Afghanistan

[AndyinPA]

https://ummid.com/news/2021/august/15.0 ... ident.html

Mullah Abdul Ghani was declared President of Afghanistan after Ashraf Ghani, former President of the West-supported government, fled the country.

Born in 1968, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, also called Mullah Baradar Akhund, is the co-founder of the Taliban in Afghanistan.He was the Deputy of Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Baradar was captured in Pakistan by a team of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers in February 2010 and was released on 24 October 2018 at the request of the United States.

During the first Taliban rule (1996–2001), Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar held a variety of posts. He was the Governor of Herat and Nimruz provinces, and the Corps Commander for western Afghanistan.

[AndyinPA]

https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan- ... 572bc2cff6

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Latest developments on Afghanistan, where a Taliban blitz has taken large swaths of territory just weeks before the final pullout of American and NATO troops. A Taliban official says the group will soon declare the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from the presidential palace in the capital, Kabul.

That was the name of the country under the Taliban government ousted by U.S.-led forces after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has suspended all operations and told Americans to shelter in place, saying it has received reports of gunfire at the international airport. The U.S. is racing to airlift diplomats and citizens out of Afghanistan after the Taliban overran most of the country and entered the capital early Sunday.

“The security situation in Kabul is changing quickly and the situation at the airport is deteriorating rapidly,” the embassy said in a statement. “There are reports of the airport taking fire and we are instructing U.S. citizens to shelter in place. The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan has suspended consular operations effective immediately. Do not come to the Embassy or airport at this time.”

[Slim Cognito]

Just found out a few days ago my grandson is in Qatar. He's in the air force. For now, he's in quarantine, then he goes somewhere, but he didn't say and I won't ask. I figure if he could tell me, he would.

I'm guessing they're going in to remove whomever they can. What are the chances Biden has to order another invasion or will this be another helicopters on the roof thing?

[Suranis]

Private eye magazine has a section where they have unanimous contributions from local Journalists, calling it "From our local correspondent." Anyway there was a very interesting article there a month and a half ago, before the signs of collapse. I decided to type it out today based on the news. It should give some context to the situation at the beginning of the collapse.

Private eye - 25 Jun to 8 July edition

Afghanistans existential crises is deepening as the departure of International Military forces speeds up, and the government of President Ashraf Ghani remains stubbornly inert on everything from the Covid-19 Pandemic to what appears to be an insurgent advance, and a rising tide of support for a federalist breakup of the country.

The third wave of coronavirus infections has, once again, caught our authorities by surprise, with Vaccines in such short supply now that health professionals say first doses can no longer be administered while while those already vaccinated wait for their second jabs

Media here reported the arrival of 700,000 doses from china - two weeks later than expected. This is a country of 35-40m eope who generally live in multi-generational households, and believe in big funerals. The disease is racing through a country that has inadicuate health care at the best of times. Medical supplies are disappearing before they can reach hospitals, and Warlords are commandeering Oxygen for themselves and their personal Militias.

The military bases the Unites States built and occupies for almost 20 years are locked down against the pandemic. A recent photograph taken at the Kabul airport base of the NATO Military missions showed only 17 flags still flying, down from the 38 countries that once had their soldiers here to back up the democratic experiment that began after the Taliban was thrown out in 2001.

The process of packing up and leaving is ahead of schedule, with all US and NATO Troops expected to be gone by August. Ceremonies to mark the handover of facilities are going ahead with little fanfare.

In the meantime, the war heats up, with the Taliban drawing on the vast resources of unemployed youth over the border in Pakistan to advance into villages, terrorize the residents and prove yet again they have nothing to offer but death, fear, and repression.

US President Joe Biden's decision to stick to his predecessors flawed agreement with the Taliban to pull out all forces and contractors took Afghans by surprise, despite his well documented dislike of large military footprints and support for small counter terrorism forces where needed. Of greater concern is the rumbling about a break up of the country into a collection of ethno-religious states that many here now seem to think is not only possible but desirable.

We have an enormous collection of synesthetic, and the entity known as "Afghanistan" is not a happy or united one. Hazaras, who make up about 15-20 percent of the population and sit at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, are not openly using the word "genocide" to describe a century of seemingly systematic attempts to wipe them out. That they are Shia swimming in a Sunni Sea does not help.

Afghanistans Tajis appear to be rallying around the son of the National Hero Ahmad Shah Massoud. Ahmad Massoud is a 32 year old graduate of Kings College London, based in the Panjsir valley, and is taking on the charismatic mantle of his father at a time when Afghans are looking for modern heroes. We know the Senior Massoud as the Lion of the Panjsir, and honour him annually on the the anniversary of his murder, two days before the 9-11 attacks.

And up in the north, the Usbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostun - once Ghani's vice president and now a Marshal in the afghan army - is up to his old decisive tricks rallying the Usbeks around a Turkmen flag as he opposes the presidents pick for regional governor.

The Summer unrolling in the foothills here of the Himalayas is promising to be sizzling hot, on and off.

[raison de arizona]

Kinda surreal picture.

[Lani]

I was horrified when Bush II sent the military into Afghanistan. It obviously wasn't going to turn out well. Then Biden tried to talk Obama into leaving the country, but instead more troops were sent. Once Osama was dead, it was time to pack up and go home. Now we've found out that intelligence was wrong about how much time the US had to clear out, and the Taliban has taken over Kabul. I don't blame Biden. He's just the guy who got stuck with the total clusterfuck.

[MN-Skeptic]

My brother, who lives an hour away from me, has four daughters. The oldest is 25, the youngest turns 18 next month. For those four girls, the U.S. has always been fighting in Afghanistan. What a sad thought!

[AndyinPA]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... jalalabad/

KABUL — Taliban fighters took control of Kabul on Sunday, delivering the militant Islamist group the prize it has long sought: authority over all of Afghanistan as the Western-backed government collapsed, President Ashraf Ghani fled, and the long-dominant American presence appeared to be coming to an abrupt and chaotic end after nearly 20 years.

The takeover of the sprawling capital city had been years in the making, but was ultimately accomplished in a single day. Insurgent fighters, fresh off their conquests in each of Afghanistan’s provincial hubs over the previous week, faced little to no resistance as they entered the city through its major traffic arteries Sunday morning.

[filly]

Sorry if you await to root for your team but this withdrawal, with American Embassy personnel now in peril and with Afghani interpreters with bullseyes on their backs, was incompetently handled by the Biden Administration. No way to spin this. It is disastrous.

[raison de arizona]

Indeed.

741E2FF9-367D-4E0C-9C34-0FCF2F1AE4CF.jpeg (269.8 KiB) Viewed 824 times

[Uninformed]

Having applied my remaining brain cells to the realities of a withdrawal from Afghanistan I really can’t see how it would be other than chaotic, embarrassing, and possibly disastrous, without the Afghan armed forces “holding the line” and / or the cooperation of the Taliban etc. A thorough review of the withdrawal process might be of value but I doubt it would identify any actions that would have made much difference.

I wonder how much planning has been carried out on how to handle the pent up desire for “revenge” by multiple groups for what they see as an invasion involving many foreign nations.

[Suranis]

I don't think anyone predicted just how fast the collapse of the regime would be. And I don't think anyone would have thought the Taliban would have just walked in to Kabul with hardly a shot fired. Biden gets the blame due as he is the guy on the chair, but no-one specifically "blames" the President of the day for the pictures of the fall of Saigon.

[Slim Cognito]

I get that Biden gets the blame, the whole "buck stops here" thing. It's easy to say we should have started evacuations earlier. It sure looks like somebody fucked up the planning stage. I've heard that Biden turned down offers to take in refugees. If true, he'll have to live with that because, apparently, the would-be refugees won't have that option.

But if the Afghan troops never intended to hold the fort, this collapse was inevitable.

[RTH10260]

My impression has always been that the Afghan troops, the foot soldiers, were never motivated except for receiving a secured monthly pay day. It was not their fight. It was the US and the allies that were fighting OBLs ghost. The Afghan troops were asked to fight their own countrymen. They were not motivated to fight for a western style of democracy. The Afghans had always had their style of tribal democracy with chosen chieftains and the Loya Lirga as countrywide parliament.

[Suranis]

https://twitter.com/TristanSnell/status ... 1850574855

Tristan Snell@TristanSnell

13h
In 2016, Trump called Obama the founder of ISIS.

In 2018, Trump freed the founder of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Now, Baradar is about to become the next leader of Afghanistan.

Thanks, Donald. #TalibanTrump

He and Pompeo also freed 5000 Taliban fighters last year in exchange for a 3 month ceasefire, in order to cast himself as the great dealmaker and peacemaker, as his election was floundering.

And remember when he tried to have Taliban fighters in the White house for a thumbs up paper signing ceremony on the anniversary of 9/11?

Just a helpful reminder that Everything Trump Touches Dies.

[Suranis]

The Loser Spawn weighs in. with a "love me daddy" post. I like this particular smackdown.

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[Slim Cognito]

Well there it is. No one will ever talk about copters in Saigon again.

[bill_g]

[rhetorical question]Who negoiated this peace treaty with the Taliban? [/rhetorical question]

[Volkonski]

[Atticus Finch]

Afghanistan will not be an issue in the 202w and 2024 elections. I didn't recall the fall of Saigon as an issue in the 1976 election.

[Suranis]

[filly]

Afghanistan will not be an issue in the 202w and 2024 elections. I didn't recall the fall of Saigon as an issue in the 1976 election.

Really? Watch here: