Re: The Politics of National Security
Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2021 9:16 pm
"Afghanistan’s corrupt and incompetent leaders, and it’s cowardly security forces, abandoned Afghanistan to the Taliban."DocBarrister wrote: ↑Sun Aug 15, 2021 4:34 pmThat is a completely absurd post.old salt wrote: ↑Sun Aug 15, 2021 11:39 amWe couldn't leave until OBL was killed or captured (for which Biden was eager to take credit). That was the opportunity to convert our presence into part of a NATO peacekeepng, training & stabilization operation, with a non-US NATO Commander, with a US component. Before our pullout, our 2,500 troop presence made possible the presence of 7,000 NATO troops & 16,000 contractors which enabled the ASF to keep the Taliban at bay, as the Afghan economy & society slowly recovered. That would have kept NATO relevant & provided our NATO allies a mission to which they could contribute. The EUros loved Obama. He could have sold them on making it a NATO mission, under NATO Command. Instead of our longest war, we'd be a jr partner in just another NATO peacekeeping mission.RedFromMI wrote: ↑Sun Aug 15, 2021 9:11 amhttps://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/vi ... l-of-kabul
Vindication and the Fall of Kabul
By Josh Marshall
|
August 15, 2021 8:56 a.m.
Weak sauce. Where to begin ?
What we have seen over the last couple weeks shows decisively and irrefutably that the entire politico-military project in Afghanistan was an illusion.
As long as we were there to help the ASF do what they could not yet do for themselves, it was hardly an illusion. Was it an illusion when Biden celebrated in the WH situation room as we took out OBL or when Trump dropped a MOAB early in his term ?
It’s clear that while able, operationally, to understand the limitations of the Afghan army, the US military simply bought into this facade.
... “the Pentagon believed its own narrative that we would stay forever.”
As we have in Germany, Japan, Italy, Korea & even still/again Iraq & NE Syria, helping critical allies do what they can't do alone.
It probably made most sense to leave Afghanistan in 2002 or 2003. The Taliban were roundly unpopular by the time the US military and mostly its local allies had driven them off. Right. Just leave OBL in exile, to reconstitute AQ.
I continue to believe that the American public simply doesn’t care about Afghanistan nearly as much as military and foreign policy elites think they should or want them to. They don't care because our political leaders have failed to make them care.
Lake and his cohort are right: Biden owns the decision.
Biden understood the reality of the situation better than his military advisors. He was and is more in line with US popular opinion which long ago soured on our perpetual occupation of Afghanistan. Yes, Biden is a far sighted genius. I'm sure this was part of his plan, to send 5k troops back in to get our diplomats out before the Taliban captures them. Great plan.
The United States was never going to be a “jr partner” in a NATO mission in Afghanistan. After all, it was the United States that invoked the NATO treaty to begin the invasion.
The United States spent 20 years, more than a trillion dollars, and thousands of American lives in Afghanistan. It was time to leave.
Afghanistan’s corrupt and incompetent leaders, and it’s cowardly security forces, abandoned Afghanistan to the Taliban.
DocBarrister
First mistake was working with the men. Should have trained the women; pretty g-d sure they would have fought as they have some "skin" in the game.