. They can't even get decent intelligence of the combatants in a country they've effectively controlled for 20 years.

I still maintain that it's what your average Afghan wants. It's not going to be good for females but your average Afghan woman doesn't have much of a voice anyway. What they want is irrelevant. For your average Afghan bloke, one warlord to rule them all is better than a dozen warlords who all have different ideas (apart from women's rights of course) and different agendas. Afghanistan will be fine so long as no other country recognises the legitimacy of the new administration. Last time they took power only 3 did (3 too many) which gave them a bit of legitimacy. If every country and the UN refuse to recognise them then their pure Islamic Emirate will be a role model for all Muslims and all Afghans will be ecstatic. If other countries get involved or recognise the new administration then it'll go pear shaped for them because Afghans do not like or want outside involvement in their affairs.

This is all a bit tongue in cheek of course because without outside help being a pariah state is not good for any of the inhabitants. But the people have simply allowed the Taliban to walk all over them. I suggest that the great majority of them actually want the future they are promised. They want strong leadership (let's face it, when they had the chance to elect people to a parliament they didn't really elect the great and good, they just elected a bunch of self serving, corrupt tossers. The Taliban will be a strong leadership. Everyone will be happy.

[slowsider]

II don't think people outside Afghanistan are as concerned about the locals as they are about the prospect of terrorist training camps renting space there.

[Yorick]

Afghanistan has problems for donkeys years, but suddenly Biden is to blame for everything.

Wow.

[Asian Boss]

II don't think people outside Afghanistan are as concerned about the locals as they are about the prospect of terrorist training camps renting space there.

I wasn't sure if the terrorists needed training camps anymore. I had a feeling they can always get some innits from Luton to self radicalise via the internet and make hulawulah-hulawulah-bang as required.

[Dodgy69]

Maybe the Brits and the yanks realised they were wasting their time training these 'afghan soldiers'. I'm sure they knew what would happen next. Didn't look good on this evening's news.

[irie]

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.

It would be interesting to know how many women are included in they. Impossible to know, but I'll bet it's a very small proportion of the female population.

[Mussels]

Maybe the west should have trained a female Afghan army.

[Asian Boss]

I've seen them all clinging to planes and falling off. They better not all turn up here with their hand out. That's not the Brexit I voted for.

[Bigyin]

Maybe the west should have trained a female Afghan army.

Those that were trained are now going into hiding

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/ ... ear-lives/

[Noggin]

Maybe the west should have trained a female Afghan army.

Those that were trained are now going into hiding

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/ ... ear-lives/

Should have trained more of them!!!


With a bit of luck, the few women soldiers will turn into a resistance type group. I know, faint hope. But it's a glimmer

[Yambo]

Afghanistan has problems for donkeys years, but suddenly Biden is to blame for everything.

Wow.

I'm confused.

Why do you think Biden is to blame for everything?