Afghanistan

[mullokintyre]

Now that I look at it, the photo in the Guardian is actually of the same car as shown. The wreckage to the right may or may not be a another car, or some parts of the same car who knows.
The rear of the tailgate looks like it has been hit with either bullets or bits of shrapnel.
Either way, its not that of a vehicle full of explosives and hit with a rocket.
And also, look at the trees to the right of the mangled bits of wreckage. Surely they would also be destroyed.
It just does not add up for my liking.
Mick

 

[basilio]

The Good, the Bad and The Ugly. US, The Taliban and ISIS.
Thoughtful background on how the US and the Taliban have worked together to defeat a common enemy.

Opinion | What ISIS-K Means for Afghanistan​

The hard-to-kill insurgency behind the bombing poses a huge challenge for the Taliban—and a puzzle for American efforts to keep the country stable.

Opinion | What ISIS-K Means for Afghanistan

The hard-to-kill insurgency behind the bombing poses a huge challenge for the Taliban—and a puzzle for American efforts to keep the country stable.

www.politico.com

 

[noirua]

Afghanistan: Smoke rises over Kabul after rocket strike

A rocket hit a residential area in Kabul. An Afghan police chief, quoted by AP news agency, has confirmed a child died after the incident.

news.sky.com

 

[DB008]

.​

 

[IFocus]

DB you forgot the spare parts supply = 0

 

[mullokintyre]

I suppose the US would not have been so sneaky as to place self destruct options on some of the objects to be activated at their discretion??
Mick

 

[mullokintyre]

And If they did, here is an example as to why they should be setting them off right now.
The Lynch Mob

Mick

 

[moXJO]

I suppose the US would not have been so sneaky as to place self destruct options on some of the objects to be activated at their discretion??
Mick

I honestly think it was left so they could battle Isis. Better Taliban do it then our troops. It was all a little to easy for Taliban to waltz in.

 

[moXJO]

I honestly think it was left so they could battle Isis. Better Taliban do it then our troops. It was all a little to easy for Taliban to waltz in.

But then again. Perhaps Biden and his generals are just the biggest idiots in history. And that is the high % play.

https://www.reuters.com/business/ae...es-talibans-new-us-made-war-chest-2021-08-19/

 

[bellenuit]

I honestly think it was left so they could battle Isis. Better Taliban do it then our troops. It was all a little to easy for Taliban to waltz in.

From what I have been reading, they made most equipment that they had in their possession and were leaving behind inoperable, except for some air safety equipment that they left at the airport. Equipment that the Afghanistan army had obviously fell into Taliban hands when they army abandoned their posts.

 

[moXJO]

From what I have been reading, they made most equipment that they had in their possession and were leaving behind inoperable, except for some air safety equipment that they left at the airport. Equipment that the Afghanistan army had obviously fell into Taliban hands when they army abandoned their posts.

A lot of it will fall into disrepair pretty quickly. However you have China right next door. It was still operating (from guys on the ground). US scuttled a lot of its software from the vehicles/helicopters.

It's a huge amount if Isis managed to grab it.

 

[bellenuit]

IMO, although the withdrawal was chaotic, at the end of the day the withdrawal cost the lives of just 13 US soldiers. Sad, but hardly a disaster considering they were trying to extricate from a region where there were two enemies fighting them. The Afghan army would have collapsed like it did whether it was Trump or Biden in charge and the loss of US armoury held by the Afghan army would have been just as inevitable because of their complete surrender. Without the Afghan army to maintain order for the duration of the US withdrawal and evacuation of Afghans who supported the US, they did well to get as many as they had out with so little loss of US soldiers lives.​

​

Former Trump officials praise Biden for carrying out 'Trump-Biden withdrawal' from Afghanistan​

Former Trump officials praise Biden for carrying out 'Trump-Biden withdrawal' from Afghanistan: ANALYSIS

Withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan became an obsession for then-President Donald Trump, ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl reports.

abcnews.go.com

 

[moXJO]

IMO, although the withdrawal was chaotic, at the end of the day the withdrawal cost the lives of just 13 US soldiers. Sad, but hardly a disaster considering they were trying to extricate from a region where there were two enemies fighting them. The Afghan army would have collapsed like it did whether it was Trump or Biden in charge and the loss of US armoury held by the Afghan army would have been just as inevitable because of their complete surrender. Without the Afghan army to maintain order for the duration of the US withdrawal and evacuation of Afghans who supported the US, they did well to get as many as they had out with so little loss of US soldiers lives.​

​

Former Trump officials praise Biden for carrying out 'Trump-Biden withdrawal' from Afghanistan​

Former Trump officials praise Biden for carrying out 'Trump-Biden withdrawal' from Afghanistan: ANALYSIS

Withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan became an obsession for then-President Donald Trump, ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl reports.

abcnews.go.com

Media protecting Biden again.

Trump had negotiated with the Taliban on withdrawal. God only knows what Biden had planned. Good movie on the situation during Obama era "war machine" with Brad Pitt (same guys as big short).

Trump was the first one to get it right, regardless of motive. He heard one ex general on fox (I think) talking about how the US should not be there. And he did get the US out of a lot of pointless wars.

Biden is an establishment slug. Worse is that he was considered the "buffoon" of the Democrat party. Living up to his image.

 

[bellenuit]

Trump was the first one to get it right, regardless of motive. He heard one ex general on fox (I think) talking about how the US should not be there. And he did get the US out of a lot of pointless wars.

Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden all said they wanted to end the Afghan war, so he wasn’t the first to get it right in that respect. Biden was the one who ended the war, not Trump, so you can’t give kudos to Trump for that.

What Trump did do was make a clean exit next to impossible by greatly reducing the number of US ground forces there and agreeing to the release of 4,200 Taliban fighters from prison, bolstering their strength and making an Afghan army surrender more likely.

Trump boasted that he made it impossible for Biden NOT to withdraw, but failed to do it himself on his watch.

 

[mullokintyre]

Chanel 9 has a given the Taliban a free medium for propaganda.
Who needs cyber warfare when your own media give airtime to a bunch of terrorists.

In an "exclusive Interview" the Taliban have said the 41 Australian soldiers who were killed in Afghamistan all died in vain.
And to top it off, they reckon that
Australians are the worst human rights violators
Australia committed some of the worst and the brutal kind of human rights violations
They should be prosecuted as per the humanitarian law.

Channel nine news
Not surprisingly, the other media orgs are piling it on channel 9.
Channel 7 and the Pm has also given them a blast.
There might be a bit of fallout from this one.
Mick

 

[moXJO]

Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden all said they wanted to end the Afghan war, so he wasn’t the first to get it right in that respect. Biden was the one who ended the war, not Trump, so you can’t give kudos to Trump for that.

What Trump did do was make a clean exit next to impossible by greatly reducing the number of US ground forces there and agreeing to the release of 4,200 Taliban fighters from prison, bolstering their strength and making an Afghan army surrender more likely.

Trump boasted that he made it impossible for Biden NOT to withdraw, but failed to do it himself on his watch.

Biden had a plan laid out and couldn't even get that right. Obama raised troop numbers by 40000 then made it infinitely worse by opening his trap and giving away key details. After one of the most Idiotic plans ever.

Trump had negotiated with the Taliban. Unsurprisingly he backed the right generals plan in the end. He set the wheels in motion and fired those who couldn't all wouldn't.

Biden came from a government that was a big part of the problem. And he continues the p1ssweak stances of Obama.

 

[moXJO]

Chanel 9 has a given the Taliban a free medium for propaganda.
Who needs cyber warfare when your own media give airtime to a bunch of terrorists.

In an "exclusive Interview" the Taliban have said the 41 Australian soldiers who were killed in Afghamistan all died in vain.
And to top it off, they reckon that
Australians are the worst human rights violators
Australia committed some of the worst and the brutal kind of human rights violations
They should be prosecuted as per the humanitarian law.

Channel nine news
Not surprisingly, the other media orgs are piling it on channel 9.
Channel 7 and the Pm has also given them a blast.
There might be a bit of fallout from this one.
Mick

Taliban is wining the propaganda war.

 

[bellenuit]

Trump had negotiated with the Taliban. Unsurprisingly he backed the right generals plan in the end. He set the wheels in motion and fired those who couldn't all wouldn't.

It's easy to assume Trump would have extricated the US from Afghanistan flawlessly when in fact he had done little and failed to end the war during his watch. There is little evidence from what has transpired to suggest it would have been different under Trump. But knowing how Trump has acted in relation to other crises during has watch would suggest he would have botched it up as he did the others. We have only to look at his COVID response, putting the US close to the top of the world ranking of deaths/million, a disgrace for a country with the resources it has, and his weak endorsement of vaccines currently when it is his supporters that are suffering most. His dealings with North Korea which elevated the status of Kim but achieved nothing in relation to nuclear disarmament. His weakening of NATO and his ambivalence towards China where the biggest losers were US farmers. His attempted coup on US democracy. One could go on.

Nobody is suggesting Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan was not without problems, but it could hardly have been different considering the cards he had been dealt. Trump officials have praised Biden's efforts, but you just dismiss that as press protection. It's easy for Trump to be the hero when he didn't do anything but claim how great he would have been if he still had been in charge. Even the Right's own Anne Coulter has commended Biden for doing what Trump said he would do, but didn't do.

Trump is all hubris but fails when called to action.

 

[mullokintyre]

A bit more to the story on the US drone strike.
From New York Times and NBC NEWS


U.S. officials said a Reaper drone followed a car for hours and then fired based on evidence it was carrying explosives.
But in-depth video analysis and interviews at the site cast doubt on that account.

"Military officials said they did not know the identity of the car’s driver when the drone fired, but deemed him suspicious because of how they interpreted his activities that day, saying that he possibly visited an ISIS safe house and, at one point, loaded what they thought could be explosives into the car."

In reality, they were filling water bottles.
Times reporting has identified the driver as Zemari Ahmadi, a longtime worker for a U.S. aid group. The evidence, including extensive interviews with family members, co-workers and witnesses, suggests that his travels that day actually involved transporting colleagues to and from work. And an analysis of video feeds showed that what the military may have seen was Mr. Ahmadi and a colleague loading canisters of water into his trunk to bring home to his family.
While the U.S. military said the drone strike might have killed three civilians, Times reporting shows that it killed 10, including seven children, in a dense residential block.
Mr. Ahmadi, 43, had worked since 2006 as an electrical engineer for Nutrition and Education International, a California-based aid and lobbying group. The morning of the strike, Mr. Ahmadi’s boss called from the office at around 8:45 a.m., and asked him to pick up his laptop.

In a Monday briefing, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said that Washington was "not in a position to dispute" reports that its drone strike against its ISIS-K target caused civilian casualties, and that the U.S. was investigating.

Malika and two other toddlers were the youngest family members killed, along with Ahmadi's nephews Arwin, 7, and Benyamin, 6, and Zemari's two other sons, Zamir, 20, and Faisal, 16, Ahmadi said.

Zemari was a technical engineer for Nutrition and Education International, a nonprofit working to address malnutrition based in Pasadena, California.

Just a day before his death, he had been helping to prepare and deliver soy-based meals to women and children at refugee camps in Kabul, Steven Kwon, president of NEI, told NBC News in an email.

Collateral damage they used to call it.
Mick

 

[noirua]

The meaning of 'Taliban' in English - and the militant group's origins explained

The word Taliban means 'students' or 'seekers' in Pashto, one of the two official languages of Afghanistan

inews.co.uk