The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

Things that are not part of politics happening presently and how we approach or address it as Anabaptists.
Jess77

Re: The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

Post by Jess77 »

ken_sylvania wrote: ↑Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:38 pm
Or maybe we don't know this after all. The New York Times reports that
In U.S. Drone Strike, Evidence Suggests No ISIS Bomb
U.S. officials said a Reaper drone followed a car for hours and then fired based on evidence it was carrying explosives. But in-depth video analysis and interviews at the site cast doubt on that account.
Times reporting has identified the driver as Zemari Ahmadi, a longtime worker for a U.S. aid group. The evidence suggests that his travels that day actually involved transporting colleagues to and from work. And an analysis of video feeds showed that what the military may have seen was Mr. Ahmadi and a colleague loading canisters of water into his trunk to bring home to his family.

While the U.S. military said the drone strike might have killed three civilians, Times reporting shows that it killed 10, including seven children, in a dense residential block.
The military has called this a "righteous strike."
I was coming here to say this. The Pentagon just confirmed that the strike was in fact an innocent family and their 7 children. 😢

And to Josh’s point earlier… I would hate to think we determine whether something was Indeed the intended target by the size of the explosion. Hopefully we know long before then. 😳
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Ken
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Re: The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

Post by Ken »

Jess77 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:37 pm
ken_sylvania wrote: ↑Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:38 pm
Or maybe we don't know this after all. The New York Times reports that
In U.S. Drone Strike, Evidence Suggests No ISIS Bomb
U.S. officials said a Reaper drone followed a car for hours and then fired based on evidence it was carrying explosives. But in-depth video analysis and interviews at the site cast doubt on that account.
Times reporting has identified the driver as Zemari Ahmadi, a longtime worker for a U.S. aid group. The evidence suggests that his travels that day actually involved transporting colleagues to and from work. And an analysis of video feeds showed that what the military may have seen was Mr. Ahmadi and a colleague loading canisters of water into his trunk to bring home to his family.

While the U.S. military said the drone strike might have killed three civilians, Times reporting shows that it killed 10, including seven children, in a dense residential block.
The military has called this a "righteous strike."
I was coming here to say this. The Pentagon just confirmed that the strike was in fact an innocent family and their 7 children. 😢

And to Josh’s point earlier… I would hate to think we determine whether something was Indeed the intended target by the size of the explosion. Hopefully we know long before then. 😳
All the more reason to believe that our withdrawal from that country was the right decision. The notion that we could just continue to fight a high-tech remote war there with a minimum of troops there was utterly fallacious.
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A fool can throw out more questions than a wise man can answer. -RZehr
Grace
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Re: The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

Post by Grace »

Ken wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:43 pm
All the more reason to believe that our withdrawal from that country was the right decision. The notion that we could just continue to fight a high-tech remote war there with a minimum of troops there was utterly fallacious.
Withdrawal was the right decision. The method of withdrawal is where many people had a problem
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temporal1

Re: The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

Post by temporal1 »

Grace:
Withdrawal was the right decision. The method of withdrawal is where many people had a problem.

i have not read this entire thread.
what i see repeated, that you are responding to here, is the FALSE+REPEATED PREMISE that not withdrawing right now, and in this manner, by this DNC appointee, is an auto-default to continuing/increasing war/military violence.

it’s the same false+repeated premise that was established regarding DJT. i.e., you vehemently hate him, or you worship him.

it’s a formula. a game plan. predictable. utterly false, yet, repeated often enough, it gains traction.
very sad to be in such an intellectually low place.
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Ken
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Re: The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

Post by Ken »

Grace wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 4:39 pm
Ken wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:43 pm
All the more reason to believe that our withdrawal from that country was the right decision. The notion that we could just continue to fight a high-tech remote war there with a minimum of troops there was utterly fallacious.
Withdrawal was the right decision. The method of withdrawal is where many people had a problem
What alternative method of withdrawal do you think would have been superior?
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A fool can throw out more questions than a wise man can answer. -RZehr
Valerie

Re: The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

Post by Valerie »

Ken wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 5:24 pm
Grace wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 4:39 pm
Ken wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:43 pm
All the more reason to believe that our withdrawal from that country was the right decision. The notion that we could just continue to fight a high-tech remote war there with a minimum of troops there was utterly fallacious.
Withdrawal was the right decision. The method of withdrawal is where many people had a problem
What alternative method of withdrawal do you think would have been superior?
In 2018, President Trump said the withdrawal was going to happen- he so said, if it was done hastily, it would leave a vacuum for the terrorists to fill- he was right- i wish he had been given the opportunity to have done it differently- he was wise to these guys. Biden was not, his plan (or lack of) proved devastating
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Grace
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Re: The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

Post by Grace »

Ken wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 5:24 pm

What alternative method of withdrawal do you think would have been superior?
I am not a military expert, but many of the experts outside the administration knew that much of the debacle, could have been avoided and the 13 young people who were murdered wouldn't have had to die.

One thing he could have done is be honest instead of asking Ghani to lie, when he asked him to project a different picture.

“I need not tell you the perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan, I believe, is that things are not going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban,” “And there is a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.”
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Soloist

Re: The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

Post by Soloist »

Grace wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:34 pm
Ken wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 5:24 pm

What alternative method of withdrawal do you think would have been superior?
I am not a military expert, but many of the experts outside the administration knew that much of the debacle, could have been avoided and the 13 young people who were murdered wouldn't have had to die.

One thing he could have done is be honest instead of asking Ghani to lie, when he asked him to project a different picture.

“I need not tell you the perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan, I believe, is that things are not going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban,” “And there is a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.”
There are two approaches in governmental strategy and both have been used repeatedly by multiple well known people. There is the tough truth approach like below, and then there are the lies. Common in military thought is the trend of building confidence despite the odds, because demoralized troops give up.
“I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many long months of toil and struggle.

“You ask what is our policy. I will say, it is to wage war with all our might, with all the strength that God can give us, to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime.

“You ask what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terror. Victory however long and hard the road may be. For without victory there is no survival.”
Winston Churchill
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Grace
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Re: The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

Post by Grace »

Jess77 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:37 pm

I was coming here to say this. The Pentagon just confirmed that the strike was in fact an innocent family and their 7 children. 😢

The Department of Defense is basically saying that killing that family with the drone was an honest mistake, and of course honest mistakes can be made. It wasn’t the first mistake and it won’t be the last mistake that costs innocent people, their lives. Eventually the whole matter will be glossed over and everyone will move on.

The Biden Administration bragged about this drone strike, and they did so in a desperate attempt to spin political attention away from their overwhelming failures in their method of Afghanistan troop withdrawal and their debacle in making sure all Americans and their allies were safely out of the country. The administration is getting lots of criticism for the mistaken drone strike and rightly so.
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Josh

Re: The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan

Post by Josh »

Ken wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 5:24 pm
Grace wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 4:39 pm
Ken wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:43 pm
All the more reason to believe that our withdrawal from that country was the right decision. The notion that we could just continue to fight a high-tech remote war there with a minimum of troops there was utterly fallacious.
Withdrawal was the right decision. The method of withdrawal is where many people had a problem
What alternative method of withdrawal do you think would have been superior?
The military should have withdrawn when Trump ordered them to. Instead they defied his orders.
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