I don’t question the eventual need to leave. We would have had to, eventually. The alternative would have been to permanently station troops there, just like with Korea and Europe, but in a generally more hostile country than either South Korea or Germany. Just because your combat deaths are down, that doesn’t mean that you’ve actually captured their hearts and minds. The opposition might easily adopt an attitude of patience and be willing to wait until you’re gone…which means another permanent presence on foreign soil if you’re not willing to accept that outcome.philip964 wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 11:35 amThere had been no casualties in Afghanistan in like 18 months. Did we have only 2000 troops there? Was there any pressing need to leave Afghanistan in a Liberal's eyes. Do liberals only care about women's rights in the US?Paladin wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 8:52 amI think that unfortunately Biden, Milley, and Lloyd Austin already set the precedent with Afghanistan. US Intelligence, NATO weapons, and our Special Operations Forces have kept Ukraine going... which is a deterrent to further aggression from Russia and the CCP in the short term... but Kissinger is looking at this in the long term. In the long term a united Russia/China/Asia would be the most powerful military and economic force on Earth. That is the situation that is developing in Asia while the clown show here is struggling to figure out which bathroom to use.The Annoyed Man wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 8:43 amThe flip side to this is that it sets a precedent that will certainly lead to our acquiescence to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. If the Reconquista, backed by the Mexican military, tried to wrest away a portion of southwest Texas to set up an autonomous separatist region, I'd want to fight like hell to get it back. It wouldn’t matter to me what Kissinger or some other talking head thought…it’s just his opinion. It should mean nothing to the citizens of the sovereign state of Texas. Texans would be right to say that there can be no peace as long as the Mexican-backed Reconquista occupies one square mile of Texas.Paladin wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 7:23 amI can't say I agree with Kissinger a lot, but he's far more intelligent than the clown show and certainly correct about this one. I'm afraid that even if his prudent advice was followed it may be too late.philip964 wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 9:30 pm https://finance.yahoo.com/news/henry-ki ... 12366.html
Henry Kissenger warns against pushing Russia into an alliance with China.
We should pressure Ukraine to negotiate a peace.
I’d expect no less from Ukraine. It’s too easy for outsiders to tell the gov’t of a sovereign nation that they should just lay down and accept the rape. All that is necessary for evil to prosper is that good men should do nothing.
The decision to leave was it really only to have something for Xiden to say on the anniversary of 9/11 "Ending America's longest war" ( which is the Korean War BTW) ? Was that really the only reason, so Xiden could brag? So he could say "I did that".
To me it is the only reason Putin decided now was the time to invade Ukraine. The loss of that Airbase will bite us for the next 100 years.
Insanity.
What I DO question is the timing and the manner in which our leaving was executed. I heard
Andy Stumpf say once during a podcast that the biggest problem was the decision to depart from Kabul, and that it could have been better accomplished, with far less chaos, from Bagram airfield, which was a much more secure airfield near a town with a much smaller population. I’ve never been to either place, but from what we all saw from the video and photos taken at Kabul, what he said made a lot of sense to me. As to the evacuation of Afghans who were at risk if left behind, that could have easily been accomplished over the prior 12 months with better planning and execution—from Bagram—than the chaotic reprise of the fall of Saigon we witnessed at Kabul.
The withdrawal from Afghanistan was executed by a feckless administration populated with ideological purists, who necessarily had no experience in actual governance in a democratic republic.