HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
You're making a fool of yourself.
This is a mishandled adventure that will forever be the legacy of George W Bush. Not Biden.
Luckily for Biden the US electorate has the memory of a goldfish, and this will be forgotten come the midterms
Until the next skyscraper falls in LA or NYC or Chicago or another major US city with another few thousand dead in another terrorist attack planned and launched from Afghanistan by terrorists under Taliban protection.
That could now only be a few years away if Kabul falls
No, it is the Saudis that plan and fund these things. The Taliban only care about their own country. They are brutal and medieval in their mindset, but not expansionist. Saudi though is another story.
Sounds like Kabul will fall to the Taleban shortly. They've played the long game there, and will now have US to update their Russian hardware. You have to wonder what the point of everything there was.
The Americans had the watches, but they had the time.
Strong stuff from the EU here, Taliban threatened with the naughty step.
Sounds like Kabul will fall to the Taleban shortly. They've played the long game there, and will now have US to update their Russian hardware. You have to wonder what the point of everything there was.
The rapid fall seems to mirror the Iraqi army when IS spread there. Except the Taliban is more entrenched with greater support.
IS have now been almost eliminated from Syria and Iraq thanks to Russian and US military support for Assad and the Iraqis
#COVID19: Coronavirus case rates have risen in most regions of England and among almost all age groups, latest figures from Public Health England (PHE) show https://trib.al/kI9MMjH
Sounds like Kabul will fall to the Taleban shortly. They've played the long game there, and will now have US to update their Russian hardware. You have to wonder what the point of everything there was.
The Americans had the watches, but they had the time.
Strong stuff from the EU here, Taliban threatened with the naughty step.
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
You're making a fool of yourself.
This is a mishandled adventure that will forever be the legacy of George W Bush. Not Biden.
No, it wil taint every administration associated with it, the same way Vietnam tainted JFK (who started it), then LBJ, then Nixon, and finally Ford
And this is very arguably worse. Yes, fewer American lives have been lost but much more money has been spent, for almost zero gain, and this at a time when the USA faces a lethally powerful enemy, able to take advantage. China is many times the threat the USSR was, in, say, 1970
Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden will all get the blame. An utterly failed foreign policy ending in abject farce. A true and visible handover of geopolitical power to Beijing
I don't think it will taint Biden since he's not associated with it to the same extent. He hasn't been defeated, he's new enough in office that he's simply acknowledged reality and the failure of the prior two decades.
This will taint primarily those who came before especially Bush.
The reason this is completely different to Vietnam is in Vietnam the US was going hell for leather fighting, even to the point of using a draft. It was an ongoing war.
In Afghanistan there's not been an ongoing war and there's not been a draft. Its more of a failed peacekeeping exercise since Bush's infamous Mission Accomplished photoshoot. That's why this will forever be Bush's legacy. This and Iraq.
Bush stuck the course and removed the Taliban and Al Qaeda from Afghanistan, Obama killed Bin Laden, Biden let them back in.
Biden owns this retreat and defeat if Kabul falls
Er... and Trump, who initiated the withdrawal - does he not get a mention in your litany?
As I mentioned earlier Romney would be better than both but it is on Biden's watch now
And Boris's watch too.
"Boris's watch" ?
That's a genuine
Do you think he's got around to opening the red box with Taliban updates in yet?
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
Damn right
Instead the Biden-Harris administration should be defined by propping up an unpopular regime in Afghanistan with US lives and money.
Correct. It would avoid another 9/11, 9/11 2 now very much on the cards.
There have still been fewer US troops killed in Afghanistan in 20 years than the number of US civilians killed in NYC on 9/11 in 1 day thanks to an attack planned by Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Absolutely farcical. Pretty sure rcs was being sarcastic which you've missed.
Bin Laden, the Taliban, and al'Qaeda have had almost free reign in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Our invasion of Afghanistan never defeated the Taliban, it just relocated them. It never defeated al'Qaeda, they just relocated.
Bush's failure to secure Pakistan as part of the war meant the whole invasion and its aftermath has been a miserable failure.
Occupying Afghanistan was not preventing the Taliban or al'Qaeda or other Islamists from operating pretty much with impunity.
It was the invasion which forced Bin Laden into Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by US special forces.
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
Sounds like Kabul will fall to the Taleban shortly. They've played the long game there, and will now have US to update their Russian hardware. You have to wonder what the point of everything there was.
The rapid fall seems to mirror the Iraqi army when IS spread there. Except the Taliban is more entrenched with greater support.
IS have now been almost eliminated from Syria and Iraq thanks to Russian and US military support for Assad and the Iraqis
Yes, thank you for addressing exactly half of the point, which was about the rapid collapse of state forces. Who would play the anti IS role to make up for the weakness of the latter after decades of building?
Time for your regular reminder that the PRC won't be waltzing into Taiwan anytime soon. Not without a vast amount of time, money and blood that is. Comparisons with Vietnam and Afghanistan are, however, apposite.
Really? I appreciate your knowledge and interest in Taiwan, but do you think that China invading would end like the US in Vietnam and Afghanistan?
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
Damn right
Instead the Biden-Harris administration should be defined by propping up an unpopular regime in Afghanistan with US lives and money.
Correct. It would avoid another 9/11, 9/11 2 now very much on the cards.
There have still been fewer US troops killed in Afghanistan in 20 years than the number of US civilians killed in NYC on 9/11 in 1 day thanks to an attack planned by Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Absolutely farcical. Pretty sure rcs was being sarcastic which you've missed.
Bin Laden, the Taliban, and al'Qaeda have had almost free reign in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Our invasion of Afghanistan never defeated the Taliban, it just relocated them. It never defeated al'Qaeda, they just relocated.
Bush's failure to secure Pakistan as part of the war meant the whole invasion and its aftermath has been a miserable failure.
Occupying Afghanistan was not preventing the Taliban or al'Qaeda or other Islamists from operating pretty much with impunity.
It was the invasion which forced Bin Laden into Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by US special forces.
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
Pakistan have been the biggest backers of the Taliban over the last 30 years.
Sounds like Kabul will fall to the Taleban shortly. They've played the long game there, and will now have US to update their Russian hardware. You have to wonder what the point of everything there was.
The Americans had the watches, but they had the time.
Strong stuff from the EU here, Taliban threatened with the naughty step.
And our governments policy too? Those Paras are only going to help evacuate our own people. It won't be the Taliben that they will be fighting off the helicopter skids.
Time for your regular reminder that the PRC won't be waltzing into Taiwan anytime soon. Not without a vast amount of time, money and blood that is. Comparisons with Vietnam and Afghanistan are, however, apposite.
Really? I appreciate your knowledge and interest in Taiwan, but do you think that China invading would end like the US in Vietnam and Afghanistan?
Sounds like Kabul will fall to the Taleban shortly. They've played the long game there, and will now have US to update their Russian hardware. You have to wonder what the point of everything there was.
The rapid fall seems to mirror the Iraqi army when IS spread there. Except the Taliban is more entrenched with greater support.
IS have now been almost eliminated from Syria and Iraq thanks to Russian and US military support for Assad and the Iraqis
Thank Ed Miliband that we, and the US for that matter, didn't bomb Assad out of power then. I'm sure you do.
Sounds like Kabul will fall to the Taleban shortly. They've played the long game there, and will now have US to update their Russian hardware. You have to wonder what the point of everything there was.
The Americans had the watches, but they had the time.
Strong stuff from the EU here, Taliban threatened with the naughty step.
One interpretation from a commentator on C4 was that the Taliban old dudes (who know what decades in the wilderness feels like and are probably well represented in the peace talks in Doha) are willing to talk business up to a point. Otoh the young firebrands who are actually knocking down the dominoes couldn't give a fuck.
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
You're making a fool of yourself.
This is a mishandled adventure that will forever be the legacy of George W Bush. Not Biden.
Luckily for Biden the US electorate has the memory of a goldfish, and this will be forgotten come the midterms
Until the next skyscraper falls in LA or NYC or Chicago or another major US city with another few thousand dead in another terrorist attack planned and launched from Afghanistan by terrorists under Taliban protection.
That could now only be a few years away if Kabul falls
No, it is the Saudis that plan and fund these things. The Taliban only care about their own country. They are brutal and medieval in their mindset, but not expansionist. Saudi though is another story.
It was not the Saudis who invited Bin Laden into their country and refused to hand him over even after 9/11, it was the Taliban
Sounds like Kabul will fall to the Taleban shortly. They've played the long game there, and will now have US to update their Russian hardware. You have to wonder what the point of everything there was.
The rapid fall seems to mirror the Iraqi army when IS spread there. Except the Taliban is more entrenched with greater support.
IS have now been almost eliminated from Syria and Iraq thanks to Russian and US military support for Assad and the Iraqis
Thank Ed Miliband that we, and the US for that matter, didn't bomb Assad out of power then. I'm sure you do.
I opposed military action against Assad yes in 2013 and said so here
Sounds like Kabul will fall to the Taleban shortly. They've played the long game there, and will now have US to update their Russian hardware. You have to wonder what the point of everything there was.
The Americans had the watches, but they had the time.
Strong stuff from the EU here, Taliban threatened with the naughty step.
One interpretation from a commentator on C4 was that the Taliban old dudes who are probably well represented in the peace talks in Doha, are willing to talk business up to a point. Otoh the young firebrands who are actually knocking down the dominoes couldn't give a fuck.
I suppose they might have been a bit TOO successful in this latest advance, more than they expected - it's hard to rein in the more fiery crowd when it's working so well.
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
You're making a fool of yourself.
This is a mishandled adventure that will forever be the legacy of George W Bush. Not Biden.
Luckily for Biden the US electorate has the memory of a goldfish, and this will be forgotten come the midterms
Until the next skyscraper falls in LA or NYC or Chicago or another major US city with another few thousand dead in another terrorist attack planned and launched from Afghanistan by terrorists under Taliban protection.
That could now only be a few years away if Kabul falls
No, it is the Saudis that plan and fund these things. The Taliban only care about their own country. They are brutal and medieval in their mindset, but not expansionist. Saudi though is another story.
It was not the Saudis who invited Bin Laden into their country and refused to hand him over even after 9/11, it was the Taliban
It is a fact though that even today Saudi funds Mosques all over the world which teach hate.
Time for your regular reminder that the PRC won't be waltzing into Taiwan anytime soon. Not without a vast amount of time, money and blood that is. Comparisons with Vietnam and Afghanistan are, however, apposite.
Really? I appreciate your knowledge and interest in Taiwan, but do you think that China invading would end like the US in Vietnam and Afghanistan?
If the Taiwanese went for guerrila warfare
You mean the 'turn Gibraltar into Stalingrad' stratagem?
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
Damn right
Instead the Biden-Harris administration should be defined by propping up an unpopular regime in Afghanistan with US lives and money.
Correct. It would avoid another 9/11, 9/11 2 now very much on the cards.
There have still been fewer US troops killed in Afghanistan in 20 years than the number of US civilians killed in NYC on 9/11 in 1 day thanks to an attack planned by Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Absolutely farcical. Pretty sure rcs was being sarcastic which you've missed.
Bin Laden, the Taliban, and al'Qaeda have had almost free reign in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Our invasion of Afghanistan never defeated the Taliban, it just relocated them. It never defeated al'Qaeda, they just relocated.
Bush's failure to secure Pakistan as part of the war meant the whole invasion and its aftermath has been a miserable failure.
Occupying Afghanistan was not preventing the Taliban or al'Qaeda or other Islamists from operating pretty much with impunity.
It was the invasion which forced Bin Laden into Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by US special forces.
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
Pakistan have been the biggest backers of the Taliban over the last 30 years.
The substance CJ Ujah has tested positive is a SARM....that is serious shit that bodybuilders widely use and known to be pretty damn dangerous stuff (unless used under very careful medical supervision for very specific conditions).
As I said earlier, the caught sportsperson is just the tip of the iceberg. In the modern testing environment it is impossible to cheat without an organisation behind the sportsperson. They need to look for a handful more bad eggs.
If the government wanted to root out these scoundrels they could.
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
You're making a fool of yourself.
This is a mishandled adventure that will forever be the legacy of George W Bush. Not Biden.
Luckily for Biden the US electorate has the memory of a goldfish, and this will be forgotten come the midterms
Until the next skyscraper falls in LA or NYC or Chicago or another major US city with another few thousand dead in another terrorist attack planned and launched from Afghanistan by terrorists under Taliban protection.
That could now only be a few years away if Kabul falls
Don't worry, there are hardly any skyscrapers in Los Angeles.
The substance CJ Ujah has tested positive is a SARM....that is serious shit that bodybuilders widely use and known to be pretty damn dangerous stuff (unless used under very careful medical supervision for very specific conditions).
As I said earlier, the caught sportsperson is just the tip of the iceberg. In the modern testing environment it is impossible to cheat without an organisation behind the sportsperson. They need to look for a handful more bad eggs.
If the government wanted to root out these scoundrels they could.
I highly doubt you would take SARMs if you were part of sophisticated organized / state sponsored doping. You are nearly guaranted to be popped as it is such a well known PED, widely used in body building. Its gym bro science types who widely take this stuff.
He hasn't even been popped for masking agents, he has been popped for the actual drug. That again doesn't scream highly organized doping, its screams idiot.
It will be interesting to see what CJ Ujah defence is.
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Time for your regular reminder that the PRC won't be waltzing into Taiwan anytime soon. Not without a vast amount of time, money and blood that is. Comparisons with Vietnam and Afghanistan are, however, apposite.
Really? I appreciate your knowledge and interest in Taiwan, but do you think that China invading would end like the US in Vietnam and Afghanistan?
It would be a long and bloody guerilla war. One that the Taiwanese have been preparing for for 70 years. With rainforest, the highest mountains east of the Himalayas, indigineous tribes who would face the fate of the Uighurs, know their way around and speak unintelligible languages. And every male trained. I am not claiming the Taiwanese would win, But they could drag it out. With unpredictable results for an invasion force not expecting resistance, nor used to fighting. And for a home population not anticipating body bags by the load.
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
It is going to be hard to deny any Afghan who gets to Britain their claim to asylum.
Who now believes the USA would go to war with China to defend Taiwan?
No one
At the risk of violating Godwin, Taiwan is Austria rather than Poland, or even Czechoslovakia.
Yes, precisely. Hong Kong was the Rhineland
Taiwan is Anschluss with Austria
Is there a Poland? I imagine America would step up to the plate to defend S Korea or Japan, but China is not insane like Nazi Germany (yet) so the question probably won’t arise
Taiwan needs nuclear weapons to ensure its security
You are absolutely right on this. Why does North Korea survive? Or indeed Israel? Because they have nukes, which deeply, deeply unnerve their many enemies. Otherwise they would be conquered in weeks
Taiwan must surely be developing nuclear weapons, probably aided by America and Japan (which has nukes in all but name)
America will not drop atom bombs on Beijing to save Taipei, but Taipei will. And there’s the rub
Israel was never conquered before it had nukes. It has allies. The nukes are secondary.
Who now believes the USA would go to war with China to defend Taiwan?
No one
That's precisely what the US doctrine of "One China", in force since 1972, means: "We won't go to war with China to defend Taiwan". Taiwan "could" pack quite a punch militarily, and not just on the seaboard, but its rapid defeat would be certain. So it wouldn't try it, and the conclusion is that the war has been won without a battle being fought. A "prediction" from this is that the PRC/ROC distinction doesn't mean terribly much in gangworld and that the PRC intelligence service has little to worry about in Chinatowns. With the two Korean governments the situation is very different.
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
It is going to be hard to deny any Afghan who gets to Britain their claim to asylum.
Who now believes the USA would go to war with China to defend Taiwan?
No one
At the risk of violating Godwin, Taiwan is Austria rather than Poland, or even Czechoslovakia.
Yes, precisely. Hong Kong was the Rhineland
Taiwan is Anschluss with Austria
Is there a Poland? I imagine America would step up to the plate to defend S Korea or Japan, but China is not insane like Nazi Germany (yet) so the question probably won’t arise
Taiwan needs nuclear weapons to ensure its security
You are absolutely right on this. Why does North Korea survive? Or indeed Israel? Because they have nukes, which deeply, deeply unnerve their many enemies. Otherwise they would be conquered in weeks
Taiwan must surely be developing nuclear weapons, probably aided by America and Japan (which has nukes in all but name)
America will not drop atom bombs on Beijing to save Taipei, but Taipei will. And there’s the rub
Israel was never conquered before it had nukes. It has allies. The nukes are secondary.
They are the best means of small nations defending themselves however and Taiwan has the scientists to develop them
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Until the next US skyscraper falls, which unfortunately it may well soon do as soon as Afghanistan becomes one big training camp for terrorists again
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
You're making a fool of yourself.
This is a mishandled adventure that will forever be the legacy of George W Bush. Not Biden.
Luckily for Biden the US electorate has the memory of a goldfish, and this will be forgotten come the midterms
Until the next skyscraper falls in LA or NYC or Chicago or another major US city with another few thousand dead in another terrorist attack planned and launched from Afghanistan by terrorists under Taliban protection.
That could now only be a few years away if Kabul falls
Don't worry, there are hardly any skyscrapers in Los Angeles.
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Until the next US skyscraper falls, which unfortunately it may well soon do as soon as Afghanistan becomes one big training camp for terrorists again
Time for your regular reminder that the PRC won't be waltzing into Taiwan anytime soon. Not without a vast amount of time, money and blood that is. Comparisons with Vietnam and Afghanistan are, however, apposite.
Really? I appreciate your knowledge and interest in Taiwan, but do you think that China invading would end like the US in Vietnam and Afghanistan?
It would be a long and bloody guerilla war. One that the Taiwanese have been preparing for for 70 years. With rainforest, the highest mountains east of the Himalayas, indigineous tribes who would face the fate of the Uighurs, know their way around and speak unintelligible languages. And every male trained. I am not claiming the Taiwanese would win, But they could drag it out. With unpredictable results for an invasion force not expecting resistance, nor used to fighting. And for a home population not anticipating body bags by the load.
What's more. The cities are laid out to maximise fire zones. Every school is designed to be a strongpoint with a huge kill zone. And every building is high rise designed for snipers. It is a long way from a cost free stroll.
India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, has criticised Twitter for locking them out of their accounts on the platform, claiming the decision was taken due to pressure from India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
Time for your regular reminder that the PRC won't be waltzing into Taiwan anytime soon. Not without a vast amount of time, money and blood that is. Comparisons with Vietnam and Afghanistan are, however, apposite.
Really? I appreciate your knowledge and interest in Taiwan, but do you think that China invading would end like the US in Vietnam and Afghanistan?
It would be a long and bloody guerilla war. One that the Taiwanese have been preparing for for 70 years. With rainforest, the highest mountains east of the Himalayas, indigineous tribes who would face the fate of the Uighurs, know their way around and speak unintelligible languages. And every male trained. I am not claiming the Taiwanese would win, But they could drag it out. With unpredictable results for an invasion force not expecting resistance, nor used to fighting. And for a home population not anticipating body bags by the load.
It's an awful prospect. More like a civil war than invasion by an outside power. Chinese confronting their ethnic kin could be problematical for the regime in Beijing.
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
You're making a fool of yourself.
This is a mishandled adventure that will forever be the legacy of George W Bush. Not Biden.
Luckily for Biden the US electorate has the memory of a goldfish, and this will be forgotten come the midterms
Until the next skyscraper falls in LA or NYC or Chicago or another major US city with another few thousand dead in another terrorist attack planned and launched from Afghanistan by terrorists under Taliban protection.
That could now only be a few years away if Kabul falls
Did you not realise or did you not understand or just simply not care that Islamists have been operating with impunity for the past decades sponsored by or within Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
It's not simply Afghanistan alone. When the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis trained in Florida.
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Until the next US skyscraper falls, which unfortunately it may well soon do as soon as Afghanistan becomes one big training camp for terrorists again
Does the (always inevitable) fall of Afghanistan somehow magically bypass all the airline security measures brought in since 9/11?
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
It is going to be hard to deny any Afghan who gets to Britain their claim to asylum.
Priti: Just watch me.
"Anti-migrant protesters have attacked houses, shops and cars owned by Syrians in Turkey's capital after tensions flared over the alleged killing of a local teenager."
'Under President Biden’s watch terrorists are on their way to taking over all of Afghanistan and we are urgently evacuating American citizens from our embassy.
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
Damn right
Instead the Biden-Harris administration should be defined by propping up an unpopular regime in Afghanistan with US lives and money.
Correct. It would avoid another 9/11, 9/11 2 now very much on the cards.
There have still been fewer US troops killed in Afghanistan in 20 years than the number of US civilians killed in NYC on 9/11 in 1 day thanks to an attack planned by Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Absolutely farcical. Pretty sure rcs was being sarcastic which you've missed.
Bin Laden, the Taliban, and al'Qaeda have had almost free reign in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Our invasion of Afghanistan never defeated the Taliban, it just relocated them. It never defeated al'Qaeda, they just relocated.
Bush's failure to secure Pakistan as part of the war meant the whole invasion and its aftermath has been a miserable failure.
Occupying Afghanistan was not preventing the Taliban or al'Qaeda or other Islamists from operating pretty much with impunity.
It was the invasion which forced Bin Laden into Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by US special forces.
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
Pakistan has been home of the Taliban for decades.
The Pakistani regime either can not or will not control or eliminate the Taliban from its northern mountain ranges especially and we never went after them as part of Bush's Afghan war which is why it was a complete and total failure.
The legacy of which is now.
You can put your head in all the sand of the Middle East if you please but your simplistic black and white world view doesn't work here.
Senator Mitt Romney too 'The Biden administration’s unwillingness to alter the Afghan withdrawal plan based on changing circumstances on the ground & the grave implications for US security interests is a tragedy & a cause for serious concern about how the administration will deal with global challenges.' https://twitter.com/SenatorRomney/status/1425528461628776448?s=20
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
It is going to be hard to deny any Afghan who gets to Britain their claim to asylum.
Priti: Just watch me.
"Anti-migrant protesters have attacked houses, shops and cars owned by Syrians in Turkey's capital after tensions flared over the alleged killing of a local teenager."
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Until the next US skyscraper falls, which unfortunately it may well soon do as soon as Afghanistan becomes one big training camp for terrorists again
Does the (always inevitable) fall of Afghanistan somehow magically bypass all the airline security measures brought in since 9/11?
It only needs them to get through once, with thousands of terrorists back in Afghanistan trying it every day it will happen one day
'Under President Biden’s watch terrorists are on their way to taking over all of Afghanistan and we are urgently evacuating American citizens from our embassy.
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
You're making a fool of yourself.
This is a mishandled adventure that will forever be the legacy of George W Bush. Not Biden.
Luckily for Biden the US electorate has the memory of a goldfish, and this will be forgotten come the midterms
Until the next skyscraper falls in LA or NYC or Chicago or another major US city with another few thousand dead in another terrorist attack planned and launched from Afghanistan by terrorists under Taliban protection.
That could now only be a few years away if Kabul falls
Did you not realise or did you not understand or just simply not care that Islamists have been operating with impunity for the past decades sponsored by or within Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
It's not simply Afghanistan alone. When the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis trained in Florida.
The Saudis did not house their training camps, they had to move to Afghanistan for that.
Undercover cells in Florida is not the same as open training camps
Senator Mitt Romney too 'The Biden administration’s unwillingness to alter the Afghan withdrawal plan based on changing circumstances on the ground & the grave implications for US security interests is a tragedy & a cause for serious concern about how the administration will deal with global challenges.' https://twitter.com/SenatorRomney/status/1425528461628776448?s=20
'Under President Biden’s watch terrorists are on their way to taking over all of Afghanistan and we are urgently evacuating American citizens from our embassy.
Were I an Afghan woman tonight, I would be doing whatever it takes to get out of the country. They - more than any other group - are hugely at risk under Taliban rule. As they were before.
But my guess is that we will see a lot of male Afghan refugees soon enough and no-one will ask what has happened to the women and girls.
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
Damn right
Instead the Biden-Harris administration should be defined by propping up an unpopular regime in Afghanistan with US lives and money.
Correct. It would avoid another 9/11, 9/11 2 now very much on the cards.
There have still been fewer US troops killed in Afghanistan in 20 years than the number of US civilians killed in NYC on 9/11 in 1 day thanks to an attack planned by Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Absolutely farcical. Pretty sure rcs was being sarcastic which you've missed.
Bin Laden, the Taliban, and al'Qaeda have had almost free reign in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Our invasion of Afghanistan never defeated the Taliban, it just relocated them. It never defeated al'Qaeda, they just relocated.
Bush's failure to secure Pakistan as part of the war meant the whole invasion and its aftermath has been a miserable failure.
Occupying Afghanistan was not preventing the Taliban or al'Qaeda or other Islamists from operating pretty much with impunity.
It was the invasion which forced Bin Laden into Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by US special forces.
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
Pakistan has been home of the Taliban for decades.
The Pakistani regime either can not or will not control or eliminate the Taliban from its northern mountain ranges especially and we never went after them as part of Bush's Afghan war which is why it was a complete and total failure.
The legacy of which is now.
You can put your head in all the sand of the Middle East if you please but your simplistic black and white world view doesn't work here.
It was Bush who removed the Taliban and Al Qaeda from Afghanistan it is Biden letting them back in.
On your argument we should invade Pakistan too and go even further
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Until the next US skyscraper falls, which unfortunately it may well soon do as soon as Afghanistan becomes one big training camp for terrorists again
Does the (always inevitable) fall of Afghanistan somehow magically bypass all the airline security measures brought in since 9/11?
It only needs them to get through once, with thousands of terrorists back in Afghanistan trying it every day it will happen one day
I'm curious - do you know how many terror attacks have been carried out by Islamic fundamentalists NOT trained in Afghanistan?
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
Damn right
Instead the Biden-Harris administration should be defined by propping up an unpopular regime in Afghanistan with US lives and money.
Correct. It would avoid another 9/11, 9/11 2 now very much on the cards.
There have still been fewer US troops killed in Afghanistan in 20 years than the number of US civilians killed in NYC on 9/11 in 1 day thanks to an attack planned by Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Absolutely farcical. Pretty sure rcs was being sarcastic which you've missed.
Bin Laden, the Taliban, and al'Qaeda have had almost free reign in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Our invasion of Afghanistan never defeated the Taliban, it just relocated them. It never defeated al'Qaeda, they just relocated.
Bush's failure to secure Pakistan as part of the war meant the whole invasion and its aftermath has been a miserable failure.
Occupying Afghanistan was not preventing the Taliban or al'Qaeda or other Islamists from operating pretty much with impunity.
It was the invasion which forced Bin Laden into Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by US special forces.
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
Pakistan has been home of the Taliban for decades.
The Pakistani regime either can not or will not control or eliminate the Taliban from its northern mountain ranges especially and we never went after them as part of Bush's Afghan war which is why it was a complete and total failure.
The legacy of which is now.
You can put your head in all the sand of the Middle East if you please but your simplistic black and white world view doesn't work here.
It was Bush who removed the Taliban and Al Qaeda from Afghanistan it is Biden letting them back in.
On your argument we should invade Pakistan too and go even further
Senator Mitt Romney too 'The Biden administration’s unwillingness to alter the Afghan withdrawal plan based on changing circumstances on the ground & the grave implications for US security interests is a tragedy & a cause for serious concern about how the administration will deal with global challenges.' https://twitter.com/SenatorRomney/status/1425528461628776448?s=20
Boris is also withdrawing... troops.
Only as Biden is, though yes Bush and Blair did a better job on this, as indeed did Obama in getting Bin Laden
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
Damn right
Instead the Biden-Harris administration should be defined by propping up an unpopular regime in Afghanistan with US lives and money.
Correct. It would avoid another 9/11, 9/11 2 now very much on the cards.
There have still been fewer US troops killed in Afghanistan in 20 years than the number of US civilians killed in NYC on 9/11 in 1 day thanks to an attack planned by Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Absolutely farcical. Pretty sure rcs was being sarcastic which you've missed.
Bin Laden, the Taliban, and al'Qaeda have had almost free reign in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Our invasion of Afghanistan never defeated the Taliban, it just relocated them. It never defeated al'Qaeda, they just relocated.
Bush's failure to secure Pakistan as part of the war meant the whole invasion and its aftermath has been a miserable failure.
Occupying Afghanistan was not preventing the Taliban or al'Qaeda or other Islamists from operating pretty much with impunity.
It was the invasion which forced Bin Laden into Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by US special forces.
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
Pakistan has been home of the Taliban for decades.
The Pakistani regime either can not or will not control or eliminate the Taliban from its northern mountain ranges especially and we never went after them as part of Bush's Afghan war which is why it was a complete and total failure.
The legacy of which is now.
You can put your head in all the sand of the Middle East if you please but your simplistic black and white world view doesn't work here.
It was Bush who removed the Taliban and Al Qaeda from Afghanistan it is Biden letting them back in.
On your argument we should invade Pakistan too and go even further
How is that not your view if you think they must be rooted out thoroughly?
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
You're making a fool of yourself.
This is a mishandled adventure that will forever be the legacy of George W Bush. Not Biden.
Luckily for Biden the US electorate has the memory of a goldfish, and this will be forgotten come the midterms
Until the next skyscraper falls in LA or NYC or Chicago or another major US city with another few thousand dead in another terrorist attack planned and launched from Afghanistan by terrorists under Taliban protection.
That could now only be a few years away if Kabul falls
Did you not realise or did you not understand or just simply not care that Islamists have been operating with impunity for the past decades sponsored by or within Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
It's not simply Afghanistan alone. When the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis trained in Florida.
The Saudis did not house their training camps, they had to move to Afghanistan for that.
Undercover cells in Florida is not the same as open training camps
What "training camps"?
They leaned to fly in Florida. That is where their training was done.
The Taliban going from place to place seizing them all are already trained even before they take Kabul. Even before Biden withdrew troops. Where do you think that training was done?
Stop for a microsecond and actually THINK about this! 🤦♂️
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
Damn right
Instead the Biden-Harris administration should be defined by propping up an unpopular regime in Afghanistan with US lives and money.
Correct. It would avoid another 9/11, 9/11 2 now very much on the cards.
There have still been fewer US troops killed in Afghanistan in 20 years than the number of US civilians killed in NYC on 9/11 in 1 day thanks to an attack planned by Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Absolutely farcical. Pretty sure rcs was being sarcastic which you've missed.
Bin Laden, the Taliban, and al'Qaeda have had almost free reign in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Our invasion of Afghanistan never defeated the Taliban, it just relocated them. It never defeated al'Qaeda, they just relocated.
Bush's failure to secure Pakistan as part of the war meant the whole invasion and its aftermath has been a miserable failure.
Occupying Afghanistan was not preventing the Taliban or al'Qaeda or other Islamists from operating pretty much with impunity.
It was the invasion which forced Bin Laden into Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by US special forces.
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
Pakistan has been home of the Taliban for decades.
The Pakistani regime either can not or will not control or eliminate the Taliban from its northern mountain ranges especially and we never went after them as part of Bush's Afghan war which is why it was a complete and total failure.
The legacy of which is now.
You can put your head in all the sand of the Middle East if you please but your simplistic black and white world view doesn't work here.
It was Bush who removed the Taliban and Al Qaeda from Afghanistan it is Biden letting them back in.
On your argument we should invade Pakistan too and go even further
How is that not your view if you think they must be rooted out thoroughly?
Well it would be better than withdrawing from Afghanistan though to be frank Imran Khan as Pakistani PM is better than most alternatives
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
Damn right
Instead the Biden-Harris administration should be defined by propping up an unpopular regime in Afghanistan with US lives and money.
Correct. It would avoid another 9/11, 9/11 2 now very much on the cards.
There have still been fewer US troops killed in Afghanistan in 20 years than the number of US civilians killed in NYC on 9/11 in 1 day thanks to an attack planned by Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Absolutely farcical. Pretty sure rcs was being sarcastic which you've missed.
Bin Laden, the Taliban, and al'Qaeda have had almost free reign in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Our invasion of Afghanistan never defeated the Taliban, it just relocated them. It never defeated al'Qaeda, they just relocated.
Bush's failure to secure Pakistan as part of the war meant the whole invasion and its aftermath has been a miserable failure.
Occupying Afghanistan was not preventing the Taliban or al'Qaeda or other Islamists from operating pretty much with impunity.
It was the invasion which forced Bin Laden into Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by US special forces.
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
Pakistan has been home of the Taliban for decades.
The Pakistani regime either can not or will not control or eliminate the Taliban from its northern mountain ranges especially and we never went after them as part of Bush's Afghan war which is why it was a complete and total failure.
The legacy of which is now.
You can put your head in all the sand of the Middle East if you please but your simplistic black and white world view doesn't work here.
It was Bush who removed the Taliban and Al Qaeda from Afghanistan it is Biden letting them back in.
On your argument we should invade Pakistan too and go even further
Have you signed up to fight the Taliban yet?
When the next bomb explodes in London we may not have much choice
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
Damn right
Instead the Biden-Harris administration should be defined by propping up an unpopular regime in Afghanistan with US lives and money.
Correct. It would avoid another 9/11, 9/11 2 now very much on the cards.
There have still been fewer US troops killed in Afghanistan in 20 years than the number of US civilians killed in NYC on 9/11 in 1 day thanks to an attack planned by Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Absolutely farcical. Pretty sure rcs was being sarcastic which you've missed.
Bin Laden, the Taliban, and al'Qaeda have had almost free reign in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Our invasion of Afghanistan never defeated the Taliban, it just relocated them. It never defeated al'Qaeda, they just relocated.
Bush's failure to secure Pakistan as part of the war meant the whole invasion and its aftermath has been a miserable failure.
Occupying Afghanistan was not preventing the Taliban or al'Qaeda or other Islamists from operating pretty much with impunity.
It was the invasion which forced Bin Laden into Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by US special forces.
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
Pakistan has been home of the Taliban for decades.
The Pakistani regime either can not or will not control or eliminate the Taliban from its northern mountain ranges especially and we never went after them as part of Bush's Afghan war which is why it was a complete and total failure.
The legacy of which is now.
You can put your head in all the sand of the Middle East if you please but your simplistic black and white world view doesn't work here.
It was Bush who removed the Taliban and Al Qaeda from Afghanistan it is Biden letting them back in.
On your argument we should invade Pakistan too and go even further
Have you signed up to fight the Taliban yet?
When the next bomb explodes in London we may not have much choice
For the sake of your political career - step away from the keyboard and call it a night
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Until the next US skyscraper falls, which unfortunately it may well soon do as soon as Afghanistan becomes one big training camp for terrorists again
Does the (always inevitable) fall of Afghanistan somehow magically bypass all the airline security measures brought in since 9/11?
It only needs them to get through once, with thousands of terrorists back in Afghanistan trying it every day it will happen one day
I'm curious - do you know how many terror attacks have been carried out by Islamic fundamentalists NOT trained in Afghanistan?
All combined, fewer US and UK citizens have been killed by them than those killed on 9/11 by some margin
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
Damn right
Instead the Biden-Harris administration should be defined by propping up an unpopular regime in Afghanistan with US lives and money.
Correct. It would avoid another 9/11, 9/11 2 now very much on the cards.
There have still been fewer US troops killed in Afghanistan in 20 years than the number of US civilians killed in NYC on 9/11 in 1 day thanks to an attack planned by Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Absolutely farcical. Pretty sure rcs was being sarcastic which you've missed.
Bin Laden, the Taliban, and al'Qaeda have had almost free reign in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Our invasion of Afghanistan never defeated the Taliban, it just relocated them. It never defeated al'Qaeda, they just relocated.
Bush's failure to secure Pakistan as part of the war meant the whole invasion and its aftermath has been a miserable failure.
Occupying Afghanistan was not preventing the Taliban or al'Qaeda or other Islamists from operating pretty much with impunity.
It was the invasion which forced Bin Laden into Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by US special forces.
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
Pakistan has been home of the Taliban for decades.
The Pakistani regime either can not or will not control or eliminate the Taliban from its northern mountain ranges especially and we never went after them as part of Bush's Afghan war which is why it was a complete and total failure.
The legacy of which is now.
You can put your head in all the sand of the Middle East if you please but your simplistic black and white world view doesn't work here.
It was Bush who removed the Taliban and Al Qaeda from Afghanistan it is Biden letting them back in.
On your argument we should invade Pakistan too and go even further
Have you signed up to fight the Taliban yet?
When the next bomb explodes in London we may not have much choice
You almost sound as if you WANT there to be more terrorist attacks!
Senator Mitt Romney too 'The Biden administration’s unwillingness to alter the Afghan withdrawal plan based on changing circumstances on the ground & the grave implications for US security interests is a tragedy & a cause for serious concern about how the administration will deal with global challenges.' https://twitter.com/SenatorRomney/status/1425528461628776448?s=20
Boris is also withdrawing... troops.
Only as Biden is, though yes Bush and Blair did a better job on this, as indeed did Obama in getting Bin Laden
Shame about all those wedding parties decimated by drone strikes under his reign, mind you
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
Damn right
Instead the Biden-Harris administration should be defined by propping up an unpopular regime in Afghanistan with US lives and money.
Correct. It would avoid another 9/11, 9/11 2 now very much on the cards.
There have still been fewer US troops killed in Afghanistan in 20 years than the number of US civilians killed in NYC on 9/11 in 1 day thanks to an attack planned by Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Absolutely farcical. Pretty sure rcs was being sarcastic which you've missed.
Bin Laden, the Taliban, and al'Qaeda have had almost free reign in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Our invasion of Afghanistan never defeated the Taliban, it just relocated them. It never defeated al'Qaeda, they just relocated.
Bush's failure to secure Pakistan as part of the war meant the whole invasion and its aftermath has been a miserable failure.
Occupying Afghanistan was not preventing the Taliban or al'Qaeda or other Islamists from operating pretty much with impunity.
It was the invasion which forced Bin Laden into Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by US special forces.
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
Pakistan has been home of the Taliban for decades.
The Pakistani regime either can not or will not control or eliminate the Taliban from its northern mountain ranges especially and we never went after them as part of Bush's Afghan war which is why it was a complete and total failure.
The legacy of which is now.
You can put your head in all the sand of the Middle East if you please but your simplistic black and white world view doesn't work here.
It was Bush who removed the Taliban and Al Qaeda from Afghanistan it is Biden letting them back in.
On your argument we should invade Pakistan too and go even further
If Bush was serious he would have invaded Pakistan in 2001/02 when the Taliban fled there and the Pakistanis refused to do anything about it, yes.
He didn't. He let the Taliban have safe harbour in Pakistan where they've been training in camps with impunity for decades. And you're worried about the emergence of training camps now? They already exist! That's why the Taliban fighters some of whom were not even born twenty years ago are already trained up.
'Under President Biden’s watch terrorists are on their way to taking over all of Afghanistan and we are urgently evacuating American citizens from our embassy.
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Until the next US skyscraper falls, which unfortunately it may well soon do as soon as Afghanistan becomes one big training camp for terrorists again
Does the (always inevitable) fall of Afghanistan somehow magically bypass all the airline security measures brought in since 9/11?
It only needs them to get through once, with thousands of terrorists back in Afghanistan trying it every day it will happen one day
I'm curious - do you know how many terror attacks have been carried out by Islamic fundamentalists NOT trained in Afghanistan?
All combined, fewer US and UK citizens have been killed by them than those killed on 9/11 by some margin
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Until the next US skyscraper falls, which unfortunately it may well soon do as soon as Afghanistan becomes one big training camp for terrorists again
Does the (always inevitable) fall of Afghanistan somehow magically bypass all the airline security measures brought in since 9/11?
It only needs them to get through once, with thousands of terrorists back in Afghanistan trying it every day it will happen one day
The terrorists are going to successfully launch a 9/11 attack that they haven't been able to do in 20 years, just because the taliban have taken over Afghanistan?
Were I an Afghan woman tonight, I would be doing whatever it takes to get out of the country. They - more than any other group - are hugely at risk under Taliban rule. As they were before.
But my guess is that we will see a lot of male Afghan refugees soon enough and no-one will ask what has happened to the women and girls.
No doubt true, but it is much harder for women to travel far in those parts. It doesn't mean the men are not legitimate refugees.
We could take female refugees from the camps in Pakistan if we wanted, but cannot see Priti pushing for that.
'Under President Biden’s watch terrorists are on their way to taking over all of Afghanistan and we are urgently evacuating American citizens from our embassy.
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
You're making a fool of yourself.
This is a mishandled adventure that will forever be the legacy of George W Bush. Not Biden.
Luckily for Biden the US electorate has the memory of a goldfish, and this will be forgotten come the midterms
Until the next skyscraper falls in LA or NYC or Chicago or another major US city with another few thousand dead in another terrorist attack planned and launched from Afghanistan by terrorists under Taliban protection.
That could now only be a few years away if Kabul falls
Did you not realise or did you not understand or just simply not care that Islamists have been operating with impunity for the past decades sponsored by or within Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
It's not simply Afghanistan alone. When the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis trained in Florida.
The Saudis did not house their training camps, they had to move to Afghanistan for that.
Undercover cells in Florida is not the same as open training camps
Al-Qaeda was based in Sudan when the larger Bojinka* plot was being prepared.
It would be nice to think we just had to hold one bit of territory to thwart them, but it's total nonsense.
* Based out of the Philippines the plot involed killing the Pope as a distraction, then blowing up 11 airliners around Asia-Pacific, followed by crashing a plane into the CIA HQ. It would have been a bigger "9/11" before 9/11.
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
You're making a fool of yourself.
This is a mishandled adventure that will forever be the legacy of George W Bush. Not Biden.
Luckily for Biden the US electorate has the memory of a goldfish, and this will be forgotten come the midterms
Until the next skyscraper falls in LA or NYC or Chicago or another major US city with another few thousand dead in another terrorist attack planned and launched from Afghanistan by terrorists under Taliban protection.
That could now only be a few years away if Kabul falls
Did you not realise or did you not understand or just simply not care that Islamists have been operating with impunity for the past decades sponsored by or within Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
It's not simply Afghanistan alone. When the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis trained in Florida.
The Saudis did not house their training camps, they had to move to Afghanistan for that.
Undercover cells in Florida is not the same as open training camps
What "training camps"?
They leaned to fly in Florida. That is where their training was done.
The Taliban going from place to place seizing them all are already trained even before they take Kabul. Even before Biden withdrew troops. Where do you think that training was done?
Stop for a microsecond and actually THINK about this! 🤦♂️
'The attacks were conceived by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who first presented it to Osama bin Laden in 1996. At that time, bin Laden and al-Qaeda were in a period of transition, having just relocated back to Afghanistan from Sudan...In late 1999, a group of men from Hamburg, Germany arrived in Afghanistan; the group included Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. Bin Laden selected these men because they were educated, could speak English, and had experience living in the West.' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks#cite_note-911-ch5-69
They learnt to go undercover in the west in Afghanistan
'Under President Biden’s watch terrorists are on their way to taking over all of Afghanistan and we are urgently evacuating American citizens from our embassy.
I do wonder about future Pakistan-Afghan relations. It's one thing to provide support for people undermining your neighbour. It's another to have them actually in power, on an equal standing to you.
What is the Taliban view of the Saudi-Iran quarrel?
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Until the next US skyscraper falls, which unfortunately it may well soon do as soon as Afghanistan becomes one big training camp for terrorists again
Does the (always inevitable) fall of Afghanistan somehow magically bypass all the airline security measures brought in since 9/11?
It only needs them to get through once, with thousands of terrorists back in Afghanistan trying it every day it will happen one day
I'm curious - do you know how many terror attacks have been carried out by Islamic fundamentalists NOT trained in Afghanistan?
All combined, fewer US and UK citizens have been killed by them than those killed on 9/11 by some margin
Is that what I asked you?
Clue - no it wasn't
Try again
Nope it was exactly the point, our citizens were killed, we had to respond.
It was the biggest postwar terrorist attack on westerners by some margin
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Until the next US skyscraper falls, which unfortunately it may well soon do as soon as Afghanistan becomes one big training camp for terrorists again
Does the (always inevitable) fall of Afghanistan somehow magically bypass all the airline security measures brought in since 9/11?
It only needs them to get through once, with thousands of terrorists back in Afghanistan trying it every day it will happen one day
The terrorists are going to successfully launch a 9/11 attack that they haven't been able to do in 20 years, just because the taliban have taken over Afghanistan?
You've truly lost it.
Of course, as Afghanistan was where they had the bases and camps to plan them
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
You're making a fool of yourself.
This is a mishandled adventure that will forever be the legacy of George W Bush. Not Biden.
Luckily for Biden the US electorate has the memory of a goldfish, and this will be forgotten come the midterms
Until the next skyscraper falls in LA or NYC or Chicago or another major US city with another few thousand dead in another terrorist attack planned and launched from Afghanistan by terrorists under Taliban protection.
That could now only be a few years away if Kabul falls
Did you not realise or did you not understand or just simply not care that Islamists have been operating with impunity for the past decades sponsored by or within Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
It's not simply Afghanistan alone. When the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis trained in Florida.
The Saudis did not house their training camps, they had to move to Afghanistan for that.
Undercover cells in Florida is not the same as open training camps
What "training camps"?
They leaned to fly in Florida. That is where their training was done.
The Taliban going from place to place seizing them all are already trained even before they take Kabul. Even before Biden withdrew troops. Where do you think that training was done?
Stop for a microsecond and actually THINK about this! 🤦♂️
'The attacks were conceived by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who first presented it to Osama bin Laden in 1996. At that time, bin Laden and al-Qaeda were in a period of transition, having just relocated back to Afghanistan from Sudan...In late 1999, a group of men from Hamburg, Germany arrived in Afghanistan; the group included Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. Bin Laden selected these men because they were educated, could speak English, and had experience living in the West.' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks#cite_note-911-ch5-69
They learnt to go undercover in the west in Afghanistan
And that means it's the only place they can learn such a thing? Theres something unique about Afghanistan in that respect?
'Under President Biden’s watch terrorists are on their way to taking over all of Afghanistan and we are urgently evacuating American citizens from our embassy.
'Under President Biden’s watch terrorists are on their way to taking over all of Afghanistan and we are urgently evacuating American citizens from our embassy.
I do wonder about future Pakistan-Afghan relations. It's one thing to provide support for people undermining your neighbour. It's another to have them actually in power, on an equal standing to you.
What is the Taliban view of the Saudi-Iran quarrel?
If Pakistan Afghan relations are going to be anything like commentary on social media then it will be fractious.
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Until the next US skyscraper falls, which unfortunately it may well soon do as soon as Afghanistan becomes one big training camp for terrorists again
Does the (always inevitable) fall of Afghanistan somehow magically bypass all the airline security measures brought in since 9/11?
It only needs them to get through once, with thousands of terrorists back in Afghanistan trying it every day it will happen one day
The terrorists are going to successfully launch a 9/11 attack that they haven't been able to do in 20 years, just because the taliban have taken over Afghanistan?
You've truly lost it.
No, @HYUFD hasn't lost it, although it's unclear at present whether a Taliban-run Afghanistan will once again provide a free hand to Al Queda or its successors, as they did 20 years ago. I'd guess not, but it's one of a number of risks Biden is taking here.
'Under President Biden’s watch terrorists are on their way to taking over all of Afghanistan and we are urgently evacuating American citizens from our embassy.
That's an implicit attack on Trump too presumably.
Yes, it's a very clear desire to differentiate herself from Trump.
The question is, can she avoid drawing his ire?
Nikki Haley and the rest of these Republicans want to have a permanent occupation of a country on the other side of the world. The deaths of grunts in the US army is a price she is willing to pay for it. Of course it won't be her kids over there dying.
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Until the next US skyscraper falls, which unfortunately it may well soon do as soon as Afghanistan becomes one big training camp for terrorists again
Does the (always inevitable) fall of Afghanistan somehow magically bypass all the airline security measures brought in since 9/11?
It only needs them to get through once, with thousands of terrorists back in Afghanistan trying it every day it will happen one day
The terrorists are going to successfully launch a 9/11 attack that they haven't been able to do in 20 years, just because the taliban have taken over Afghanistan?
You've truly lost it.
No, @HYUFD hasn't lost it, although it's unclear at present whether a Taliban-run Afghanistan will once again provide a free hand to Al Queda or its successors, as they did 20 years ago. I'd guess not, but it's one of a number of risks Biden is taking here.
If they do then we drone the hell out of them. No need for an occupying army.
The problem with the sauve qui peut on the part of the West in Afghanistan is that it will sooner or later have an impact on us. Millions of refugees will head West, and the country will again become a haven for anti-Western terrorist groups.
NATO forces could never eliminate the Taliban, but they were quite capable of containing them,. HYUFD is right about this.
Morally yes, but I am not sure Kabul falling .has as much political impact in the US as perhaps it should.
Until the next US skyscraper falls, which unfortunately it may well soon do as soon as Afghanistan becomes one big training camp for terrorists again
Does the (always inevitable) fall of Afghanistan somehow magically bypass all the airline security measures brought in since 9/11?
It only needs them to get through once, with thousands of terrorists back in Afghanistan trying it every day it will happen one day
I'm curious - do you know how many terror attacks have been carried out by Islamic fundamentalists NOT trained in Afghanistan?
All combined, fewer US and UK citizens have been killed by them than those killed on 9/11 by some margin
Is that what I asked you?
Clue - no it wasn't
Try again
Nope it was exactly the point, our citizens were killed, we had to respond.
It was the biggest postwar terrorist attack on westerners by some margin
And we responded by chasing them across the border into Pakistan and saying "ok Mission Accomplished, you stay there now and learn your lesson."
We should have stopped them escaping into Pakistan in the first place and if the War on Terror was meant to be serious we should have followed them into Pakistan and continued the fight there. No refuge for them, no safe harbour. That was kind of the point.
Instead Bush half arsed it then moved on to Iraq allowing the Taliban and al'Qaeda to survive and rebuild and have decades of training camps.
'Under President Biden’s watch terrorists are on their way to taking over all of Afghanistan and we are urgently evacuating American citizens from our embassy.
Again, just for notes. The Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community were against this withdrawal at this time. This is not Westmoreland in Vietnam, the US miltary knows all too well the limitations in its presence in Afghanistan and sees this in very pragmatic terms. The DoD still opposed it.
Two other notes,
The best of the Afghan forces are in Kabul, some of what is in the provinces isnt up to much. You then have the other Ethinic groups. The Taliban is heavily Pashtun but if you look at the map I think in the Guardian showing the Taliban advance there is a very big hole there which is not in dispute. Its Tajik dominated so is an example of how this may end up looking.
The Taliban can rolll over territory if the ANA & ANP dont fight but as history has proven so many times over, you need a lot more staff to occupy and control than you do to invade.
Senator Mitt Romney too 'The Biden administration’s unwillingness to alter the Afghan withdrawal plan based on changing circumstances on the ground & the grave implications for US security interests is a tragedy & a cause for serious concern about how the administration will deal with global challenges.' https://twitter.com/SenatorRomney/status/1425528461628776448?s=20
Boris is also withdrawing... troops.
Only as Biden is, though yes Bush and Blair did a better job on this, as indeed did Obama in getting Bin Laden
Shame about all those wedding parties decimated by drone strikes under his reign, mind you
HUNDREDS of Paras will swoop into Kabul to evacuate the British Embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff – amid fears the city will fall to the Taliban.
Only a skeleton staff including ambassador Sir Laurie Bristow will stay in the besieged Afghan capital.
Shameful and this will define the Biden-Harris administration now, whatever else it does this will be the greatest US humiliation since Vietnam.
We are not much better either as we also prepare to abandon our Embassy, however we are not big enough alone to stay in Afghanistan and maintain security and keep out the Taliban and terrorists without US support
Damn right
Instead the Biden-Harris administration should be defined by propping up an unpopular regime in Afghanistan with US lives and money.
Correct. It would avoid another 9/11, 9/11 2 now very much on the cards.
There have still been fewer US troops killed in Afghanistan in 20 years than the number of US civilians killed in NYC on 9/11 in 1 day thanks to an attack planned by Bin Laden in Afghanistan
Absolutely farcical. Pretty sure rcs was being sarcastic which you've missed.
Bin Laden, the Taliban, and al'Qaeda have had almost free reign in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Our invasion of Afghanistan never defeated the Taliban, it just relocated them. It never defeated al'Qaeda, they just relocated.
Bush's failure to secure Pakistan as part of the war meant the whole invasion and its aftermath has been a miserable failure.
Occupying Afghanistan was not preventing the Taliban or al'Qaeda or other Islamists from operating pretty much with impunity.
It was the invasion which forced Bin Laden into Pakistan where Bin Laden was killed by US special forces.
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
Pakistan has been home of the Taliban for decades.
The Pakistani regime either can not or will not control or eliminate the Taliban from its northern mountain ranges especially and we never went after them as part of Bush's Afghan war which is why it was a complete and total failure.
The legacy of which is now.
You can put your head in all the sand of the Middle East if you please but your simplistic black and white world view doesn't work here.
It was Bush who removed the Taliban and Al Qaeda from Afghanistan it is Biden letting them back in.
On your argument we should invade Pakistan too and go even further
If Bush was serious he would have invaded Pakistan in 2001/02 when the Taliban fled there and the Pakistanis refused to do anything about it, yes.
He didn't. He let the Taliban have safe harbour in Pakistan where they've been training in camps with impunity for decades. And you're worried about the emergence of training camps now? They already exist! That's why the Taliban fighters some of whom were not even born twenty years ago are already trained up.
So it therefore follows that it does not matter whether we withdraw from Afghanistan or not.
Comments
https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1425901319068471300
Whatever you think of Pakistani PM Imran Khan he is also relatively westernised for the region, he is not the Taliban even if a solid Muslim
I'm sure you do.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/imran-khan-says-taliban-won-t-talk-to-aghan-govt-until-ashraf-ghani-remains-president-101628760415443.html
If the government wanted to root out these scoundrels they could.
He hasn't even been popped for masking agents, he has been popped for the actual drug. That again doesn't scream highly organized doping, its screams idiot.
It will be interesting to see what CJ Ujah defence is.
I am not claiming the Taiwanese would win, But they could drag it out. With unpredictable results for an invasion force not expecting resistance, nor used to fighting. And for a home population not anticipating body bags by the load.
Taiwan "could" pack quite a punch militarily, and not just on the seaboard, but its rapid defeat would be certain. So it wouldn't try it, and the conclusion is that the war has been won without a battle being fought. A "prediction" from this is that the PRC/ROC distinction doesn't mean terribly much in gangworld and that the PRC intelligence service has little to worry about in Chinatowns.
With the two Korean governments the situation is very different.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/11/germany-and-netherlands-halt-deportations-afghanistan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_with_the_most_skyscrapers
https://twitter.com/TmorrowsPapers/status/1425930830707363846?s=19
It is a long way from a cost free stroll.
India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, has criticised Twitter for locking them out of their accounts on the platform, claiming the decision was taken due to pressure from India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/twitter-india-congress-rahul-gandhi-b1901351.html
It's not simply Afghanistan alone. When the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis trained in Florida.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58185612
'Under President Biden’s watch terrorists are on their way to taking over all of Afghanistan and we are urgently evacuating American citizens from our embassy.
Biden's weakness emboldens our enemies and makes Americans less safe.'
https://twitter.com/NikkiHaley/status/1425930518630072320?s=20
The Pakistani regime either can not or will not control or eliminate the Taliban from its northern mountain ranges especially and we never went after them as part of Bush's Afghan war which is why it was a complete and total failure.
The legacy of which is now.
You can put your head in all the sand of the Middle East if you please but your simplistic black and white world view doesn't work here.
https://twitter.com/SenatorRomney/status/1425528461628776448?s=20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z61pSusOWjQ
Undercover cells in Florida is not the same as open training camps
https://twitter.com/DavidGauke/status/1425928261343793157?s=20
But my guess is that we will see a lot of male Afghan refugees soon enough and no-one will ask what has happened to the women and girls.
On your argument we should invade Pakistan too and go even further
They leaned to fly in Florida. That is where their training was done.
The Taliban going from place to place seizing them all are already trained even before they take Kabul. Even before Biden withdrew troops. Where do you think that training was done?
Stop for a microsecond and actually THINK about this! 🤦♂️
He didn't. He let the Taliban have safe harbour in Pakistan where they've been training in camps with impunity for decades. And you're worried about the emergence of training camps now? They already exist! That's why the Taliban fighters some of whom were not even born twenty years ago are already trained up.
But how on earth can that ticket get past the Trump cult loons who now control most of the GOP? Only if Trump drops dead frankly.
Clue - no it wasn't
Try again
You've truly lost it.
We could take female refugees from the camps in Pakistan if we wanted, but cannot see Priti pushing for that.
It would be nice to think we just had to hold one bit of territory to thwart them, but it's total nonsense.
* Based out of the Philippines the plot involed killing the Pope as a distraction, then blowing up 11 airliners around Asia-Pacific, followed by crashing a plane into the CIA HQ. It would have been a bigger "9/11" before 9/11.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks#cite_note-911-ch5-69
They learnt to go undercover in the west in Afghanistan
The question is, can she avoid drawing his ire?
What is the Taliban view of the Saudi-Iran quarrel?
It was the biggest postwar terrorist attack on westerners by some margin
I dont even understand what you're trying to say.
Such is the state of the GOP selectorate.
How many US Vice Presidents have managed eight years (or more) in the office?
We should have stopped them escaping into Pakistan in the first place and if the War on Terror was meant to be serious we should have followed them into Pakistan and continued the fight there. No refuge for them, no safe harbour. That was kind of the point.
Instead Bush half arsed it then moved on to Iraq allowing the Taliban and al'Qaeda to survive and rebuild and have decades of training camps.
Two other notes,
The best of the Afghan forces are in Kabul, some of what is in the provinces isnt up to much. You then have the other Ethinic groups. The Taliban is heavily Pashtun but if you look at the map I think in the Guardian showing the Taliban advance there is a very big hole there which is not in dispute. Its Tajik dominated so is an example of how this may end up looking.
The Taliban can rolll over territory if the ANA & ANP dont fight but as history has proven so many times over, you need a lot more staff to occupy and control than you do to invade.