The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

[JimFoxvog]

https://nypost.com/2021/08/23/taliban-i ... s-brother/

You can check out the death sentence here that is purported to be a primary source.

Interesting that we can link to what the New York Post quotes CNN as saying but not the more direct link to CNN!

[Grace]

I don't know if they are true or not. Do you have a reliable source other than your say-so?

Have you been watching the news?

Yes, and I haven't seen the Taliban kill anyone on the news. Have you?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... laims.html

[Ernie]

airlifting 80,000 isn't a cake walk. You need to provide security, vetting and provide the crew for repairs for the plane and an area surrounding it to prevent them from being shot down during take off. Any time a plane flies off from a warzone... its got a chance of destruction.

I understand it is not an easy matter. I did not say it was easy. Rather that the US has the capability.
The point I am making is that there was no plan to even attempt such an evacuation if needed. They had a plan to airlift people gradually over a number of months at the end of the mission, rather than starting a year ago. But they had no plan for doing this in a hurry at the last minute, if it came to that. It was the one contingency they hadn't prepared for - one that Vietnam could have taught them.

It sounds like the US plans to lift about 13,000 in the next 24 hours. At this rate it can lift 92,000 out in the next week.

https://nypost.com/2021/08/23/us-milita ... t-airport/

Wow. They really are picking up the pace! Yesterday it was 19,000.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-says-a ... 021-08-25/

[Robert]

https://nypost.com/2021/08/23/taliban-i ... s-brother/

You can check out the death sentence here that is purported to be a primary source.

Interesting that we can link to what the New York Post quotes CNN as saying but not the more direct link to CNN!

Just like you can post what your read in it, but can not post a link. It gives at least one level of filter and check on the garbage.

CNN is not news, it is propaganda and trash.

[GaryK]

Fury and disgust at CIA, Pentagon, in Congress that thousands of Afghans will be left behind

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/nation ... 20Sailthru

It seems really strange to me that the same administration that is so empathetic with "asylum seekers" crossing the southern border would leave behind those who it seems are truly deserving of asylum.

[Ernie]

If there was no fear of US troops being in danger, I think the administration would be glad to continue evacuations into September.

[RZehr]

Unless shooting or deaths break out at the 11th hour, I expect the government to claim success in getting everyone out - regardless of how many they leave there. Declare it a success and leave. Name it and claim it.

[GaryK]

If there was no fear of US troops being in danger, I think the administration would be glad to continue evacuations into September.

My concern is for those Afghans who will very likely be persecuted and/or killed because of helping the most powerful military in the world over the last 20 years. It's hard for me to understand how the most powerful nation with the most powerful military in the world could allow this to happen.

[Ken]

If there was no fear of US troops being in danger, I think the administration would be glad to continue evacuations into September.

As of this morning news reports say that the US has evacuated 83,000 people and is now averaging about 20,000 evacuations per day.

How many thousands do you think are entitled to be evacuated? Before all this started the news reporting was that there were approximately 80,000 Afghans with ties to the US who merited evacuation and refugee status. We are already past that number. Are we now giving refugee status and free flights to the US for anyone who decides that they want out? Are we going to do the same thing for Nigeria or Guatemala?

I expect there are various dissident types who are stuck in other parts of Afghanistan and aren't going to make it to the Kabul airport. Some will just decide to stay put and make the best of it. Others will likely work their ways to various land borders. Afghanistan has thousands of miles of land borders. Just the border with Pakistan is 1600 miles long and Afghanistan also has land borders with Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China.

This is what happens when you have a civil war and wind up on the losing side. It isn't really practical or reasonable to think we can evacuate every pro-American or anti-Taliban person in Afghanistan.

[Ken]

If there was no fear of US troops being in danger, I think the administration would be glad to continue evacuations into September.

My concern is for those Afghans who will very likely be persecuted and/or killed because of helping the most powerful military in the world over the last 20 years. It's hard for me to understand how the most powerful nation with the most powerful military in the world could allow this to happen.

Really? When was the last time the US military got involved in a major civil war in a remote part of the world for purely humanitarian reasons? The word "allow" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. How much of the internal affairs of other countries happen because the US "allows" it or doesn't "allow" it? As you say, we are the most powerful nation with the most powerful military in the world and yet there is still crime and poverty in West Virginia. And people are even being killed. How can we "allow" that to happen in our own country?

What alternative foreign and military policy would you have advocated over the past 20 years? Do you think an extra trillion of US dollars would have done the trick?