Afghanistan pullout is set to divide us. And the Taliban is lining up with hawks.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

Hard to determine their strategy. Been watching "Foyle's War" and know that adversaries are mainly trying to hoodwink and do the unexpected. Especially if morals are of no concern.

"...Hours after news broke on Tuesday that following a “rigorous policy review,” President Joe Biden is planning to have all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by Sept. 11—a break away from the previously agreed May 1 deadline—Taliban military leaders sat down for a policy review of their own. The group then announced it would be boycotting peace talks unless “all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland.”

Speaking to The Daily Beast on Wednesday, Mullah Salih Khan, a Taliban group commander from Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, said that the insurgent group is “very much prepared to strike,” against U.S. and Afghan government forces, warning that the militants will turn Afghanistan “into a nightmare” for them...."

https://www.thedailybeast.com/taliban-promises-nightmare-for-us-troops-in-final-afghanistan-stretch?ref=home

[msongs]

1. afghanistan will go back to the same culture its had for thousands of years....

male dominated tribal society.

[Voltaire2]

3. Afghanistan was a fairly enlightened country

50 years ago.

[JI7]

19. No. those were a minority of elites. Most of the country was

not like those pics that are often passed around.

[maxsolomon]

6. Afghanistan under the Taliban was significantly worse than before it

Under the Communists or under the prior Monarchy.

This is going to be awful for every non-Taliban, and in particular Afghani women.

[SoonerPride]

2. It was an idiotic thing to get into in the first place.

What a fiasco that was.

A quagmire built on top of a mound of quicksand.

Afghanistan is where empires go to die.

[Ferrets are Cool]

4. +1

[a kennedy]

9. + 1000000000000

[maxsolomon]

5. The Taliban never honored the ceasefire they negotiated with the Trump Admin

they've kept up their attacks on the Afghan government police and soldiers all along.

So, what's changed? Not much.

They just have to wait till September to begin their slaughter and the ensuing refugee crisis. They never had any intention of honoring "Peace Talks" with the Afghan Govt.

[marie999]

7. So how long should we stay there?

[maxsolomon]

8. Negative 19 years?

I'm looking back at my post to find where I said we should stay. I don't think I said that. Did I say that? Show me where I said that.

The Taliban are murderous chest-beating fundamentalist pieces of shit, and I've consistently said that for 20 years.

[marie999]

13. I apologize, Read your post wrong.

[a kennedy]

10. and I know i'll remember WHY THE HELL WE WENT THERE TO BEGIN WITH.....but as of now???

why the hell did we go there??

[maxsolomon]

11. You've got to be kidding,. Are you kidding?

9/11? 3,000 dead in a single morning?

How soon we forget...

[marie999]

14. Then why didn't we attack the Saudis?

[maxsolomon]

16. Because OBL/Al Qaeda was in Afghanistan and the Taliban were harboring them.

That's literally where the attack came from.

Do you seriously not remember 2002? I wasn't President; George W. Bush was.

[marie999]

23. If we attacked Afghanistan because OBL was there,

then why didn't we attack Pakistan when we found out he was there?

[SleeplessinSoCal]

25. good point.

There could have been a way to root out al qaeda and bin laden without the huge foot print. It does seem that those in charge wanted a foothold in order to invade Iraq. That was the thinking of Cheney and Rumsfeld.

One common trait that Afghans have with ISIS is to not fight when attacked, but blend and back off until another day. Then what we perceive as terrorist attacks, are actually the response to our attack. OBL took our actions against Muslims as cause for Holy war. And we said, "Why not"? What have we got to lose"?

[newdayneeded]

15. Wait, what?

I thought Bush invaded Iraq first because of 9-11. Afghanistan seemed like an afterthought. Do you remember different?

[maxsolomon]

17. Are you fucking with me too?

We invaded Afghanistan FIRST.

Then Bush started his adventure in Iraq, and Afghanistan became an afterthought.

[brooklynite]

18. Afghanistan was invaded a month after 9/11...

…because that’s where the 9/11 attackers came from and that was the Government protecting them.

[onethatcares]

20. Huh?

I'm at a loss here..Please explain cause I'm not seeing that anywhere ..but I might be blind.

Thank you.

[brooklynite]

21. Wikipedia...

In October 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan to remove the Taliban from power after they refused to hand over Osama Bin Laden, the prime suspect of the September 11 attacks, who was a "guest" of the Taliban and was operating his al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan.The majority of Afghans supported the American invasion of their country. During the initial invasion, US and UK forces bombed al-Qaeda training camps, and later working with the Northern Alliance, the Taliban regime came to an end.

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Afghanistan

When did you imagined we invaded?

[onethatcares]

22. the United States invaded Afghanistan

Oct 2001 based on supposition. 15 of the hijackers were Saudis, 2 were from the UAE, 1 from Lebanon, and 1 from Egypt.

Bin Laden was a Saudi, The Taliban had him as a guest because they either did not see or did not want to see a connection between him and the 9/11 attacks.

I haven't seen any information that Afghanistan had anything to do with the 9/11/2001 attacks.

[brooklynite]

24. It doesn't matter where the hijackers and their organizers were FROM...

....it matters where their base of operations was. That was Afghanistan.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

26. time to fact check. Then post.

Let's not mimic the previous administration by bending reality.

[Efilroft Sul]

12. Withdraw, and offer asylum here to women and girls.

See how long the Taliban lasts and maintains its control over the country with their goat-wives.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

27. Airdrop chastity belts!?!

[albacore]

28. Marine Gen. Shoup said it...

"I believe that if we had and would keep our dirty, bloody, dollar soaked fingers out of the business of these (Third World) nations so full of depressed, exploited people, they will arrive at a solution of their own. And if unfortunately their revolution must be of the violent type because the `haves' refuse to share with the `have-nots' by any peaceful method, at least what they get will be their own, and not the American style, which they don’t want and above all don’t want crammed down their throats by Americans." –
Gen. David Shoup, United States Marine Commandant Medal of Honor recipient. 2 Purple Hearts
I’m proud to say that Gen. Shoup was my Commandant during the first part of my time in the Corps.