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Nick Soapdish posted:https://twitter.com/starsandstripes/status/1427045633915899907?s=20 Well its happened a lot fewer times in history than countries fleeing from Afghanistan, he's only the 4th.
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Aug 16, 2021 03:05
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Bored As gently caress posted:
And the opposite. The Taliban really took to tearing Afghan forces and COPs the gently caress up over the last few years while not doing very much at all directly to US forces.
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Aug 16, 2021 03:08
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mlmp08 posted:And the opposite. The Taliban really took to tearing Afghan forces and COPs the gently caress up over the last few years while not doing very much at all directly to US forces. My big question - do they get froggy enough to attack the airport? It looks like the chopper airlifts got done in time for the embassy staff: https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/1427086100439392261?s=19 Of course, the airport's civilian side is a clusterfuck and it's an open question about all the allies/citizens stranded in the city and elsewhere.
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Aug 16, 2021 03:17
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facialimpediment posted:My big question - do they get froggy enough to attack the airport? It looks like the chopper airlifts got done in time for the embassy staff: Ever since the US busted the May deadline they’ve started doing the odd rocket here and there, mostly as a “gently caress you” for busting the deadline. I doubt they would go full tilt on trying to blow up evacuating aircraft, but it could happen.
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Aug 16, 2021 03:26
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I keep wondering that too. They've got momentum and if the full relief force isnt there yet seems like the best time to try an assault or at least make life hard for everyone trying to get out. More than likely they'll just fling mortars at them at least right?
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Aug 16, 2021 03:37
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The Taliban will allow most Western and Allies leave. It adds to their legitimacy as a government, and will allow for a more peaceful transition back to power.
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Aug 16, 2021 03:38
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bulletsponge13 posted:The Taliban will allow most Western and Allies leave. It adds to their legitimacy as a government, and will allow for a more peaceful transition back to power. Yeah but what if some lower-level commander doesn’t see it that way and takes his own initiative?
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Aug 16, 2021 03:40
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And do they truly give a poo poo about legitimacy tho? I always assume they're full of poo poo.
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Aug 16, 2021 03:44
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Platystemon posted:Yeah but what if some lower-level commander doesn’t see it that way and takes his own initiative? The commanders they have now are the ones who survived 20 years of drone strikes, night raids, and sweeping operations. Impulsiveness is probably not a common trait. Besides, why risk one last hellfire when the finish line is Right There
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Aug 16, 2021 03:45
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MRC48B posted:The commanders they have now are the ones who survived 20 years of drone strikes, night raids, and sweeping operations. Impulsiveness is probably not a common trait. People said the same thing about taking Kabul. Why wouldn’t they wait till the end of the month?
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Aug 16, 2021 03:47
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Platystemon posted:Yeah but what if some lower-level commander doesn’t see it that way and takes his own initiative? If the Taliban don't want people taking the initiative on this they've probably issued an order to the effect of "anyone caught doing this is getting tortured to death". I suspect that Afghanistan is already gonna be a pariah-state or what ever its called, but the people in charge aren't gonna be actively targeted for drone strikes so long as they keep all the bullshit local to Afghanistan.
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Aug 16, 2021 03:48
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WWAHD What would Abu Hajar do?
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Aug 16, 2021 03:50
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https://twitter.com/whatismoo/status/1426939056970244103
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Aug 16, 2021 03:57
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Milo and POTUS posted:Think you're too good for us huh? Well we all jeb down here Haha nah, it was just extremely important for my brain that I did my best to avoid current events for a while...but the memes bring me back 
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Aug 16, 2021 03:58
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Platystemon posted:People said the same thing about taking Kabul. Why wouldn’t they wait till the end of the month? I don't think they want to piss of the US right as we are leaving. They have the stage set to become the internationally recognized "legitimate government" of Afghanistan. You gently caress with the departing US / NATO military and you are going to continue to be harassed by a couple world class militaries, potentially up to and including the destruction of all of your extant infrastructure. Given how this process has been unfolding and their statements w/r/t chinese development, I think the Taliban is probably pretty happy with where they are at.
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Aug 16, 2021 04:00
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mlmp08 posted:And the opposite. The Taliban really took to tearing Afghan forces and COPs the gently caress up over the last few years while not doing very much at all directly to US forces. Yeah, you're absolutely right. All in all what a loving waste. We've just given the Taliban billions in supplies, small arms, armored vehicles, ammo, spare parts, and explosives. What are the chances that the Taliban keeps its word and they don't allow Afghanistan to become a haven for terrorists? They have to know that as soon as they do that, we're bombing the gently caress out of the terrorists and them, too. One other thing that I think is getting overlooked - if we had kept a small presence in the country, maybe up to 5k troops, it would have allowed us to keep a presence of intelligence officers there. Now our HUMINT capabilities are nil - no bases to stage from, no embassy for official cover identities. How the gently caress are we going to have any assets there? We sure as gently caress can't trust the Pakistanis and the ISI. They're half the reason we had a hard time in Afghanistan. Our only real ways to get assets in is through the various 'stans in the north. Our HUMINT capabilities just went from "okay" to "virtually nonexistent" because Biden wanted to pull out completely. Now thousands of activists, journalists, former ANA and ANP, women, and children are going to be persecuted at best or executed at worst. Even if he wanted to leave completely, the way he did it was so loving stupid. He should have had every person who helped us who wanted out already at a third country before any US troops left. Now those poor people are scrambling for the last plane out of Kabul. If the Taliban are smart, and they definitely are in many ways, they will keep the executions to a minimum. I worry that they won't. Bored As Fuck fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Aug 16, 2021 |
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Aug 16, 2021 04:08
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Sentinel posted:I keep wondering that too. They've got momentum and if the full relief force isnt there yet seems like the best time to try an assault or at least make life hard for everyone trying to get out. The videos showing a few thousand people on the ramp at the airport really have me concerned.
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Aug 16, 2021 04:17
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Godholio posted:The videos showing a few thousand people on the ramp at the airport really have me concerned.  I've been keeping myself busy all weekend and just avoiding a lot of the news surrounding it (well until tonight at least) but  Not much else I can add or say that hasn't already been expressed in here.
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Aug 16, 2021 04:21
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Too bad Americans are exempt from ICC.
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Aug 16, 2021 04:27
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bulletsponge13 posted:Too bad Americans are exempt from ICC. not forever.
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Aug 16, 2021 04:32
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Bored As gently caress posted:What are the chances that the Taliban keeps its word and they don't allow Afghanistan to become a haven for terrorists? They have to know that as soon as they do that, we're bombing the gently caress out of the terrorists and them, too. It probably depends mainly on whatever they’ve worked out with China.
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Aug 16, 2021 04:35
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every war has a losing side. I'm not sure why it needs to be viewed through a lense that if we don't win then everything was for nothing. Germany lost ww1 but they didn't give up and cry. No they got back on their feet and started ww2 and by god if they can then so can we.
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Aug 16, 2021 04:39
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Godholio posted:The videos showing a few thousand people on the ramp at the airport really have me concerned. Looks like they're trying https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/42005/800-people-evacuated-from-kabul-aboard-a-single-c-17-cargo-jet-reports https://twitter.com/vcdgf555/status/1427038833195950080
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Aug 16, 2021 04:40
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Suicide Watch posted:Looks like they're trying Right next to a tanker… how long are they going to have to be packed in like sardines in there?
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Aug 16, 2021 04:44
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Bored As gently caress posted:Yeah, you're absolutely right. hosed up that biden finally got us out of afghanistan. we should go back because you want us to.
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Aug 16, 2021 04:50
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Bored As gently caress posted:If the Taliban are smart, and they definitely are in many ways, they will keep the executions to a minimum. I worry that they won't.
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Aug 16, 2021 04:53
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Sentinel posted:I think we all know what we're in for in the next coming days and weeks. And i really wish i could be optimistic about it but mercy doesn't seem like their style. Taliban isn't ISIS, maybe i'm sounding optimistic but you don't think 10 years of smartphones and access to tiktok/bollywood/k-dramas hasn't made an impact on your average talib?
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Aug 16, 2021 04:58
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hobbesmaster posted:Right next to a tanker… how long are they going to have to be packed in like sardines in there? An a380 is 60 feet longer and has a max passenger configuration of 853 passengers. An A380 also had two decks. I don't know how squeezed a max config a380 is...but jesus christ
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Aug 16, 2021 04:58
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Sentinel posted:I think we all know what we're in for in the next coming days and weeks. And i really wish i could be optimistic about it but mercy doesn't seem like their style. What is it that you expect?
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Aug 16, 2021 05:17
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Maybe. I really hope you're right. I just expect them to want to settle up on any grudges and dish out misery to anyone who might've even looked like they helped us.
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Aug 16, 2021 05:21
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https://mobile.twitter.com/ahmermkhan/status/1427122053212098560
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Aug 16, 2021 05:49
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Just reminding myself of some names when I went looking to see how the GWOT could conclude (it can't) “After 13 years, on 28 December 2014, President Barack Obama announced the end of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Continued operations in Afghanistan by the United States' military forces, both non-combat and combat, now occur under the name Operation Freedom's Sentinel. Operation Freedom Sentinel is expected to end on August 31, 2021, just short of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and the official end of the US War in Afghanistan and its NATO allies, officially ending the United States of America's longest war.” “Resolute Support Mission or Operation Resolute Support was a NATO-led train, advise and assist mission consisting of about 7,772 coalition forces in Afghanistan, which began on January 1, 2015 [coincident with OFS]. It was a follow-on mission to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which was completed on December 28, 2014. On April 14, 2021, NATO announced that RSM would implement a drawdown of troops operating under the mission by May 1, and Resolute Support was disbanded on July 12, 2021.”
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Aug 16, 2021 06:04
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Aug 16, 2021 06:12
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What worries me in the next few years is that the Taliban could link up with the extremists and jihadist movements in Pakistan and try a fundamentalist coup. They've certainly got the weapons to make a decent try of it now. =/
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Aug 16, 2021 06:22
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That's a really scary thought. From what little I've read, though, there's a big difference between the Pakistani Taliban and the Afghan Taliban. From a quick Wiki search: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehrik-i-Taliban_Pakistan quote:In a May 2010 interview, U.S. Gen. David Petraeus described the TTP's relationship with other militant groups as difficult to decipher: "There is clearly a symbiotic relationship between all of these different organizations: al-Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban, the Afghan Taliban, TNSM [Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi]. And it's very difficult to parse and to try to distinguish between them. They support each other, they coordinate with each other, sometimes they compete with each other, [and] sometimes they even fight each other. But at the end of the day, there is quite a relationship between them."[37] And quote:The Afghan Taliban and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan differ greatly in their history, leadership and goals although they are both predominantly Pashtun.[70][71] The two groups are distinct, though linked, movements.[48][60] The two groups also don't get along with each other.[97] An Afghan Taliban spokesman told The New York Times: "We don't like to be involved with them, as we have rejected all affiliation with Pakistani Taliban fighters ... We have sympathy for them as Muslims, but beside that, there is nothing else between us."[33][98] Peshawar-based security analyst Brigadier (retd) Muhamaad Saad believes the Taliban are not a monolithic entity. "They can be divided into three broad categories: [Afghan] Kandahari Taliban, led by Mullah Omar; [Afghan] Paktia Taliban, led by Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin Haqqani; and [Pakistani] Salfi Taliban [TTP]," he said. "It's the Salfi Taliban who pose a real threat to Pakistan. They may not be obeying the Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar."[99] Given the animosity between the groups, I think it's unlikely that the Afghan Taliban will help the Pakistan Taliban overthrow the government.
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Aug 16, 2021 06:32
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https://twitter.com/jenanmoussa/status/1427206269450981378?s=20 https://twitter.com/SowaibahH/status/1427165408931446787?s=20 There's also a video of people clinging to the wheels of a C-17 and then falling to their deaths after liftoff. Chaos on the flightline.
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Aug 16, 2021 10:59
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Nooo. No loving way. Same airframe?
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Aug 16, 2021 11:40
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https://www.stripes.com/theaters/mi...e-deal-1.661464 The above is a link from FEB 2021 noting that it had been one year since the last US combat death in Afghanistan. The Taliban negotiated a withdrawal deal with the US back in 2019 and early 2020 (remember them being invited to Camp David?), and basically spent 18 months getting ready for the US leaving. They tolerated US air strikes and operations killing Taliban members, as long as it was largely at the tactical level. So they've had a while to know that as long as they didn't go after US troops beyond some harassment and upped the ante in May when the US blew the agreed deadline, they could spend a lot of time picking apart Afghan forces and preparing the info and groun campaign to move in. It was faster than most anyone suspected, but that the cities fell is not a surprise, only that they fell so rapidly and bloodlessly, compared to a major city siege and urban warfare.* *I say comparatively bloodlessly in the sense of the last week or so. In the leadup, the Afghan forces have taken just tremendous casualties, so I don't want to minimize the tens of thousands who died fighting against the Taliban.
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Aug 16, 2021 11:50
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https://twitter.com/owenbroadcast/status/1427044154622816258?s=20
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Aug 16, 2021 11:59
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The Swedes apparently abandoned their entire Afghani staff in Kabul while they got their own embassy people out of the country.
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Aug 16, 2021 13:42
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