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http://www.wmur.com/article/1-us-soldier-killed-2-wounded-in-southern-afghanistan/10261692 1 killed. 2 wounded. quote:The U.S. says Pfc. Hansen B. Kirkpatrick, 19, of Wasilla, Alaska, was killed Monday in an indirect fire attack in Helmand Province. He was assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas. This kid was loving 3 when 9/11 happened.
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Jul 5, 2017 20:38
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I know this is kinda off topic but I feel it is related to the WoT discussion in a way. Is Islam compatible with democracy?
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Jul 14, 2017 09:38
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Wizgot posted:I know this is kinda off topic but I feel it is related to the WoT discussion in a way. Is Islam compatible with democracy? The same way Christianity is.
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Jul 14, 2017 11:55
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Mano posted:The same way Christianity is. So only in a facile sense until violent revolution or cataclysmic world war based in the region renders it impotent as a political force? 
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Jul 15, 2017 01:25
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Willie Tomg posted:So only in a facile sense until violent revolution or cataclysmic world war based in the region renders it impotent as a political force? ...fair enough
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Jul 15, 2017 03:14
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Reminder that we elected Trump. Plenty of rural uneducated hill-folk up to their elbows in heroin here as well.
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Jul 15, 2017 04:18
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The Afghan Vice President Was Just Denied Entry to Afghanistanquote:A plane carrying General Abdul Rashid Dostum, Afghan vice president and former warlord, was turned away after trying to land in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. I don't think the Afghan government is stable goons. There's just something that gives me the sense that it can't stand on it's own for long. I'm just not sure what....
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Jul 18, 2017 21:41
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Hasn't Dostum been repeatedly accused of sexually assaulting people?
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Jul 18, 2017 21:49
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Human Grand Prix posted:Hasn't Dostum been repeatedly accused of sexually assaulting people? Yeah This is the second time he has been exiled for raping his subordinates.
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Jul 19, 2017 14:37
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Finally a look at the Trump administrations internal debate over Afghanistan. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/24/donald-trump-afghanistan-215412 Hard to say Trump is in the wrong here.
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Jul 24, 2017 15:37
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Doesn't appear to be a thread for Pakistan, I figure this thread is the most appropriate place https://twitter.com/AP/status/889460249459122179 It keeps happening. Is Pakistan the most violent terrorist hit place in the world in a country that's not actually (yet) a warzone?
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Jul 24, 2017 15:51
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tekz posted:Doesn't appear to be a thread for Pakistan, I figure this thread is the most appropriate place I really struggle to wrap my head around whatever the gently caress Pakistan's deal is.
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Jul 24, 2017 16:21
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Volkerball posted:Finally a look at the Trump administrations internal debate over Afghanistan. Nothing too surprising here, as is the case with most news of Afghanistan. I just wish America would finally poo poo or get off the pot, I hate this wishy-washy response.
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Jul 24, 2017 16:28
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Man, creepiest part of the article is definitely Erik Prince trying to but in with a plan to replace the troops with his mercenaries. Glad it got shut down before it was discussed, but still, loving  One thing I would like to understand is how they decide on troop numbers. Like, there's 9000 US soldiers in Afghanistan and McMasters is arguing for like 4000 more, and the article says there's no amount of troops that can win. Why is it that amount and not like, a hundred thousand, or five hundred thousand, or like, the entire military. That's like a soldier for every sixty Afghans.
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Jul 24, 2017 16:49
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It's based on mapping out the state of affairs they are looking to achieve, figuring out the strategy that can achieve that state, and then figuring out the force requirements they estimate will be necessary. The article says 4,000 men, but the internal policy would be something like putting two brigades in x and y locations on rotating deployments doing patrols on the Pakistan border to limit the Talibans ability to utilize the Pakistan border when conducting military operations in blah blah.
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Jul 24, 2017 16:58
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Squalid posted:I really struggle to wrap my head around whatever the gently caress Pakistan's deal is. The cold war did a number on the countrry. Got billions in CIA and Saudi money to incubate jihadists against the soviets and india and its come to bite them in the rear end.
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Jul 24, 2017 17:39
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That makes a lot of sense, thanks. So does that mean that if they're only asking for the 4000, that they have run out of ideas that would call for more troops? That any more would just sit there? Like, "We can put 4000 troops on the border, and...That's it, I got nothing else."
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Jul 24, 2017 17:42
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Rockopolis posted:That makes a lot of sense, thanks. Well the strategy would also incorporate the troops already there, so they have those to play with too. If more troops than that were deployed, they could surely figure out something to do with them, but all this stuff has to be approved by the white house. And given the signs coming from there, the strategy proposals moving forward are going to be looking at bringing in less than 4,000 additional troops, not more.
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Jul 24, 2017 17:48
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Rockopolis posted:That makes a lot of sense, thanks. When military men started suggesting a few thousand more troops over winter they actually suggested they wouldn't really be doing anything new, but rather replacing more expensive contractors. I suspect they'll just keep the contractors and add the troops on top but the basic intention is to keep doing the same things as now, but slightly better and more efficiently.
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Jul 24, 2017 18:43
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Okay. So, the military makes plans for everything. What are the plans using like, half a million soldiers in Afghanistan? Form a line of soldiers along the border and walk from one side of the country to the other? Edit Like a meter between each soldier? Rockopolis fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Jul 24, 2017 |
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Jul 24, 2017 20:01
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tekz posted:The cold war did a number on the countrry. Got billions in CIA and Saudi money to incubate jihadists against the soviets and india and its come to bite them in the rear end. And they have nukes lol 
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Jul 24, 2017 23:30
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Can Afghanistan even be fixed at this point? Would a full scale war against the taliban actually work to stabilize the country, or would Afghanistan just collapse into something just as bad (or worse) after we leave?
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Jul 24, 2017 23:31
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Rockopolis posted:One thing I would like to understand is how they decide on troop numbers. Like, there's 9000 US soldiers in Afghanistan and McMasters is arguing for like 4000 more, and the article says there's no amount of troops that can win. Remember that the people who wrote these plans don't have a loving clue either. It's all 100% bullshit and has been for decades. You don't have clear objectives in Afghanistan, and aside from maybe until Bin Laden's escape in Tora Bora, you never had clear objectives to begin with. You're not undertaking any projects to structurally change any single facet of life in that country for the better. You're not structurally providing education, healthcare, infrastructure, jobs, safety or any loving other thing that might get people on board with whatever it is you want them to be doing (hint: you don't even know what that is, except maybe stop shooting and bombing US troops) to the Afghan population in numbers that even remotely approach things mattering. You're collectively standing in a foreign land 1000s of miles away with your pants around your ankles and your dicks out. Why? Because you can. Every once in a while someone's dick is blown off. The end.
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Jul 25, 2017 07:31
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Freakazoid_ posted:Can Afghanistan even be fixed at this point? Would a full scale war against the taliban actually work to stabilize the country, or would Afghanistan just collapse into something just as bad (or worse) after we leave? The latter. We went out all under Obama with over 100,000 troops in the country until the drawdown. The Taliban can wait us out. They live there after all.
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Jul 25, 2017 09:32
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From CNN https://twitter.com/yashar/status/889707869897203713
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Jul 25, 2017 11:44
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OhFunny posted:The latter. We went out all under Obama with over 100,000 troops in the country until the drawdown. That's still wishy washy, not "poo poo or get off the pot". making GBS threads would mean leaving six digit numbers of troops in the country in a forever occupation post WW2 Germany-style and waiting out the Taliban over generations while implementing a Middle Eastern Desert Marshall Plan (if you can keep the AK-toting 30 year olds currently itching to blow up humvees out of the public eye until the get bored and settle down/literally die of old age, you win ) , not ~~~surging~~~ them for like a year or three.
suck my woke dick fucked around with this message at 12:08 on Jul 25, 2017 |
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Jul 25, 2017 12:03
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I CANNOT EJACULATE WITHOUT SEEING NATIVE AMERICANS BRUTALISED!
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Wizgot posted:I know this is kinda off topic but I feel it is related to the WoT discussion in a way. Is Islam compatible with democracy? there's literally hundreds of millions of muslims who live in democracies dude
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Jul 25, 2017 12:16
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Peel posted:there's literally hundreds of millions of muslims who live in democracies dude Only liberal western-oriented democracies are democracies, just having elections doesn't count 
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Jul 25, 2017 12:29
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blowfish posted:That's still wishy washy, not "poo poo or get off the pot". making GBS threads would mean leaving six digit numbers of troops in the country in a forever occupation post WW2 Germany-style and waiting out the Taliban over generations while implementing a Middle Eastern Desert Marshall Plan (if you can keep the AK-toting 30 year olds currently itching to blow up humvees out of the public eye until the get bored and settle down/literally die of old age, you win Oh. I am going say no again because I think the money given is going to be diverted and stolen by warlords and corrupt officials instead of actually being used productively. As it is being now. That an attempt to literally wait out of the Taliban will fail due to Pakistan prioritizing a weak divided Afghanistan under it's proxies as better for its interests than a strong prosperous Afghanistan with strong ties to India. That continued insurgent attacks will destabilize, destroy, and rest progress that is. That ultimately and most importantly there is no political will or public desire to pour hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars into Afghanistan. That leaving 1 million plus American troops in country is beyond the capabilities of even the US military without a draft that would be unacceptable to the American public. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/world/asia/kabul-explosion-afghanistan.html quote:KABUL, Afghanistan — From a dusty village in central Afghanistan, where life depends on the almond harvest, Najiba Hussaini made it far. The opening of a depressing article from yesterday. The suicide attacks in Kabul are killing the best educated young Afghans. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/23/world/asia/taliban-seize-two-more-afghan-districts-in-sustained-fighting.html The Kohistan and Taiwara Districts fell to the Taliban last Sunday. Dozens of Afghan soldiers are dead and wounded. 100 under siege in Kohistan.
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Jul 25, 2017 22:20
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Taliban also drove Federal forces from Jani Khel district in Paktia province this weekend. Jani Khel has long been the center of operations for the Haqqani network and the central government only controlled about 6% of the district last year so this is not unexpected. So far this year the Taliban have primarily pressured isolated rural areas, but they've sworn to seize a major provincial capital. Last year their biggest operations came in August/September so they may still try yet.
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Jul 25, 2017 22:46
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2010 Is wheb russiab started fubnding the taviban. Welcome to reality. we inthe jntel sector knew this from the get go. Know one knew that Russianz would be spottedin Pakistan movingnweapons to the taliban. Aeroflot transits arms from Peshawar to Afghanistan through local russian and taliban contacts. these russians have close toes to the Kremlim aka Putin. Fake flights that srebloaded with weapons go from Russia to Pakistan. then onto trucks to the border to goats. WAR CRIME GIGOLO fucked around with this message at 06:48 on Jul 26, 2017 |
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Jul 26, 2017 06:39
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LeoMarr posted:2010 Is wheb russiab started fubnding the taviban. Welcome to reality. we inthe jntel sector knew this from the get go. Know one knew that Russianz would be spottedin Pakistan movingnweapons to the taliban. Are you drunk?
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Jul 26, 2017 08:52
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Frankly, it lends him credibility. Everyone who has significant knowledge of the situation in Afghanistan and any responsibility whatsoever for the outcome wants to crawl into a bottle. Rockopolis posted:So, the military makes plans for everything.
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Jul 26, 2017 09:10
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OhFunny posted:Oh. quote:That ultimately and most importantly there is no political will or public desire to pour hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars into Afghanistan. That leaving 1 million plus American troops in country is beyond the capabilities of even the US military without a draft that would be unacceptable to the American public. Obviously, there is no political will whatsoever to poo poo, so America should just get off the pot and withdraw all troops, let Afghanistan fracture into a Taliban controlled and a western friendly government controlled territory engaged in a forever civil war quote:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/world/asia/kabul-explosion-afghanistan.html
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Jul 26, 2017 16:25
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blowfish posted:Well, the Middle Eastern Desert Fun Adventure Marshall Plan 2.0 would have to involve the US installing Americans to run everything as a protectorate like denazification-period Germany, until a suitable domestic cadre of bureaucrats can be trained and/or convinced to prop up the new order etc. except once we pull out the little green men start showing up in areas with 0 internt connection. and Russia would just double arns trafficking because no US presence to spiderweb their involvement. Afghanistan capitulates in less than a year if we leave. it took 50+ years for the FARC to "surrender". Taliban has enough territory now to have a constant stream if 14-20 year olds jooninf their ranks. WAR CRIME GIGOLO fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Jul 26, 2017 |
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Jul 26, 2017 16:57
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The dominoes will fall.
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Jul 26, 2017 19:30
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FourLeaf posted:Are you drunk? "intelligence community" is more a term of art, if anything.
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Jul 26, 2017 23:24
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LeoMarr posted:except once we pull out the little green men start showing up in areas with 0 internt connection. and Russia would just double arns trafficking because no US presence to spiderweb their involvement. Afghanistan capitulates in less than a year if we leave. it took 50+ years for the FARC to "surrender". Taliban has enough territory now to have a constant stream if 14-20 year olds jooninf their ranks. I think their only real motivation is removing the Americans, so if America did withdrawn I think there would be a lot less help going to the Taliban from places like Iran and Russia, although its still hard to say there's much help going now. I don't think a "capitulation" by the Afghan Federal government is as likely as you think, just because there are so many groups who so loath the Taliban that they could never defect or capitulate. A more likely outcome of an American withdrawal would be something like Iraq's defeat by the Islamic State in 2014 and retreat from Sunni areas, only the Afghan government would be withdrawing from Pashtun regions likely excepting clans aligned with the government like the Alikhel. I don't see a Taliban victory as a desirable outcome. However I also think there are mechanisms in the present international occupation that are actively hobbling the ability of the central government to function effectively by encouraging corruption and forcing the Federal government to act in the interests of the occupiers rather than those of powerful Afghan interest groups. If the Federal government is confronted with a real existential threat without the crutch of foreign forces to lean on, necessity might force it to resolve some of these issues that are now crippling it, like Iraq cleaned up its army and developed militia forces capable of rolling back IS.
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Jul 27, 2017 03:16
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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/10/world/asia/trump-afghanistan-policy-erik-prince-stephen-feinberg.htmlquote:WASHINGTON — President Trump’s advisers recruited two businessmen who profited from military contracting to devise alternatives to the Pentagon’s plan to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan, reflecting the Trump administration’s struggle to define its strategy for dealing with a war now 16 years old. Trump asked literal mercenaries for plans of what we should do in Afghanistan.
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Jul 30, 2017 05:48
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Squalid posted:I think their only real motivation is removing the Americans, so if America did withdrawn I think there would be a lot less help going to the Taliban from places like Iran and Russia, although its still hard to say there's much help going now. Its like playing Total war abd allowing rebels to keeo meaningless towns ubtil your army can return to kill them Afghanistan taliban will block Afghan oil pipelines. Russia allowing and supporting Taliban will return the vountry to its dark ages once again as we saw the last time. This will block American Interests and russia doesnt even have to station troops there. afew hundred undisxlosed advisors to keep up Taliban efforts to thwart the Northern Alliance ridsing sgain. Taliban will have a real grasp on the country that may take longer than a few years to uncork.
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Jul 30, 2017 19:29
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