The Fall of Afghanistan

[Kane]

We are turning inwards and it actually makes sense in this environment. If we electrify our fleets we are less dependent on outside actors and it helps to address Climate Change. That singular change will reverberate the world over. If we can completely shift electricity production away from Coal and get a good hold on green energy development that will aid us in being competitive in that market. China will lose its edge as it continues to bring new coal fired power plants online.

Climate Change is the largest threat now. Climate Change is going to destabilize economies worldwide that remain dependent on black gold. Russia looks like a primary loser here - I don't think LNG will make up for it and they don't look to have a blueprint for diversification of their economy (and how could they - it's corrupt as hell). UAE is doing a good job but like most countries in the ME they rely on slave labor - that'll get harder to sustain as things shift. Plus - imagine increasing temps out there...

I think the Fall of Afghanistan will be looked back upon as a significant turning point. It'll come to represent something larger than itself.

[Philly]

Pretty crazy to think about the near-universal support for invading Afghanistan in the post-9/11 frenzy (by Iraq there was some semblance of an anti-war movement, but not Afghanistan). Also wild thinking about how Obama ran in 2008 on the idea that Iraq was a horrible mistake but Afghanistan was the good and smart war for us to be fighting. This war spanned 4 different presidencies, and by the end of Bush's tenure it was already obvious that the only way forward was to just get out and accept the total failure of the project. We could have done it at any time and the outcome always would have been the same as it would also be if we had chosen to stay another 20 years.

[Kane]

I can't imagine another 20 years.

[John Galt]

the frenzy as philly called it was for blood it wasn't for nation building. as biden remarked yesterday, when we arrived we had a few clear goals: get the people who attacked us, and make sure that afghanistan couldn't be used as a base of operations to launch terrorist attacks against the west. it's clear because those were the goals of NATO when our alliance clause was invoked. frankly the development of drones themselves and having a shadow war would have made both objectives far more easier, if only it had been a few years later

[Winchester]

Afganawho?

[John Galt]

https://www.reddit.com/r/anime_titties/ ... collapsed/

[Kane]

Good article.

Nice job anime titties.

[Saz]

Disturbing. The gross incompetence shown in this withdrawal is just goes to underscore how f**k we really are. I can forgive the initial invasion. Bin laden, yada yada. I actually think up until about the end of 2001, we were getting it right. But after Tora Bora, it was clear Bin Laden was not in country, he was in Pakistan. It took almost a decade before we got the balls to go in there and get him, exactly where everyone suspected he would be. Exactly where the Taliban f**k off to for the last 20 years when we pressed them. I don't think anyone serious thought we were going to build a real state, let alone a democratic one, in Afghanistan. But I do think most people thought the guys after us wouldn't be the f**k Taliban, again. We tried to out last them and it has predictably ended with us fleeing in the dead of night, nothing accomplished. It didn't have to be like this, but it was always going to end like this.

It would be nice if we could get the big decision right, and then execute them properly. Biden is one for two, an unacceptable standard for a country like the united states, but still one better than every one of his predecessors involved in this war. Like I said, we are f**k. It's not the gross incompetence in the withdrawal thats troubling, it's that I don't even care because at least he got the big f**k decision right. That's the best we can expect today, a good idea absolutely botched in implementation. Usually we get bad ideas, made worse by their incompetent execution. That's exactly what the war in Afganistan was, a bad idea, poorly executed. The worst thing about it is this isn't even dumbest f**k war that man started in his first term.

[Saz]

Lmao we are such clowns. Look at all the pics of the Taliban in Kabul...these guys are kitted out courtesy of the US Taxpayer. All carrying M16's and scoped out M4s now, wearing US equipment and body armour. They have even taken to the wide band shades like NATO forces. Saw a video of one of these clowns flying a captured helo (one can only guess how the Taliban would know how to fly US helos).

[Kane]

Not a big deal. Without access to routine maintenance and care with proper parts and professionals this equipment will fail quickly. It's only ever as good as the people are trained on how to utilize and maintain. Plus if it was meant for the ANA it will not have all of the bells and whistles.