THE AFGHANISTAN CLUSTERCOITUS HAS PARALLELS…

1. Agree Mas… BTDT during the Eastertide Offensive of 1972 in South Vietnam…:-(

   Realizing we don’t have timely and accurate situational reports on the situation at Kabul International Airport, to me the situation remains vulnerable to the ‘good will’ of the Taliban, ISIS and al-Qaeda forces ringing the airfield or nearby. Not a good bet IMO.

   FWIW, methinks you need to maybe add some zeroes to those 8,000 cops and raise it to 800,000+ feds, state, county and local law enforcement?

   Thanks again for wise insights as we pray for a successful evacuation from Kabul.

   • We don’t need more LEO’s
     We need good citizens to be able to protect themselves and their families.

     • We need both….

     • The role of the competent, armed, private citizen is to provide protection during the time interval between the beginning of a criminal attack and the arrival of professional responders (LEOs) who can take over.

2. The real fallacy here is calling the CIA, NSA, FBI and other agencies “intelligence”. That function was destroyed by the administration in the WH from 2009 to 2017. All of our intel sources were outed and those agencies were turned inward to spying on those Americans the administration deemed “rebellious subjects”. We’re pretty much blind to foreign intrigue as is obvious when we cannot even predict the actions of a tribe of unwashed goatherds!

   • Not to disagree but our intelligence branches were failing long before the Obama Regime. Just for a few examples:

     1) Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq?

     2) The September 11th Terrorist attack?

     3) The failure of the CIA to foresee the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan back during the Carter Regime.

     All of the above failures occurred long before Obama took office.

     I agree that Obama corrupted the intelligence agencies. Turned them into a political tool of the Deep State and enhanced their political spying, and political use, against American citizens. However, it was the ill-named and ill-advised “Patriot Act” that supercharged spying on our own people by the intelligence agencies. That piece of tyrannical legislation was signed into law by George W. Bush.

     So, while I don’t disagree with your basic idea, the failures and corruption of American Intelligence Agencies go back a lot further than just the Obama regime.

     • Chemical weapons were found in Iraq. WMDs are not nuclear only.

     • @ Ryan Doss – Please don’t imply that the “WMD’s in Iraq” fiasco was, somehow, actually a success for the U.S. Intelligence Community. It certainly was a failure of huge proportions. If you need convincing of this fact, then read this:

       https://besacenter.org/iraq-war-intelligence-fiasco/

       Or, perhaps, Colin Powell’s Mea Culpa will make the point:

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d93_u1HHgM4

3. Another parallel is that the same woke wonks who are planning on establishing diplomatic relations with the new “government” of Afghanistan, once the Taliban shows they will respect the human rights progress the West made in the country; are the same people who are emptying U.S. prisons, defunding police, and sending social workers to lead hardened criminals into the light.

   Locally they are blaming legal gun owners for the surging crime rate. Who are they going to blame when the sandbox runs red?

   • “Who are they going to blame when the sandbox runs red?”

     They will blame former President Trump, as usual. Don’t you know, by now, that every negative thing that has ever happened, or will ever happen, in the “History of the World” is his fault?

     The blame will be put upon President Trump and on anyone who ever worked for, supported, or voted for President Trump. They will spin a narrative that supports that case and then every one of their media lapdogs will repeat it endlessly until, at least, the low-information voters start to believe it.

     Surely you know their methods by now? We have seen it played out a million times already.

     • President Biden already launched that missile. It detonated in the firing tube.

       Even the mainstream media called his hand.

     • TN_MAN,

       So true. President Obama spent at least his first year in office blaming every negative thing on his predecessor, George Bush the Younger. Biden now follows the same playbook against Trump.

   • @ larryarnold – Well, if the old standard of “Blame Trump (or his supporters)” won’t fly, then they can always fall back to Plan B and blame climate change. I hear that CBS News is already trying that gambit.

     See this link for further details.

     https://www.rt.com/news/532698-taliban-climate-change-afghanistan/

     If this won’t fly either, then how about blaming Racism and/or the colonialism of the White Race? If all else fails, then they might try to blame Covid-19. They would have to be careful with this one, however, since it might imply criticism of their good comrades, the ChiComs.

     They are the Party of Excuses and they will find SOMETHING to deflect blame away from themselves. Mark my words!

4. ????

5. This was entirely predictable. Biden has never been a leader, he is often wrong and the light of history shows this. This is a turning point in history. This was a failure of leadership by all American Presidents that they did not make the case that for a minimal cost of basing 4,000 soldiers in a supporting role we were breeding the Taliban into decline. More than half of the Afghans living in the cities were under 20 years of age and only knew the flawed, corrupt but infinitely better way of life than Taliban rule. Fifty years later with our continued presence the Taliban could never retake the country. Too long? We are still in Japan, Germany and Korea and those countries combined make a better world. Japan can never go back to the Samurai nor could Germany return to Nazi rule. The South Koreans have a vibrant economy with companies competing with the worlds best. Afghanistan might never become such a state but it could have continued to slowly transform into something better.

   • Whitney P,

     Your last sentence says Afghanistan could have transformed into something better. If you think about it, Islam actually has many positive, conservative, pro-family teachings. The problem with Islam is it teaches violence against infidels and bad Muslims. If someone could simply convince Muslims to keep Islam, but give up the violence, that would be huge progress.

     But what do Americans do? They go right over to Afghanistan and teach the women to leave their roles and become fighter pilots or whatever they want to be, (like American girls are taught) and we teach the Afghans that homosexuality is OK. Instead of trying to get Muslims to take baby steps toward peace, some Americans want them to become full-blown, secular, hedonistic Americans. No way is that going to work. My idea of trying to simply remove the violence from Islam probably won’t work either, because it is taught in the Koran. But, my idea of taking baby steps toward a more peaceful life makes a lot more sense than deluded, blind Americans’ idea of quickly transforming Afghans into being like us.

     Islam needs a Martin or Muhammad Luther, a reformer. But of course, the hard-liners would cut his head off. So there is no hope. Jihad will continue until the world ends. We can’t change the Koran.

6. As a volunteer firefighter, I tell you from experience, there is a time to recognize your efforts will prove futile and the best thing you can do is retreat to a safe distance. Afghanistan was never going to have a strong central government because of thousands of years of tribalism. Recruiting ‘police and military” from the lowest social strata reminds me of McNamara and the mess he caused in Vietnam by enlisting the lowest intelligence classification recruits. You can’t fix stupid.

   • I agree.

7. I have what I think is a novel view of such situations as Afghanistan, Syria, etc.

   It’s really hard to discriminate friend from foe. You might think of your next door neighbor as friend; yet, tomorrow, he might become a foe. Still harder when the “neighbor” is half-a-world away and a full culture different. Best one can do is guess which neighbor or tribe might be your friend or your foe; acknowledging that your guesses will prove wrong in some cases.

   In Syria, all the combatants were foes. America could choose to arm any of them or not. Whomsoever we armed might someday send those arms to our boarder and attack us. To arm any of them is a risk. To take the risk implies that we see enough – perhaps small – tactical advantage to arming tribe C to fight tribes A and B to justify the risk that those arms might one day be used against us. But, if C chose to attack us, it would get arms from the Russians or Chinese anyway. So, our refusing to arm C wouldn’t make us much safer.

   Afghanistan was a more complicated proposition. We could arm many tribes that were against the Taliban; then, get out of the way. Let the Taliban fight it’s native enemies using our guns. Those we armed are not our friends; they are only enemies of our enemy. Some day those we had armed might attack us. But, they would anyway, using Russian/Chinese guns.

   Are we really any better off sending our soldiers into Afghanistan to fight the Taliban because we are afraid to arm the Afghan enemies of the Taliban?

   Here, in our own country, we have (for hundreds of years) tried to judiciously arm “tribes” we perceive to be friendly while dis-arming those we perceive to be hostile. One Indian tribe but not another. Reliable slaves, but not all slaves. Reliable freedmen, but not all freedmen. . . . Through, today, with May-Issue laws where we arm the hired guns of men-of-means whom the Sheriff deems to be “reliable” while withholding permits to all others (not celebrities or political contributors). How has this worked?

   I wonder if we would be better off beginning from a presupposition that a “neighbor” – whether distant or in our immediate community – is entitled to the benefit of the doubt and the means to a successful self-defense. Until his behaviors clearly demonstrate his hostility, we should be willing to sell or give him arms.

8. I am ashamed that we are begging for merciful things from people we should be killing and asking for impossible things from people we should be going door to door to find and bring home.

   What we are doing IS NOT HOW IT’S DONE.

   LTC, AR, USA (Ret.)

   • Russ,

     Many years ago someone called our efforts in the Middle East “Vietnam in the desert.” They were correct. We have not learned our lessons from Vietnam fifty years ago.

     Seems to me we can send our soldiers to the other side of the world to fight terrorists. This preserves the lives of American civilians. Or, we could bring our military home, and try to defend against terrorists here at home as best we can. Doing this would save the lives of our military personnel. Once in a while, the terrorists would have a victory and kill American civilians here at home. After twenty years of war, I am for keeping our military safe at home, and letting our civilians live with just a little more vulnerability.

     There is no perfect solution. Our choice is between what is bad and what is worse. The perfect is the enemy of the good. Innocent people are going to die, we just want as few innocents to die as possible.

     George Washington said, “Avoid foreign entanglements.” I would like to see us play defense against our enemies, and stay home. Then when we are attacked, we can respond with missiles or drones, or both. Avoiding collateral damage is a war doctrine for losers. Kill the bad guys. If they are living among innocents, kill the innocents too, but make sure you kill the bad guys.

     What I am advocating is terrible. But remember, war and this world are terrible. We live in a bubble, so we think life is beautiful. Life is only beautiful in America, and a few other countries that are like America. The real world is a savage place from which we are protected by wealth, technology, and well-behaved neighbors.

9. @ Mas – “…given that a nation of 328 million people and only about 8,000 cops can’t assign police bodyguards to individual potential victims 24/7…”

   I agree with the comment of Jack Finch above. Your figure for the population of the U.S. is pretty close. The current number is over 332 million. See this link:

   https://www.census.gov/popclock/

   However, the figure for the number of law-enforcement officers is way low. According to their 2019 Use of Force Report, the New York Police Department (NYPD), alone, had 36,397 Uniformed Members of the Service in that year.

   It is hard to know a total for the entire U.S. but one source placed it at about 700,000 back in 2019. See this link:

   https://www.statista.com/statistics/191694/number-of-law-enforcement-officers-in-the-us/

   So, Jack Finch seems to be correct. Your figure for the number of police officers is off by approximately a factor of 1,000.

   Not that it diminishes the point you are making. It is just that, as a retired engineer, I have an obsession about getting the figures fairly accurate. The leopard cannot change his spots! 🙂

   • Sure, 800K or so sworn officers.

     But how many are federal, off working for environmental protection or some such?
     How many are state troopers, game wardens, alcoholic beverage cops, etc.? They do a terrific job, but they aren’t available when you have a burglary.
     Of the local police or sheriff’s office LEOs, how many are off-duty, command staff, detectives, warrant officers, bailiffs, etc?
     My hometown has a population of 25,000 or so, with another 30,000 or so living out in the county (across 1,107 sq mi.) There are typically 4-5 deputy sheriffs and 8-9 police out patrolling the streets on a typical day. Night shift is lower.

     • Exactly the point.

   • Per an AP report one of the first things the Taliban has done was inform the populace to turn in all privately owned firearms. “We’ll protect you”.

     If this can be confirmed, “American Taliban” could be a new label for the gun grabbers.

     • @ WR Moore – “… ‘American Taliban’ could be a new label for the gun grabbers.”

       The American Left, along with their Firearm-Prohibitionist wing, may differ with the Taliban in terms of ideological details since one is a Marxist ideology while the other is a Radical Islam ideology. Nevertheless, the basic “Mindset” underlying both groups is the same. They both believe that they are preaching the “One True Faith”. They both are convinced that ALL unbelievers must be converted or destroyed.

       They are both totalitarian worldviews. They are two sides of the same coin and neither one embraces the concept of “Democracy” nor will either one EVER be compatible with the ideas that Founded the American Republic.

       So, yes. Ultimately, they are far more similar than they are different. So, your suggestion is not without merit.

10. “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” –FDR

11. The debacle in Afghanistan is a direct result of the ongoing rot in the senior leadership of our military & intelligence agencies. I haven’t heard of any senior leaders resigning in protest or being fired either. Any Marine or Army Infantry Company Commander could have done a much better job of organizing this withdrawal. The fact that we allowed the Taliban to acquire our weapon systems will make it much harder for any Afghan resistance to hold out.

    If you need any more reason to never surrender your arms you need only look to Australia where the once proud Diggers are being forcibly confined in their homes by the military. Funny how that gets no coverage from the “mainstream media.” Of course, it’s only done to keep them safe from Covid like senile Joe is keeping us safe from Russian ammunition.

    • that last line. IN THE TEN RING

    • @ Mark – “The debacle in Afghanistan is a direct result of the ongoing rot in the senior leadership of our military & intelligence agencies.”

      It is more than just the rot in these agencies. It is the ongoing moral rot of America. Since the rot IS moral, let me put it in Judeo-Christian terms:

      Deuteronomy 25:4 – Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.

      In its literal meaning, this verse is a prohibition against animal abuse. The corn referred to, in this verse, is not maize (a new world food crop) but, rather, it refers to wheat, barley, rye and other grain crops available in the biblical period. In pre-industrial revolution times, the grain was separated from the chaff by having oxen walk over the dried grain stalks. This “treading” back and forth acted to separate the grain from the chaff. The separated material was then thrown into the air so that wind action could “blow away” the chaff while allowing the heavier grain to fall back to earth. The separated grain was then collected and stored for later processing into bread and other food products.

      Placing a muzzle on the oxen, as they went about this work, accomplished a couple of goals. First, it prevented the oxen from reaching down, time to time, and grabbing a mouthful of the grain at their feet. You see, the greedy human owners of the oxen begrudged sharing even one bite of grain with a dumb animal like their oxen. They wanted ALL the grain for themselves. Second, the muzzle forced an ox to work in silence. It’s voice and even its breathing restricted by the action of the muzzle. The ox was not permitted even one bellow, in protest, at this harsh treatment.

      It was a selfish and cruel act to muzzle an ox in this manner and, as the verse above shows, it was banned for this reason.

      However, does this verse have meaning beyond the literal? So often, bible verses can (upon reflection) have deeper meaning. Or, as the bible itself says:

      II Timothy 3:16 – All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

      The Apostle Paul thought that this verse had deeper meaning for he wrote the following:

      I Corinthians 9:9 and 9:10 – For it is written in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written; that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.

      So, what does this verse tell us today? It tells us that human greed, human selfishness and human cruelty is alive and well. However, the current practitioners are no longer satisfied with just animal cruelty. They specialize in treating their fellow citizens as oxen.

      Today, we have a wealthy political class that sees the American citizen as oxen. Dumb animals to be driven and worked and exploited. These elites feed off the taxes and labor of the American middle class while simultaneously feeding us lies, propaganda and indoctrination to keep us docile and working in silence. They have used Covid-19 as a fear-tool to (literally) muzzle us with face masks. They use their tech giants to stifle our voice (free speech) and to muzzle any protest over our treatment at their hands. If anyone does dare to protest, then he or she is cancelled, arrested or (otherwise) cowed into silence. Our voice is muzzled just as effectively as the bellows of protest, of the overworked oxen, were muzzled in biblical times.

      They are also working, nigh and day, to disarm us. They like their oxen de-horned.

      Do you think that these elites are worried over the mess in Afghanistan? What if billions of dollars of equipment fall into the hands of terrorists? The elites will only use this as an excuse to buy billions of dollars more. It will be taxpayer money sent to the military-industrial complex and used to enrich the elites and provide for bribes and kickbacks. What if it increases the terrorist threat to America? The loss of a few thousand oxen in another 9-11 style attack will not concern the elites. Rather, they will use the increasing threat to expand the “Patriot Act” and to spy upon and to suppress the American Citizen even more.

      Wake up, People! We are playing in a “rigged game”. It is “Heads I win, tails you (the American Citizen) lose”. The bank accounts of the political elites will continue to fatten and the middle-class, of American Citizens, will continue to shrink irrespective of how bad the situation becomes. The elites have been milking us like this for at least 50 years already. See this link if you doubt it.

      https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide-to-statistics-on-historical-trends-in-income-inequality

      The problem is human greed. The greed of the elite class in America which has led them to muzzle us and treat us like dumb oxen. Worse yet, so many of the American People are WILLING to be treated and exploited as if we were dumb oxen. Go out in public. Go to the shops or to buy groceries. Look around. How many people do you see who are voluntarily wearing a mask (the muzzle of the elites) to show what good oxen they are?

      The moral rot is not just in the elite class who demonstrate every degree of greed, hypocrisy, corruption, and sexual perversion. It is also the moral rot of the American People who are so weak as to tolerate and submit to the “Big Lie” that sustains these corrupt elites in power.

      • TN_MAN,

        Correct. Also, I am amazed at the productivity of the American taxpayer. Our taxes pay for all the good things in America, and all the good our government tries to do around the world by giving our money to other nations. WE PAY FOR EVERYTHING. The wealth our government makes from the American taxpayer is amazing! To have that wealth mis-managed is a terrible sin against humanity.

      • @ Roger Willco – “…I am amazed at the productivity of the American taxpayer…”

        No one can be productive enough to satisfy the greed of our political elites. They not only mismanage the wealth that is sucked up by our government but they are also borrowing money, hand over fist, to fatten the pile further. They know that, the larger the pile of available cash, then the more they can embezzle and siphon off into their own bank accounts.

        It is their corruption and greed that is limitless, not our productivity.

        This is why the U.S. Debt keeps climbing to the moon. See this link:

        https://usdebtclock.org/

        The debt is already so high that our great-grandchildren will be paying on it.

        Mark my words, the gravy train for our greedy political class WILL COME to an end. The laws of economics cannot be held off indefinitely. This nation is being driven into a financial meltdown that will make the one in Venezuela look like a picnic.

        Sadly, another such “Great Depression” event may be what it takes to wake up (and toughen up) the American People so that we can finally deal JUSTICE to this pack of thieves that pretend to be our leaders but, in actuality, are an organized crime syndicate.

      • TN_MAN:

        You are correct in believing that current events in America and around the world are going exactly as planned by the Dark Side.

        The situation in Afghanistan is seen as a disaster by many, but that’s what the liberals want. The 70,000 vehicles, 400 aircraft, 600,000 small arms, numerous tons of ordnance and ammunition, and thousands of gallons of fuel handed over the Taliban may seem to many as a mistake, but it was intended to be that way as certain Americans in charge got huge bribes for giving the terrorists this stuff. Plus as you’re mentioned, the U.S. military now has to buy more equipment and supplies to replace that loss and companies making these items get more business and make more profit.

        During the dark Clinton years, HillBilly received millions of dollars from the Communist Chinese and in return, allowed American aerospace companies like Loral to sell technology to them, saving the CCP many billions and 20 years of research and development. The same thing happened when HillBilly allowed the sale of highly restricted Cray supercomputers to the CCP which even our closest allies could not buy. Plus, don’t forget Hillary and the uranium deal with the Russians.

        Remember the FBI guy who hinted at a “insurance policy” against Donald Trump? Could this be the C-19 virus? Fauci funded the research which developed something which could never have existed in nature and held it just in case it’s needed for a catastrophic event. Trump had to be defeated in 2020, so the virus was released. The numerous people who died as result was just collateral damage, an acceptable price to pay for getting rid of the dreaded Orange Man who wanted to drain The Swamp. The virus giving liberals more power over the people and changing the way Americans vote was an added bonus.

        The liberals never wanted Biden in the White House, but they knew Sanders and Warren could not beat Donald Trump, so they arranged for Crooked Joe to be the nominee and helped him cheat his way into the Oval Office. Now with the situation in Afghanistan, they can get rid of Biden and put Aunt Kamala in the White House. Notice the V.P. was kept far away from the Afghanistan disaster, so she’s clean and Crooked Joe and Donald Trump will get all the blame. Even if Aunt Kamala were to be kicked out later, which is quite possible, then Nancy Pelosi will be sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office. It’s a lose-lose situation for the U.S.A. either way.

12. The capitulation of the Afghan government was never in doubt, which is why the three previous presidents didn’t initiate the pullout; they knew it was going to happen. There was never a way to win in the “graveyard of empires”. They just didn’t want to bear the title of “loser” of Afghanistan. So I understand how Biden would want to end our involvement there, just to be finally done with it. But it could have been done so much better, like removing our Afghan allies/interpreters, and like, maybe some of the weapons?? And now the consequences…

    • You left out one VERY IMPORTANT factor pushing all tjose former CinC guys to NOT shut down that sandbox: billionis of dollars were being made by the companies producing and shipping the “toys” that were used to uphold the façade of “fighting” the endless wars over there. You also left out the cash cow, ongoing, from the products made from the red poppies our CIA helped establish as a financial base for many “over there”. Those two sweetheart bottomless troughs WOULD have got to their bottms had we abandoned the fruitless never ending war. Every producer of a commodity must have a ready market. Those goods produced are rather durable in normal cirsumstances. Put then ot use in an area where they are continually being destroye,d lost, smashed, stolen, abandoned, and the endless market for them can sustain an YUUUUUGE economy.

      The sandbox is a multifaceted lookingglass world. with no end in sight. Or so it seemed. Endless line of ready consumers? We’re the only ones building that necessary item? WE set the price based on what WE think it should be? Kachingggggggggggg

13. James Freeman in the Wall Street Journal’s Best of the Web says:
    “ Con­fused woke­sters who like to rant about al­leged op­pres­sion in Amer­i­ca’s free so­ci­ety will now get a chance to see a truly op­pres­sive, in­tol­er­ant and big­oted regime op­er­ate in Af­ghanistan. Al­ready, the Tal­iban has pro­vided an ac­tual ex­am­ple of an armed in­sur­rec­tion for U.S. me­dia folk to pon­der. And while the Afghans and USA’s international reputation will suffer from this debacle, the greater danger is that Joe “Neville Chamberlain” Biden will lead China’s Xi to think that he has 3 year window of opportunity to take Taiwan with military force…and lead to WW3.

    • Whoops… insert end quote after … U.S. me­dia folk to pon­der.”

14. If one accepts the MSM as a source, the Taliban spokesMAN recently spoke to their adherence to agreements reached with unbelievers with a statement to the effect that “We will protect the rights of women within Islamic Law”.

    Why anyone with an IQ over room temperature would actually believe they’d keep an agreement, I can’t understand. OTOH, you can have the most accurate intelligence available, but if the information doesn’t fit the selected narrative, you can be sure there’s someone, somewhere who’s going to edit the results to suit. Or, you get some arrogant fool (never in doubt, often wrong) who chooses to believe their own preconceptions.

15. Not to pole vault over mouse turds … but there are reportedly 3,007 Counties in the US, while county equivalents number 135 all totaling to 3,142. The state of Delaware has the least number of counties at three while Texas has 254. So methinks on any given shift, counting local PD and county deputies, we have way more than 8000 cops nationally out there trying their best to crush crime… In Texas likely a 1000 or more … Just sayin’ Mas…:-)
    As to the abandoned equipment and weapons. Like with the South Vietnamese in 1975, I think the US thought the items would hopefully be used not captured. Personally I think such a policy decision was stupid beyond belief and people need to be held accountable. The aircraft in some cases were flown out of Afghanistan. Will they be recovered by the US? I do not know. Abandoning Bagram airbase in the middle of the night was poor decision IMO. But I’m just a retired spook, retired Rn and former reserve LEO. I’m sure JCS Chairman Milley is “all over it”… unless Kabul International Airport’s one runway is attacked? Hmm… With our abandoned weapons? The tragic irony…:-(

16. First, some background from the time, decades ago, when Americans were welcome in the Middle East.

    My wife’s aunt and uncle had extensive Middle Eastern experience. The uncle was an electrical engineer in the utility end of the specialty. They and their children spent time in Pakistan where their youngest son quickly picked up Urdu, the national language. After Pakistan, the family moved to Colorado for an engineering executive job with the local utility. In retirement, aunt and uncle spent several years in Egypt working for a American company with a foreign aid contract to upgrade the Egyptian electrical grid.

    Their daughter married a faculty member at the Center for Afghan Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. They spent time in Afghanistan where their younger daughter was born. Her first name is Afghan and translates to “sweet”. The Afghan Studies Center continues to function despite forty years of war, first against the Soviets and then against the Taliban.

    I have two thoughts about the Afghanistan fiasco:

    The United States became involved in Afghanistan after the Soviets moved in to support their communist puppet. With the US doing to the Soviets in Afghanistan what they did to us in Vietnam, the Soviets eventually gave up and went home. They couldn’t win and the cost of not losing was more than they were willing to pay.

    The United States did not drive out Taliban in 2002. The Northern Alliance did that. They had support in the form of air strikes called in by a handful US Special Forces but, in my opinion, US moral support meant more than the strikes. In 2002, the Taliban were ripe for the plucking and the Northern Alliance just needed encouragement to do it.

    With the Taliban gone and the Northern Alliance in control of the country (as much as any central government is in control of Afghanistan), there was, in my opinion, a golden opportunity for the United States to capitalize on its popularity within the country to create a conservative, Muslim country friendly to the US. Massive foreign aid to build things like schools and hospitals. (This article contains a photo of the author and Afghan school teachers discussing school supplies and rubber boots to keep the kids’ feet dry on their walk to school: https://amplifiedbeing.com/2021/08/15/what-just-happened/). Instead, George W Bush abandoned the place, to run off to Iraq, leaving it wide open for the Taliban to return. (In my opinion, although by all reports he is a thoroughly nice guy, this makes him the second worst commander in chief since Lyndon Johnson who was afraid to fight effectively in Vietnam and afraid to get out.)

    My other thought is to wonder if it was really necessary to put troops on the ground in Afghanistan beyond Special Forces for targeted raids. The original goal was to force the Taliban regime to stop harboring Osama bin Laden. Weaken the Taliban by selectively targeting the infrastructure on which they depended to rule the country. Put them in a position where they had to choose between bin Laden and themselves.

17. Jack+Finch,

    “unless Kabul International Airport’s one runway is attacked? Hmm . . . With our abandoned weapons?” Are you saying the Taliban could use our captured artillery to pound the runway, planes and personnel at Kabul Airport? Gee, since I am a book reader, I happen to know that is what happened at both Dien Bien Phu and Khe Sanh. In an earlier post I wrote that we had not learned the lessons of Vietnam. Looks like George Santayana is right again, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

    Of course, I am so cynical I believe our government wants us to lose, in order to further weaken us. They want to create chaos, so we citizens look to them to help us. That will give them more power.

    If the Taliban attacks our forces in Kabul, our military will pound them to death. But the jihadists like becoming martyrs, and, according the their beliefs, going to Paradise. Will they attack us, or wait until we leave? That remains to be seen. One thing is for certain. A lot of jihadists are being inspired by the Taliban’s blitzkrieg.

18. We’ll all find out who rules at the end of the month, since the Taliban has warned us to be gone by then ‘or else’.

19. As easy as it is to beat up on Biden, I support him. And I’m a Trump rally attendee and Trump campaign contributor. Biden had a choice between two really bad options: fast withdrawal or prolonged withdrawal [civil war], either would have resulted in people dropping from C-17 planes. Trump too.

    There’s something we don’t know which could change our perspective Drastically.

    • Even if it is conceded that a fairly rapid withdrawal is the lesser of two evils, I still do not agree with your point. Even a rapid withdrawal could have been controlled and managed better than this mess. The Biden regime has allowed everything to go to hell in a single week. To use a term dating back to WW II, this is FUBAR!

      You may have attended a Trump rally and contributed to his campaign, but I don’t believe that you truly understand his concept of “America First”.

      No one can support “America First” and, also, support Biden or the Democrat Party. The Democrats put Marxism and their own greed for wealth and power first. They put America, and the American People, last.

      The Biden FUBAR in Afghanistan is just one of a million examples that show the truth of the above statement.

20. Now it looks like Americans may be left to fend for themselves in Afghanistan, while Biden brags about the next 3.5 trillion debt bomb & Kamala instructs us to buy Christmas presents. I don’t know why anyone though Biden would act any differently than he always has. It has always been about enriching the Biden familia & to Hell with anyone else. How hard is it going to be to get those Marines & paratroopers on planes when they know Americans are being left to die? I pray that there will not be mass slaughter. Truly shameful.

21. There’s a probability there’s another perspective we don’t know of yet. Could be a trap for China, could be a lot if things. We could learn what these scenarios are by the end of year or in ten years.

    Considering that Russia and the US have been fighting a proxy war via Afghanistan, handing the problem off to China may prove to be genius.

    Keep in mind China recently offered a three child policy no one wants due to the costs. This could prove to be the end.

22. @ Tom606 – “During the dark Clinton years, HillBilly received millions of dollars from the Communist Chinese and in return, allowed American aerospace companies like Loral to sell technology to them, saving the CCP many billions and 20 years of research and development.”

    Perhaps Biden wants to out-do the Clinton’s in corruption. I know that is a difficult target to meet but some people think it is happening. See this story:

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/09/afghanistan_fiasco_may_have_been_the_result_of_blackmail.html

    The “Dark Years” are back again with a vengeance. Are the American People EVER going to take TREASON seriously again? If not, then I can tell you that any Nation that does not take treason seriously is not long for this world.

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