This is a mobile optimized page that loads fast, if you want to load the real page, click this text.

Afghanistan

Jump to new
Norwegian journalist Paul Refsdal risked his life to become the first Westerner to film behind Taliban lines in Afghanistan, and see the war between the allied forces and the insurgency from the Taliban's viewpoint.

Now Dateline brings you his remarkable story, as Paul witnesses several ambushes of US troops on the Khyber Pass, and films celebrations over the death of a US soldier.

 

Is the fall of Kabul imminent?

Axel Felix's answer: Yes, the fall of Kabul is imminent. Have anyone ever thought why we do no ask such questions as Is the fall of Damascus imminent? It is because the Syrian government have two things which the Afghan government lack. These two things are very important if the Afghan state were...
qr.ae
 
What a disaster. What an absolute failure of policy over nearly 20 years. What a waste of lives and money.

And what an absolute betrayal of the folks they are leaving behind to be executed etc.

Just wow.
 
The army must have done a deal with the Taliban. .
They didn't fight.
Obviously the puppet government set up by the allies (mainly OZ ands the USA was not as popular as we were led to think.

Trump signed the deal with the Taliban to leave precisely at this time and to be frank what do you think Biden could have done?
I think both Trump and Biden were right to pull out.
But it is a lesson, if the previous lesson on the abandonment of the Kurds to slaughter by the Turks wasn't enough.

Link to Trump deal below (because some will only believe Fox).

Afghan conflict: US and Taliban sign deal to end 18-year war

President Trump says it is "time after all these years to bring our people back home".
www.bbc.com
 
America's war on terror has been a continuation of its failed interventions where it rode roughshod over international conventions, created new laws that were outside its own legal system, and carried out state sanctioned torture.
But that's ok because America are the good guys.
What's not ok is not protecting our own citizens from blatant unlawfulness.
David Hicks' case is a classic example of how Australia's pandering to America is not healthy.
Across the ditch our cuz Jacinda takes a leaf out of David Lange's book and runs her race on principles.

We need to ditch the "all the way with LBJ" mentality and think carefully about cosying up with America next time they place that call.
 
I've no idea, what should/could have been done. But no prizes for guessing what happens to those men and women who worked with the Americans.
 
wayneL said:
I've no idea, what should/could have been done. But no prizes for guessing what happens to those men and women who worked with the Americans.
Click to expand...
It will and is terrible.
I heard in one province the army surrendered without a shot and the Taliban summarily executed all of them. They are ruthless.
We just don't understand being so soft in our western ways.
 
No one liked the warlords. They were a corrupt bunch of aholes. They couldn't (or wouldn't) organise a fightback. Now they will be strung up.

Aussies actually left plenty of translators in the lurch. Scomo had months to do something. They are scrambling now in a minimum token effort.

Shades of Vietnam and leaving allies to die. No one will trust US and any coalition again. Too many failures now. Even in Syria, Russia stayed the distance and stabilised.
 
The manner in which the US left was disgusting. And against what many in the military wanted. You are a POS Joe Biden for rubber stamping the way this was carried out. A real return to the past.

Taiwan will be very nervous along with Japan, Philippines, India.

Scomo would be wise to stop licking US boot. We are a long way for the US to save us. And its a big if.

 
China are already in Afghanistan.
Watch them do deals with the Taliban for mining rights.
 
Absolute xxxxing tragedy. Totally agree with the analysis.
Somehow "everyone" is clinging to the hope that the Taliban will play nice and not execute thousands of people as they have said to date. I'd like to believe that to - but I wouldn't be betting my life on the possibility.

I think the women and in particular the educated women in Afghanistan are going to pay a terrible price for this. Under the Taliban the very fact they have achieved an education is going to be seen as traitorous.

An Afghan woman in Kabul: ‘Now I have to burn everything I achieved’

A university student tells of seeing all around her the ‘fearful faces of women and ugly faces of men who hate women’
www.theguardian.com
 
Knobby22 said:
China are already in Afghanistan.
Watch them do deals with the Taliban for mining rights.
Click to expand...
It's already been going on for years. About $400mill a year.
They will be first in for bigger deals though.
 
And now we have another situation where the US arms the government and those arms are now in the hands of the enemy.

Hopefully they will find it hard to get ammunition for the weapons, but I'm sure Russia and China will fill any gap.

What to do now ?

The Iran situation shows that once despots are in power it's very tough to throw them out without causing civilians extreme hardship.

I guess one good thing is that the Taliban aren't hiding in tunnels any more, they are out in the open. If the US has the will, the Taliban are targets, but of course they will surround themselves with civilians to make collateral damage a deterrent.

The most powerful country in the world looks pretty impotent right now.
 
Apologies if this has already been posted but it reveal's the overall truth in my view:

Gmail

Gmail is email that’s intuitive, efficient, and useful. 15 GB of storage, less spam, and mobile access.
mail.google.com
 

Didn't quite work explod. Wrong link ?
 
Giving people this false promise of democracy and freedom makes me absolutely disgusted.
I'm thinking a deal was done behind the scenes as the US offered no air support and the afgan army was about 300,000 vs 70,000ish Taliban.

Some shifty back room deal was done. US had a very fast withdrawal from bases just before the Taliban used Blitz tactics. Something stinks.
And Kabul that was very modern thinking will now suffer under extremists.

Not only that but I question how well we are positioned in the new world?
Iran, Russia, China are making all the right power moves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Little Leo's Roadside Stall
Replies
1
Views
202
wayneL
T
Intro and question
Replies
3
Views
1K
divs4ever
DA1 - Dominion Income Trust 1
Replies
1
Views
309
Dona Ferentes
DGT - DigiCo Infrastructure REIT
Replies
8
Views
986
Dona Ferentes
  • Sticky
Resources Rising Stars 2024 Conference Gold Coast
Replies
7
Views
2K
Garpal Gumnut
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more...