All US troops to leave Afghanistan in 14 months

submitted by bablarb from (militarytimes.com)

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[–]zyxzevn 9 insightful - 2 fun9 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Just moving them around:
US Carrier Strike Group Enters Mediterranean As Syria & Turkey Move To State Of War
Turkey Asks NATO To Join Its War Against Syria And Russia
Saudi Arabia also gets 15,000 troops, but can't find link.

Escobar: The Afghanistan "Peace Deal" Riddle
4- The CIA would be allowed to do business in Taliban-controlled areas. That’s an even more hardcore anathema. Everyone familiar with post-9/11 Afghanistan knows that the prime reason for CIA business is the heroin rat line that finances Langley’s black ops, as I exposed in 2017.

[–]Nemacolin 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (11 children)

All part of President Trump’s policies of surrender & retreat.

[–]jamesK_3rd 5 insightful - 3 fun5 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 3 fun -  (9 children)

We've been there almost 20 years. Why? What are we accomplishing.......?

Unless you've some grand strategy that no one else knows about, this is correct. He promised this and it's unfortunate that it took 4 years to even get this far.

[–]Nemacolin 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (8 children)

We stayed in Korea forty years to rebuild, reshape, their entire culture. That seems to have paid off. But of course it is easier to just give it back to the terrorists.

I am an old soldier. I do not want to think we will have to buy the same land twice.

[–]jamesK_3rd 5 insightful - 4 fun5 insightful - 3 fun6 insightful - 4 fun -  (7 children)

You can't compare them.

In Korea there was an actual defined strategy. And in Korea you had actual sides.

Who are we there against? Al Qaeda, ISIS, ISIL, the Taliban, waziristan? Most soldiers don't know, because it changes per administration and by which section of the country you are in. Further, most soldiers did much longer tours in Korea, our tours there are between 7 and 12 months in theater, Unless you were one of a very specific few who was forced to stay longer or you volunteered.

This means not only is the administration spinning it's wheels, the units maintaining their particular AO are reinventing the wheel every 7-12 months because there is no defined strategy, so some full bird thinks of this as a resume builder to get a great job in Arlington once they're done.

This isn't even taking into account the cultural differences that exist, such as dari vs pashtun tribes, Islamic sects, and Islamic laws that govern most of the culture.

You've seemingly never been assigned to 2nd ID, because lest we forget SK/US are technically still at war with North Korea. The U.S. that chose to stay in Korea also forcefully demanded submission of the Japanese just years before and had shown that there will be a price to pay for everyone.

The U.S. that chose to stay in Afghanistan can't figure out if they will have military doctors pay for tranny surgeries for mentally ill troops or if boot camp recruits should have access to cell phones for those 2 months.

Korea and Afghanistan don't compare, on any level. Not the countries themselves, nor the two different US countries that are occupying them.

[–]Nemacolin 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Yep. We lacked a strategy. We lacked the gumption to keep at it. That is to say we have given up. We are in complete agreement.

[–]Velocity 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

It's very haughty of you to assume that Afghanistan rightfully belongs as a vassal state to the US.

[–]Nemacolin 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

I sort of figure Afghanistan belongs to the people of the country. Not just the strongmen. Not the family elders. Not just the men. Seems to me we ought to give their country to them.

[–]Velocity 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Right, bomb them into democracy. The strong men and family elders that used to rule them were just the wrong ones because they weren't US approved. Very typical ignorant and pompous western opinion on how others should be forced into adopting an unpopular government. I just wish people like you,while you're looking down your nose at others, were actually smart enough to perceive the larger picture.

[–]Nemacolin 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Well, I am an American. I believe in the equality of people before the law. I believe women are actually people who ought to be free to live as they like. Still, I am not trying to attack your Old World sort of thinking. I understand many like you still reject self-rule by the people themselves.

We could have freed the Afghans. We decided to try to do the job on the cheap and so we failed. I can only imagine the amount of suffering that will result.

[–]jamesK_3rd 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Afghanistan isn't Korea, on any level.

The Soviets at their peak had over 70000 troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. was lucky to have 16000.

I'm not sure why you believe an army of 16000 troops could reign in Afghanistan yet an army of 70000 couldn't.

And no we did do the job. Our job initially was to root out Al Quaeda that had been training in eastern Afghanistan and in waziristan. We did that quickly. And instead of calling it a day, we turned the Taliban, the Mujahadeen, the Pashtuns, the kuchi, and every other small tribe there against us because politicians decided that we should export some democracy there instead of just eliminate the bad guys.

You fail to accept that life isn't fair there, or a lot of places around the world. These are cultural issues, not military ones. We cannot solve these problems with the fist, although you guys feeling the bern must surely try.

Well you can solve them with the fist actually, but are you really willing to do that? You'd literally need to wipe them all out thanos style, and then import new ppl there and refer to them as Afghanis. That's a bridge to far for me I'm afraid.

And if the people want self rule, they Will take it. No one there needs a hand holding, especially for the countrymen who has essentially defeated both the Soviets and NATO allies.

[–]bald-janitor 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Fuck off, shill

[–]mikipika 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Well of course. It's election time. He could have done it first, second, or third year. Why waste a good opportunity?