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Afghanistan

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neeneko
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Re: Afghanistan

#276

Post by neeneko »

I think I am mostly filled with dread. I see this as less 'over' and more 'entering the next phase. The US tried and failed at 'empire lite', but all the same interests are still in play and now the US has a massive black eye, and the US can get pretty unpredictable and irrational when it has a bruised ego.

Domestically I suspect this will at minimal cost Biden the next election, and might really hurt democrats in the midterm. Internationally all the other powers in the region are going to be trying to assert influence over the new situation and I doubt the US is going to be hands off with that, so we are probably going to go right back into some kind of proxy war... and on the EU side we are probably going to see another massive wave of refugees which always riles up the right and tends to get their people into power, so we will might see yet another shift towards the nationalist right in europe.

So yeah.. dominant emotion is dread.
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Re: Afghanistan

#277

Post by northland10 »

Timing is an advantage. Americans have a really short attention span and the election for 2022 does not even get rolling until the end of this year. The press also tends to blow things up to gargantuan mode forgetting to check on details. I suspect there are many Americans who realized this was always the way it was going to end and it was Trump who put the timeline in overdrive.
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Re: Afghanistan

#278

Post by Slim Cognito »

Not a foreign policy expert, but I see the Afghanistan withdrawal as a checked box to be used by whomever however. Who knows what crap will be going on in 2022 and 2024, but Afghanistan won't change the minds of either base. That said, I'm glad it happened now and not next year.
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Re: Afghanistan

#279

Post by Slim Cognito »

This made me feel a lot better. I suspect there are lots of other secret stories like this one.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/31/politics ... index.html
Taliban members escorted Americans to gates at Kabul airport in secret arrangement with US
I haven't read this article yet, I heard the story on the CNN thru Sirius radio. Sounded like they made an arrangement with the Taliban for Americans to come to them, a specific building they controlled, and they then would escort Americans to a secret port at the airport where our troops could monitor their approach and take custody out of the harsh light of the media.


And, yet, on the very same page I found this headline, there were multiple articles about whether or not Biden is up to the chore of presidentin'. :roll:
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Re: Afghanistan

#280

Post by Luke »

In another desperate failed effort to be angry about something -- anything! -- no military dogs were left behind.






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Re: Afghanistan

#281

Post by Volkonski »

“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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Re: Afghanistan

#282

Post by Dave from down under »

What ever could go wrong with that....
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Re: Afghanistan

#283

Post by Luke »

MarkWayne is Miki Booth's nemesis. No comment from her on Facebook yet.
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Re: Afghanistan

#284

Post by Slim Cognito »

Holy carp!!!!
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Re: Afghanistan

#285

Post by Lani »

WaPo sez last week Mullin was in Greece & called DOD for permission to visit Kabul. Request denied.

This week Mullin called the US Embassy in Tajikistan and told the embassy that he planned to fly from Tblisi, Georgia to Tajikistan’s capital in a few hours and needed the ambassador's help. Request denied.

No one is saying anything about his current location.

Sometimes I have trouble sleeping for various reasons. This isn't one of them. :yawn:
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Re: Afghanistan

#286

Post by Slim Cognito »

Now Biden and the Pentagon (may) have to put together a dangerous rescue mission for the stupid mofo.
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Re: Afghanistan

#287

Post by Reality Check »

Slim Cognito wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:30 am Now Biden and the Pentagon (may) have to put together a dangerous rescue mission for the stupid mofo.
Assumes a fact not in evidence that the Taliban would want to keep him. :fingerwag:
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Re: Afghanistan

#288

Post by Frater I*I »

Reality Check wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:55 am
Slim Cognito wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:30 am Now Biden and the Pentagon (may) have to put together a dangerous rescue mission for the stupid mofo.
Assumes a fact not in evidence that the Taliban would want to keep him. :fingerwag:
Taliban call to the WH: "Yes we have a Republican congressman...hello...hello...they hung up..."
"He sewed his eyes shut because he is afraid to see, He tries to tell me what I put inside of me
He's got the answers to ease my curiosity, He dreamed a god up and called it Christianity"

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Re: Afghanistan

#289

Post by Slim Cognito »

Frater I*I wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 12:37 pm
Reality Check wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 10:55 am
Slim Cognito wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 7:30 am Now Biden and the Pentagon (may) have to put together a dangerous rescue mission for the stupid mofo.
Assumes a fact not in evidence that the Taliban would want to keep him. :fingerwag:
Taliban call to the WH: "Yes we have a Republican congressman...hello...hello...they hung up..."
I wonder if he even made it to Afghanistan. You know this moron was day dreaming about what a big hero he'd be after rescuing an American woman and her children. If/when the full story comes out, it should be interesting.
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Re: Afghanistan

#290

Post by Volkonski »

“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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tek
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Re: Afghanistan

#291

Post by tek »

The U.S. military has been "bugging out" for at least a century. They know how to turn their gear to junk.

what did the Taliban expect? Trump-level competency?
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Re: Afghanistan

#292

Post by Slim Cognito »

Refresh my memory re the equipment left behind in Syria, did they have time to de-militarize it?
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Re: Afghanistan

#293

Post by Frater I*I »

Slim Cognito wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 5:08 pm Refresh my memory re the equipment left behind in Syria, did they have time to de-militarize it?
In a way....we bombed it from the air....
"He sewed his eyes shut because he is afraid to see, He tries to tell me what I put inside of me
He's got the answers to ease my curiosity, He dreamed a god up and called it Christianity"

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Re: Afghanistan

#294

Post by Luke »

At last, here's what everybody's been waiting for -- Miki Booth comments on MarkWayne. Foggy's texts to me about this have only been exceeded by his frantic texts about the whereabouts of The Spork.


Miki MarkWayne.JPG
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Oklahoma congressman threatened embassy staff as he tried to enter Afghanistan, U.S. officials say
By Tyler Pager and John Hudson Today at 5:42 p.m. EDT

The call to the U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan came in Monday. On the line, two U.S. officials said, was Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) with an unusual and urgent request: He needed assistance in transporting a huge amount of cash into the country, saying he was going to neighboring Afghanistan to rescue five American citizens, a woman and her four children, stuck in the country. They planned to hire a helicopter for the effort.

Mullin told the embassy that he planned to fly from Tbilisi, Georgia, into Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, in the next few hours and needed the top diplomat’s help, according to the two U.S. officials familiar with the incident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose private conversations about a sensitive matter.

The answer was no. Embassy officials told Mullin they could not assist him in skirting Tajikistan’s laws on cash limits on his way to visiting one of the most dangerous places on earth.

Mullin was outraged by the response, the officials said — threatening U.S. Ambassador John Mark Pommersheim and embassy staff and demanding to know the name of staff members he was speaking with.

The episode marked Mullin’s second attempt to travel to Afghanistan in as many weeks for an unauthorized evacuation effort despite the perilous security environment. Last week, Mullin traveled to Greece and asked the Defense Department for permission to visit Kabul. The Pentagon denied Mullin’s request, an administration official said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html
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Re: Afghanistan

#295

Post by RTH10260 »

Volkonski wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 4:31 pm https:// twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1433035831254650882
Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish
The Taliban were disappointed to find inoperable planes and helicopters left behind by American forces on the military side of the Kabul airport.
295.4K views
1:32 / 2:07
1:55 PM · Sep 1, 2021
That is not what Americans left behing, that's stuff of the Afghan airforce. Afghans never were able to maintain their own aircrafts, it was done by foreign contractors. I guess much of this scrap yard was already in disuse prior to the Taliban taking possession. Of course the maintenance crew that got kicked out without getting their last paycheck made sure that the hardware would be grounded permanently. Apart that the Taliban has no pilots of their own :blackeye:
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Re: Afghanistan

#296

Post by Slim Cognito »

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/lo ... 680301001/

Guess Mullin is on his way home but nobody seems to know what happened.
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Re: Afghanistan

#297

Post by RTH10260 »

Female TV anchor who interviewed Taliban flees Afghanistan
Beheshta Arghand, now in Qatar, says militants started targeting women soon after takeover

Hannah Ellis-Petersen and agencies
Thu 2 Sep 2021 00.46 BST

She made headlines across the world as the first female journalist to interview a Taliban leader after the fall of Kabul, prompting many to wonder whether the militants had truly adopted more moderate and respectful attitude towards women’s rights.

But for Afghan television anchor Beheshta Arghand, in the days that followed that seemingly historic moment, the true colours of the new Taliban regime were revealed. Fearing for her life and her freedoms, the 24-year-old has since fled to Qatar, and described how the Taliban were already oppressing female journalists.

“Women – Taliban they don’t accept,” Arghand told Reuters from Qatar. “When a group of people don’t accept you as a human, they have some picture in their mind of you, it’s very difficult.”

Arghand’s television interview, with a senior official for the Taliban live on air, was a propaganda coup for the militants that made headlines around the world. The Taliban official had turned up in the studio uninvited on 17 August, two days after the fall of Kabul, and requested to be interviewed.

“I saw that they came [to the Tolo News television station]. I was shocked, I lost my control … I said to myself that maybe they came to ask why did I come to the studio,” she recounted.

Despite her shock, Arghand – who had been a presenter on the Afghan news channel for just over a month – had adjusted her headscarf, checked her clothes to make sure no part of her body was showing and began firing off her questions. She drew accolades for the calm and composed interaction and the moment was later described as “unimaginable” compared with when the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when women were denied the ability to study, work or even go out on their own.

But Arghand said that off-camera, the moderate facade of the Taliban soon fell, and in the following days her life turned into a nightmare. The Taliban ordered Tolo news to make all women wear a hijab, a scarf closely covering their heads but leaving the face uncovered. The Taliban also suspended female anchors in other stations.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... fghanistan
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Re: Afghanistan

#298

Post by Flatpoint High »

Slim Cognito wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 8:49 pm https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/lo ... 680301001/

Guess Mullin is on his way home but nobody seems to know what happened.
the cash is safely squirreled away
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Re: Afghanistan

#299

Post by RTH10260 »

Exclusive: Before Afghan collapse, Biden pressed Ghani to ‘change perception’
By Aram Roston and Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON, Aug 31 (Reuters) - In the last call between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Afghanistan counterpart before the Taliban seized control of the country, the leaders discussed military aid, political strategy and messaging tactics, but neither Biden nor Ashraf Ghani appeared aware of or prepared for the immediate danger of the entire country falling to insurgents, a transcript reviewed by Reuters shows.

The men spoke for roughly 14 minutes on July 23. On August 15, Ghani fled the presidential palace, and the Taliban entered Kabul. Since then, tens of thousands of desperate Afghans have fled and 13 U.S. troops and scores of Afghan civilians were killed in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport during the frenetic U.S. military evacuation.



https://www.reuters.com/world/exclusive ... 021-08-31/
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Re: Afghanistan

#300

Post by Dr. Ken »

Pretty interesting documentary on Netflix called Turning Point: 9/11 and the war on terror. It's actually pretty good.
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