Biden says he does not regret Afghanistan withdrawal as Taliban take over more towns

[tstorm823]

could be losing my mind, but i swear conservatives were strongly anti-interventionist for years, especially during Obama, till recently when Biden pulled out. like isn't that why they said they voted Trump over Hillary the "warhawk"? now there's loads of militant right-wing articles cropping up in my rando news feed who couldn't be more interested in everything bad that may be going on in these foreign countries

I mean, there's a split opinion among Republicans. They're allowed to do that. Bush is calling it a mistake, Pompeo is basically saying bring 'em home faster. Trump was an anti-interventionist candidate, but that's not going to speak for every Republican.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

China was the first one to sweep in and make a deal with the Taliban to secure it's border, get access to the country's huge copper deposits and be provided security for it's Belt and Road Initiative.

Anyways it's truly sad for the Afghan people. Imagine having to live in such a country where you got a small taste of freedom, where women didn't have to be veiled from head to toe and where children could go to school, only for the fundamentalists to return like the cancer they are and take it all away again. The desperation on those people's faces is heartbreaking. Someone described military action against the Taliban once as ''trying to wipe away ants with a broom''. The Russian army have also broken their teeth on Afghanistan and now the U.S. I only hope their retreat won't destabilize the entire region like it did with Iraq when it destabilized Syria and gave rise to ISIS and caused a massive influx of refugees into Europe.

The entire campaign was a disaster from the start with a complete lack of knowledge about Afghanistan and it's history but leaving like this and letting the country be overrun by the Taliban again only to return to the exact same spot as 2001 is a serious affront. The very least they could have done was support the Afghan army with a local squadron for air cover other than this 'over the horizon' deployments that always come too late.

We should go back. Surely they will greet us as liberators this time.

 

[CM156]

could be losing my mind, but i swear conservatives were strongly anti-interventionist for years, especially during Obama, till recently when Biden pulled out. like isn't that why they said they voted Trump over Hillary the "warhawk"? now there's loads of militant right-wing articles cropping up in my rando news feed who couldn't be more interested in everything bad that may be going on in these foreign countries

That's certainly my stance. Good on Biden for finally getting us out.
It will be interesting to see what China has learned from our mistakes. They do, after all, share a border with Afghanistan (only around 75 kilometers though).

 

[Revnak]

Good. The US was never going to banish the demon it helped make anyway.

 

[Generals]

Also, letting the Taliban control Afghanistan should help ETIM destabilize Xinjiang.

Wait, NATO leaving Afghanistan can help destabilize a region of the 4th Reich? I guess there is some good to this disastrous retreat.
Too bad it's the moderate Afghans (especially women) who will have to pay the price...

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Wait, NATO leaving Afghanistan can help destabilize a region of the 4th Reich? I guess there is some good to this disastrous retreat.
Too bad it's the moderate Afghans (especially women) who will have to pay the price...

It helps to remember that the USA does not and has never given a shit about Afgan civilians.

Like, we won't even extract civilian assets that we said would specifically be extracted if they helped us out.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

It helps to remember that the USA does not and has never given a shit about Afgan civilians.

Let me know when someone starts saying "those brave mujahedeen" again. History is cyclical.

 

[Seanchaidh]

naturally, we'll still be terrorizing them.

Wait, NATO leaving Afghanistan can help destabilize a region of the 4th Reich?

Xinjiang isn't in the United States

 

[Specter Von Baren]

That's certainly my stance. Good on Biden for finally getting us out.
It will be interesting to see what China has learned from our mistakes. They do, after all, share a border with Afghanistan (only around 75 kilometers though).

Wasn't it Trump who got that in motion? Good on Biden for not flip flopping on that though.

 

[Generals]

It helps to remember that the USA does not and has never given a shit about Afgan civilians.

Like, we won't even extract civilian assets that we said would specifically be extracted if they helped us out.

Oh, I know. And that's the sad part about all this. NATO went to war with Afghanistan not caring for its citizens and left caring even less about the Afghans.
And what I have heard about the visa-for-interpreters process is plain disgusting.

Xinjiang isn't in the United States

I know, it's in Führer Xi's China.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Upon reflection, and I'm sure I'll get a "duh" from everyone else, but both parties were itching to get out of that country but neither wanted to be the one that got saddled with the optics of leaving with their tail between their legs.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Let me know when someone starts saying "those brave mujahedeen" again. History is cyclical.

 

[Mister Mumbler]

Looks like Rambo saved the day again.

 

[Seanchaidh]

Upon reflection, and I'm sure I'll get a "duh" from everyone else, but both parties were itching to get out of that country but neither wanted to be the one that got saddled with the optics of leaving with their tail between their legs.

On the contrary, they were all grasping for any reason whatsoever to stay.

 

[Lykosia]

Well. Afghanistan is known as the graveyard of empires for a reason. British, Soviets and now Americans have learned the lesson. You don't invade Afghanistan.

 

[Seanchaidh]

Well. Afghanistan is known as the graveyard of empires for a reason. British, Soviets and now Americans have learned the lesson. You don't invade Afghanistan.

TBH it hasn't really impeded the USA too much. The ruling class gives no shits about the smattering of military casualties, and indeed it likes having an excuse to bomb things.

 

[09philj]

You can't really rule Afghanistan except by voluntary agreement with the villages and/or the application of extreme force and ultimately local conservative islamists are probably best placed to apply those things. The British found it out, the Soviets found it out, and the Americans have found it out. China will probably be the next to find it out in the next instalment of "superpower thinks it can just invade Afghanistan".

Let me know when someone starts saying "those brave mujahedeen" again. History is cyclical.

Now to be fair a lot of the Mujahedeen ended up being part of the factions that opposed the Taliban during the Afghan civil war including the Northern Alliance, which was led by the prominent Tajik Mujahedeen Ahmad Shah Massoud until he was assassinated on the orders of Osama Bin Laden. (Obviously they did a lot of their own war crimes but doing war crimes is basically the default state of conflict in Afghanistan) The Mujahedeen were a multi-ethnic and Afghan nationalist force in addition to being Islamists but the actions of the US during the Soviet-Afghan war rather ripped the balance in favour of the Islamist side. They were also very much involved in getting the Saudis to export Islamists to fight in Afghanistan, which included Bin Laden.

 

[CM156]

Well. Afghanistan is known as the graveyard of empires for a reason.

Yeah, it's known as that for a reason, but not necessarily a historically accurate reason.

You don't invade Afghanistan.

I do agree with you there. The Taliban is soon to win, but the prize isn't all that great.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

The Mujahedeen were a multi-ethnic and Afghan nationalist force in addition to being Islamists but the actions of the US during the Soviet-Afghan war rather ripped the balance in favour of the Islamist side. They were also very much involved in getting the Saudis to export Islamists to fight in Afghanistan, which included Bin Laden.

I mean, if we didn't back the religious conservatives the resulting government might've been, gasp, communist.
Or at least more left wing in a "won't let us plunder their natural resources" sort of way. We hate emerging multi-ethnic governments that want to exert strong controls over their own resources.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Now to be fair a lot of the Mujahedeen ended up being part of the factions that opposed the Taliban during the Afghan civil war including the Northern Alliance, which was led by the prominent Tajik Mujahedeen Ahmad Shah Massoud until he was assassinated on the orders of Osama Bin Laden. (Obviously they did a lot of their own war crimes but doing war crimes is basically the default state of conflict in Afghanistan) The Mujahedeen were a multi-ethnic and Afghan nationalist force in addition to being Islamists but the actions of the US during the Soviet-Afghan war rather ripped the balance in favour of the Islamist side. They were also very much involved in getting the Saudis to export Islamists to fight in Afghanistan, which included Bin Laden.

The thing is that, in this one post, you present more knowledge of the background of the country than even pre-Alzheimer's Ronnie Raygun probably ever had. He just liked that they were bloodying Commie Russia's nose.