Kind of like you I don’t completely agree with this idea. But I could certainly see the fracture happening, Afghanistan seems like it is a place common enemy alliances, loose agreements, and tribalism. Hard to govern and easy to fall into factional civil war if pushed too hard. Heck probably why initially (late 90’s) everyone was ok with the Taliban coming in, providing order out of chaos is a pretty strong initial selling point to human beings on general.
We aren’t going to get everyone out by August 31.
Still no direct causation between the two so I wouldn’t call it factual data the two are connected. The western world spending tons more on counterterrorism and having way more resources to stop terrorists before they even attempt or plan an attack had a huge impact on the decline. Not to mention all the extra security at airports, transportation centers, stadiums, etc. A lot of changes that make it extremely hard to pull off a terrorist attack in developed (or even developing) countries compared to 2001. The only factual thing we have are direct quotes from terrorists that say the US in the Middle East made them become terrorists. Not a huge number and maybe not enough data to make a strong case, but it is the only direct connection that can be made. Anything else is just guessing. Insert the Simpsons clip about a rock keeping tigers away for false equivalency.
The article has one thing right for sure, far-right attacks are the biggest threat to the US. Let’s pray for all the crazies in the US to burn in hell for eternity.
What was the reason the first thread was locked? Or is this part 2?
Well, Tony Blair has a lot of experience with imbecilic acts and people so he should know.
Tell me, have Tony and W found those weapons of mass destruction yet?
Actually, according to The NY Times, yes.
Including some Saddam was required to have destroyed under the 1991 peace treaty.
We even sustained casualties from them.
See here.
That said, let’s NOT get off topic.
No thread hijacking off point please.
Quote: “It was August 2008 near Taji, Iraq. They had just exploded a stack of old Iraqi artillery shells buried beside a murky lake. The blast, part of an effort to destroy munitions that could be used in makeshift bombs, uncovered more shells.
Two technicians assigned to dispose of munitions stepped into the hole. Lake water seeped in. One of them, Specialist Andrew T. Goldman, noticed a pungent odor, something, he said, he had never smelled before.
He lifted a shell. Oily paste oozed from a crack. “That doesn’t look like pond water,” said his team leader, Staff Sgt. Eric J. Duling.
The specialist swabbed the shell with chemical detection paper. It turned red — indicating sulfur mustard, the chemical warfare agent designed to burn a victim’s airway, skin and eyes.
All three men recall an awkward pause. Then Sergeant Duling gave an order: “Get the hell out.”
Five years after President George W. Bush sent troops into Iraq, these soldiers had entered an expansive but largely secret chapter of America’s long and bitter involvement in Iraq.
From 2004 to 2011, American and American-trained Iraqi troops repeatedly encountered, and on at least six occasions were wounded by, chemical weapons remaining from years earlier in Saddam Hussein’s rule.”
I think that the problem is that we already signed a deal with the Taliban to be out by September 1st, right?
I mean, we don’t want to look like we’re not a country that keeps our word…or at least, I assume that we don’t.
I don’t give a hoot if we agreed to September 1st or next leap year. A bunch of Tribesmen don’t push the United States around. If they said “or else” we should have said “say hello to my little friend, his name is Hellfire missle and he can find you anywhere.”
Un F’n believable.
Original deal was May 1 and supposedly that had
been mutually extended to Sept 1.
LOL.
We have lost our F’n minds
I hope that we can get our people and our allies out of there within a week then.
I saw something on Twitter saying how this latest Afghanistan operation will, once it’s over, become the “textbook” case study for Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations (NEO) at all of the military schools worldwide.
Textbook how to or textbook how not to?
We have lost our F’n minds
Say a prayer and find peace. Be calm.
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I thought Jimmy Carter would be the worse President of my lifetime. Joe Biden said “hold my beer”
Let’s just say, there will be “lessons learned,” all around.
Coog51,
Not sure that I agree with you on this, BUT GEN Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker apparently do.
On linkedin, Petraeus quoted Crocker thusly:
“It did not have to be this way. When I left Afghanistan as ambassador in 2012, we had about 85,000 troops in the country. (Law97 note: when I first arrived in Afghanistan in March 2011, we had about 100,000; that was the peak of the “surge”) The Taliban controlled none of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals. When President Barack Obama left office there were fewer than 10,000 U.S. troops. And when Mr. Trump departed there were fewer than 5,000. The Taliban still did not hold any major urban area. Now, they hold the entire country. What changed so swiftly and completely? We did. Mr. Biden’s decision to withdraw all U.S. forces destroyed an affordable status quo that could have lasted indefinitely at a minimum cost in blood and treasure.”
Personally, I don’t believe in fighting “forever” wars or even “indefinite” wars.
But there are some pretty knowledgable people that disagree with me and agree with you on this.
The cynic in me says this is just Monday morning quarterbacking. They say that now, because the equation is now complete and all variables now known. It also absolves them from their part in the failure of Afghanistan. Which is what many people will be doing for a long time.
These memoirs are going to read a lot like Churchill on Gallipoli.
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Ya know what’s funny? A colleague of mine in 2011-2012 served on Petraeus’ Commander’s Advisory Group (CAG) in Afghanistan. He and others observed that Petraeus went running almost every morning with Paula Broadwell at the ISAF HQ. At the time, people there used to joke behind his back: “Is he hitting that…is he hitting that?” Then other people would come back and say…“Naw…come on. This is PETRAEUS!!! PETRAEUS would never do that!!!”
Of course…he DID do that…and the rest is history.