Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

[sanjayc]

It's a matter of time before one of these helicopters reaches China for inspection

[Manish_P]

You are right. I am wondering how come all knowing Pentagon left state of art helicopters to barbarians.

As per some posts from some Ex US Technical and their SF guys, the US did not extract all of the Helis (and other vehicles) out as it would have given advance notice to the ANA and the Taliban about their exact time of withdrawal... this was done to reduce vulnerability.

Secondly some of the most sensitive equipment/sub-systems inside the machines were removed much earlier and transported or destroyed separately.

[SRajesh]

Nonsense double talk from slick Trudeau. Who ever asked about them to be immigrated into Canada? Get them out first and send them back home from wherever the plane was headed (usually to some place in the gulf).

If these people had been Muslims instead of Gurkhas, he would have rushed over to Kabul to personally welcome them to Canada.

Or if they were other Martial race, the one in the forefront of Farmer agitation.
All would have got Permanent residencies for family and friends, with a caveat to oppose the Farmers Bill!!

[SRajesh]

Just interesting to know the flight path of Ex-President Ghani
Refused landing in Tajikistan, which way did plane take to reach UAE eventually.
Which countries gave overland flight rights : Most likely Turkmenistan and Iran or did he fly over Paxatan!!!
If over Paxatan then Bunnies should know what Abbu is doing know!!

[Aditya_V]

He was American University Full bright scholar like Raghuram Rajan Types. He just did what the American told him to do and left.

[williams]

You are right. I am wondering how come all knowing Pentagon left state of art helicopters to barbarians.

As per some posts from some Ex US Technical and their SF guys, the US did not extract all of the Helis (and other vehicles) out as it would have given advance notice to the ANA and the Taliban about their exact time of withdrawal... this was done to reduce vulnerability.

Secondly some of the most sensitive equipment/sub-systems inside the machines were removed much earlier and transported or destroyed separately.

According to the below report 22 military planes and 24 helicopters landed in Uzbekistan with fleeing ANA soldiers.

https://reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/ ... 021-08-16/

[Maria]

As per some posts from some Ex US Technical and their SF guys, the US did not extract all of the Helis (and other vehicles) out as it would have given advance notice to the ANA and the Taliban about their exact time of withdrawal... this was done to reduce vulnerability.

Secondly some of the most sensitive equipment/sub-systems inside the machines were removed much earlier and transported or destroyed separately.

According to the below report 22 military planes and 24 helicopters landed in Uzbekistan with fleeing ANA soldiers.

https://reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/ ... 021-08-16/

Why would the Uzbooks shoot down an Afghan plane?

[chetak]

this is what a woke britshit general has to say about the talibs,

he says that they have to figure out who the enemy is and these britshit twits haven't been able to do that after being in afghanistan for 20 years.

Country boys. Not enemy. Honour. Code. -General "Sir" Nick Carter

The good general may have imbibed well but not too wisely of many tots of the of the snake oil that the talibs have sold him and that has left him tipsy and emboldened, both woke and liberally, to spout nonsense.





WATCH VIDEO

The liberal US govt & its cheerleaders in global media – they have made a mess of Afghanistan, they have left these people at the hands of the taliban & now, they are trying to cover it up by painting taliban as the greatest of liberals in the world

Chief of British military says Taliban are "country boys" with "honor at the heart"

Says they want to end corruption and build Afghanistan that is "inclusive for all"

this ass of a "general" wouldn't be able to find his own arse with both hands in the middle of main street at high noon.


with due apologies to gilbert and sullivan


I am the very model of a modern Major-Gineral,[a]
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;
I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news,
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

I'm very good at integral and differential calculus;
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous:
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-Gineral

[Manish_P]

Reminds me of a Monty Python sketch or the Black Adder goes Forth series (about WW1) by Rowan Atkinson.

[sajaym]

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker- ... n-citizens

A thought provoking article by an American TV show host. The comments in reply to his article are also very valid. Unfortunately, this article will not be provoking much thought in the american media or establishment, and they'll just go ahead and cart in plane loads of Afguns out of guilt.

What they don't understand is that they're not just letting in human beings, they're letting in a religion -- a religion which doesn't believe in taking prisoners. And the Britshitters are also following suit -- apparently the spate of knife attacks in public places in England has not alarmed them yet.

All these years whenever I've heard that one day India will overtake the US, I've been skeptical. But the way things are going now, there's no doubt India will overtake the western world. Not because India does something extraordinary...it will be because demographically the US & gang will morph into the very same enemy that they were fighting all these years. And India & Indians will anyday outshine a bunch of arab camel herders.

The amusing thing will be that the same westerners who have all along worried about 3rd world nukes falling into the wrong hands, will one day see their own nukes in the hands of the 2nd or 3rd generation of the scum that they let in. But it might be too late and at that point, we might actually have to let in some goras as refugees!

[Aditya_V]

Haram link but some is gloating and acting as Taliban spokesperson

[url]ehttps://www.dawn.com/news/1641466/propaganda-ag ... ys-qureshi[/url]

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said the propaganda by Ashraf Ghani’s ousted government against the Taliban has proved false as the insurgents have announced general amnesty and are not barring girls’ education.

[shyamd]

Qatar and Turkey will try and moderate the Taliban to increase the number of acceptable MB countries. Obviously Turkey feels that they have an inside track on the Taliban via Qatar and hence their play to manage Kabul airport after the US withdrawal. But that plan has cratered with the suddenness of the ANG collapse. And the Taliban have learnt some media management thanks again to Qatari tutelage and AlJazeera!! But the Taliban will not deviate from the very fundamental practices of Wahabi Islam. Just read the many Twitter threads, women have almost disappeared from public view.

Most likely, Pakistan will likely have far less sway over the Taliban than they would like. Pakistan's satisfaction will stem entirely from the fact that India is no longer there.

The US has frozen about $10 billion of the reserves of the Afghan Central Bank....virtually all the money they have. It will be interesting if the Taliban think of keeping the approximately 10,000 US citizens there as hostages!! It will like the Iran hostage crisis on steroids.

I think consensus within current TSPA establishment is they regret recognising the previous Taleban govt without support of international powers - bad PR and guilt by association. Especially that Taleban was not inclusive last time - this created its own instability. This time TSPA want there to be inclusive govt (with TSPA at the top to veto anything big .... like GOI involvement)

TSPA has outlined 2 core national interest:
1. Vision for future of Afghanistan (particularly the Durand Line border)
2. Role of India in that region

Previous Afghan govts failed on both counts. Right from the start Afghan govt told then senior TSPA officers that they don't recognise durand line.
Also the US was setting up ANDF ORBAT to focus on Pakistan(!).
Taleban takeover of Afghanistan was a necessity in their eyes. But there is no guarantee that they can control Taleban indefinitely.... Question is what is Taleban position on points 1 and 2 above.

[Deans]

He was American University Full bright scholar like Raghuram Rajan Types. He just did what the American told him to do and left.

Karzai was even more a US puppet. `Consultant' to Unocal (which wanted to exploit Afghan minerals) where he reported to Zalmay Khailizad.

[IndraD]

Taliban propaganda shows 'Badri 313' special forces squadron patrolling Kabul

[arvin]

So what are the members of the squad called ....Badri ki Dulhaniya?

[Ambar]

I don't how much lower can these leftist big tech companies fall , they just suspended Amrullah Saleh's twitter account while allowing the official taliban handle and millions of taliban supporters to merrily tweet away !

Afghanistan: Twitter suspends Amrullah Saleh and party's account; claims violation of guidelines

https://www.republicworld.com/technolog ... ctive.html

Also, the "Pravda on the Potomac" aka 'Washington Post' just wrote a glowing review of the Taliban calling them "traditionalists and a movement rooted in moral codes who rarely break social media rules" ! We are literally living in a world which is a parody of itself and gets increasingly insane by the day !

[Pratyush]

This Badri 313 is a bloody joke. I distinctly remember Al Qaeda having a Badar 313 brigade.

Besides why would an Islamist movement have a Badri 313 and not Badar 313?

[RajeshA]

To take on Cheen, US has two strategies: Offensive & Defensive. Quad is the defensive strategy.

In Asia, offensive is always Islam. Only Islam will take on other powers. Problem is that due to American presence in Afghanistan, Cheen has been able to make a lot of headway among the Islamic countries. America was standing in the way between a clash between Islam and Cheen. By US exiting from Afghanistan, USA has taken itself out of the equation. So, the lightning of Jihad will now fall elsewhere - either Russia, China, Shia Iran or India. India is probably the likely direction of Ghazwa, but it may be possible to direct it to Cheen also.

The Taliban has been provided with weapons and cash, media access and soon with diplomatic recognition too. Why else would Tittar cut off the official handles of Amar.ullah Sa.leh? Now Charlie Wilson's Next War starts again!

Probably US considered the ensuing chaos in Afghanistan as necessary cost and a good counter foil for arming the Taliban.

India could become collateral damage! We need to be careful.

[Dilbu]

What are the chances of Northern Alliance 2.0 based on Panjshir holding the fort this time? Looks like too little too late from the news coming out. Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud have called for anti taliban forces to unite.

[Cyrano]

Good to see you Dilbu !

[g.sarkar]

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics ... rt-airport
How I left Afghanistan, with a Taliban escort to the airport
Sonia Sarkar, 18 Aug, 2021
New Delhi-based journalist Sonia Sarkar arrived in Kabul last week intending to report on the implications of the conflict between Afghan forces and the Taliban on the back of the US troop withdrawal. After the Taliban entered Kabul on Sunday, sparking a mass evacuation of diplomats and civilians by the United States and its allies, she got in touch with the Indian mission in Kabul, which helped her return home. Here is her first-person account of leaving Afghanistan
As chaos broke out at the Kabul airport on Monday fuelled by Afghans fearful of living under a Taliban regime, my local contacts advised me to stay put and not leave my hotel. One of them, who had been out and about in the Taliban-controlled areas of other provinces, texted me to say: “Pull your curtains shut, they are out on the streets”. But I wanted to return home. By then, I had learnt that commercial flights would be suspended and the seats I had secured on two flights leaving Kabul for India would not be able to take off as scheduled on Tuesday.
What made me more worried was local women contacts who asked if I had left the country. The Taliban had started looking for female Afghan journalists, they said. Would they do the same to foreign women journalists, I asked? “But you are Indian,” came the reply, reflecting what I had heard during my short time in Kabul, that “Afghans love Indians but the Taliban hates Indians”.
New Delhi has strongly backed the Kabul government and opposed the Taliban, with no direct channels of communication between them.
As I contemplated my next move, the Indian embassy got in touch with me and a fellow female Indian journalist. They told us to reach the embassy quarters in the next two hours as they planned to leave Kabul in an Indian air force aircraft late at night. My suitcase was already packed.
I hurriedly called a reliable local taxi driver who said he would take some time to reach me. I later found out that he had to battle through a maze of traffic as he was coming from Arzan Qimat, a neighbourhood in far eastern Kabul, near the Pul-e-Charkhi prison. Hundreds of inmates had walked free soon after the Taliban took power on Sunday, while residents were rushing out to draw money and get supplies.
When I gingerly stepped out of the hotel the street outside was deserted but I could see men dressed in shalwar kameez, the traditional clothing of Afghanistan, patrolling neighbouring streets. Some had set up checkpoints and were stopping vehicles. They were carrying what looked like Russian-made Kalashnikov rifles. After picking up my fellow journalist, we headed for Wazir Akbar Khan, the diplomatic enclave in Kabul.
.....
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/worl ... visas.html
India says it will prioritize Hindus and Sikhs in issuing ‘emergency visas’ to Afghans.
Karan Deep Singh and Suhasini Raj, Aug. 17, 2021
India’s government said on Tuesday that it would prioritize taking in Hindus and Sikhs from Afghanistan — a move that drew comparisons to a contentious 2019 citizenship law, enacted under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that discriminates against Muslims.
The country’s home ministry said it would introduce “emergency visas” to allow Afghans to stay in India for six months. It did not say whether Muslims, who make up the majority of those seeking to leave Afghanistan as the Taliban take over, would also be considered.
“We are in constant touch with the Sikh and Hindu community leaders in Kabul,” S. Jaishankar, India’s external affairs minister, said on Twitter. “Their welfare will get our priority attention.”
That distinction prompted condemnation from some corners. “Ashamed that the government of India response now is to look at desperate Afghan refugees not as humans fleeing persecution and sure death, but from the view of whether or not they’re Muslim,” Kavita Krishnan, an opposition politician said on Twitter.
India also drew criticism after numerous seats were left empty on an Air Force flight on Tuesday that evacuated Indian citizens and officials from the country’s embassy in Kabul.
Officials in New Delhi have indicated that the country will “stand by” the Afghans who worked closely with the Indian government and its mission in Afghanistan. It is not clear whether their religious status would be a factor in that process. A spokesman for the ministry of external affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. India has previously granted visas of a longer duration to Afghans fleeing persecution, irrespective of their religion. Many Afghans migrated to India when the Taliban took over about two decades ago. Some have settled in New Delhi, where a shopping district popularly named “Little Kabul” comes alive every evening with stalls selling traditional food.
U.S. and Afghan officials say that India’s archrival, Pakistan, has permitted free movement to Taliban leaders, and that the country continues to serve as a haven where fighters and their families can receive medical care. But experts say that India is cautiously navigating its relationship with Afghanistan’s new leaders. Indian diplomats recently made efforts to engage with the Taliban as part of the U.S.-led talks in Doha, Qatar. Some in India have urged their government to engage directly with the Taliban. Vivek Katju, a former Indian ambassador to Afghanistan, told The Wire news outlet last week that the country had become a “bystander” in Afghanistan and that India’s leaders did not know “which way to turn” anymore. “Engagement with the Taliban should happen,” Mr. Katju said in a telephone interview with The New York Times on Tuesday. “The mechanics of the engagement should be such that it should be open and direct.”

.......
Gautam

[ldev]

I think consensus within current TSPA establishment is they regret recognising the previous Taleban govt without support of international powers - bad PR and guilt by association. Especially that Taleban was not inclusive last time - this created its own instability. This time TSPA want there to be inclusive govt (with TSPA at the top to veto anything big .... like GOI involvement)

TSPA has outlined 2 core national interest:
1. Vision for future of Afghanistan (particularly the Durand Line border)
2. Role of India in that region

Previous Afghan govts failed on both counts. Right from the start Afghan govt told then senior TSPA officers that they don't recognise durand line.
Also the US was setting up ANDF ORBAT to focus on Pakistan(!).
Taleban takeover of Afghanistan was a necessity in their eyes. But there is no guarantee that they can control Taleban indefinitely.... Question is what is Taleban position on points 1 and 2 above.

I think that Pakistani influence in Taliban 2.0 will be much less than Taliban 1.0. Taliban 2.0 has been influenced by Qatar and MB, leadership in Doha for many years. And therefore also under Turkish influence. Taliban 1.0 was the Pakistani trained taliban during the Soviet occupation. Taliban 2.0 may be trained in Pakistan but it's leadership is Qatar influenced. Now that the Taliban leadership has moved to Kandahar, proximity to Pakistan will enable the ISI to have closer interaction with them. The Taliban view on the Durand line border will be first indicator of which way the winds are blowing for Pakistan. Either way at the moment it looks unlikely that Pakistan will be able to count on Afghanistan to provide strategic depth to store their warheads in the Afghan mountain caves.

[anupmisra]

Taliban propaganda shows 'Badri 313' special forces squadron patrolling Kabul

Probably the same ANA special forces that switched sides. It’s the same equipment. Renamed Bandri 303.

[chetak]

Taliban propaganda shows 'Badri 313' special forces squadron patrolling Kabul

Probably the same ANA special forces that switched sides. It’s the same equipment. Renamed Bandri 303.

more likely stripped from the bodies of massacred ANA soldiers.

[chetak]

twitter

is it because the mu$!1m hoi polloi and the bourgeois will not mix with the mu$!1m lumpenproletariat (rag-proletariat), their age old ashraf / aljaf divisions

[Jarita]

What if, just what if and this is hypothetically speaking - The Chinese start mining aggressively in Afghanistan (After all the Taliban thinks the chinese are good) and start selling goods manufactured in China (through American factories) into Afghanistan. Say rare earths are mined and shipped to Chinese factories (owned by wall street) and then Tesla cars are sold in Afghanistan. This is just a hypothetical scenario, amongst many scenarios. Who would be the net beneficiaries? There is a nation state and there is the economic state.

See what the Taliban has to say about China

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/tal ... 021-08-14/

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/14/10277565 ... -interests

We just heard about how the Taliban is making quick advances throughout Afghanistan. And now there's growing dismay about what will happen if the militant group gains control of the country once the U.S. and NATO allies leave at the end of this month. But China views it differently and is reaching out and trying to consolidate its relationship with the Taliban. NPR's Jackie Northam reports.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 295588.cms

Afghan Taliban says it sees China as a 'friend', promises not to host Uyghur militants from Xinjiang: Report

[Cyrano]

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics ... rt-airport
How I left Afghanistan, with a Taliban escort to the airport
Sonia Sarkar, 18 Aug, 2021

GoI brings "independent journalist" Sonia Sarkar back at tax payer's cost and risking IAF & MEA lives and she recounts her experience (and makes money) on South China Morning Post & of course in interviews on NDTV ! None of her interviews show a spoonful of gratefulness and gratitude to Bharat Sarkar !!

Her twitter handle is Sonia Sarkar (@sonia_26) - I think she needs to be reminded to do that. Perhaps BRF posters who have a twitter acct can post on her handle. I don't have a twitter acct.

[Rudradev]

I would, but my twitter account went the way of Amrullah Saleh's.

[DavidD]

What if, just what if and this is hypothetically speaking - The Chinese start mining aggressively in Afghanistan (After all the Taliban thinks the chinese are good) and start selling goods manufactured in China (through American factories) into Afghanistan. Say rare earths are mined and shipped to Chinese factories (owned by wall street) and then Tesla cars are sold in Afghanistan. This is just a hypothetical scenario, amongst many scenarios. Who would be the net beneficiaries? There is a nation state and there is the economic state.

See what the Taliban has to say about China

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/tal ... 021-08-14/

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/14/10277565 ... -interests



https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 295588.cms

I'd imagine that everyone would be a net beneficiary in that scenario. Economics is not zero-sum, unlike politics. A doctor who trades life-saving medicines to a farmer who trades back life-saving food both benefit.

[anupmisra]

Sarkar accused Modi of “taking credit” for the medals won at the olympics. She called him “The Nursultan Nazarbayev of India”. Less than a week ago she flew into Kabul to attend a wedding. Now her miserable life is saved by the very government asset that she hates.

An ingrate to the core.

[Cyrano]

I'm thinking we need a call for action thread to mobilise willing brfites to take up such actions on SM. Heck, if all kinds of people can act coordinately with tool kits etc; we at BRF as a collective force can't stay out of the battle for shaping public opinion, and dare I say national consciousness - can we?

A thread where we simply post a SM news item/article along with the blog/teetar handle of the author/concerned entity. Poster may optionally say what his/her reaction is/was. No pre-defined stuff to copy paste like a tool kit. Just highlight stuff that comes up on SM that deserves/merits a BRFites response. Sort of like my post above.

Mods - what do you think?

[vera_k]

What if, just what if and this is hypothetically speaking - The Chinese start mining aggressively in Afghanistan (After all the Taliban thinks the chinese are good) and start selling goods manufactured in China (through American factories) into Afghanistan.

If any country could pacify this part of the world, it may be China. Others are too hamstrung by domestic politics. Whatever tactics have been used in Xinjiang can be replicated here as well. The BRI road assets can be used to ship malcontents to other locations for training.

[Najunamar]

I'm thinking we need a call for action thread to mobilise willing brfites to take up such actions on SM. Heck, if all kinds of people can act coordinately with tool kits etc; we at BRF as a collective force can't stay out of the battle for shaping public opinion, and dare I say national consciousness - can we?

A thread where we simply post a SM news item/article along with the blog/teetar handle of the author/concerned entity. Poster may optionally say what his/her reaction is/was. No pre-defined stuff to copy paste like a tool kit. Just highlight stuff that comes up on SM that deserves/merits a BRFites response. Sort of like my post above.

Mods - what do you think?

+1008 It is time we organize the response - a coordinated but decentralized approach that will maximize impact.

[hnair]

If any country could pacify this part of the world, it may be China. Others are too hamstrung by domestic politics. Whatever tactics have been used in Xinjiang can be replicated here as well. The BRI road assets can be used to ship malcontents to other locations for training.

Really hope China will give a shot at this. Xinjiang people really need some strategic depth. And it will help keep the PLA’s senior promotion line chugging, as successive military leader gets a chance to experience the boom time economy.

The Xinjiang powder keg is not yet defused by making them read little red books and any analysis that claims the Chinese have solved this problem permanently, need to look no further than Soviet social experiments with their crowd. The keg still exists and the powder is still dry. Just that no world or regional power is bothered to light it at this point. So I really hope the Chinese let the Afghans light that.

[VinodTK]

Son of late anti-Taliban militia commander promises armed resistance: 'We knew this day might come'

"I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father’s footsteps, with mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taliban," Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, wrote in an op-ed published by the Washington Post on Wednesday. "We have stores of ammunition and arms that we have patiently collected since my father’s time, because we knew this day might come."

Massoud said Afghans have already responded to his call for resistance in the Panjshir Valley, including members of the Afghan Special Forces and others from the Afghan army who "were disgusted by the surrender of their commanders and are now making their way to the hills of Panjshir with their equipment."

However, their arms would not be enough to overcome a Taliban assault, Massoud wrote, citing shared interests in an appeal to the West for weapons and ammunition

India supportrd the Northern Allaiance in the past wonder if history will repeat!

[chetak]

Well, it looks like I was right.

Biden: “Fu(k that. We don’t have to worry about that (Afghanistan).

We did it in Vietnam. Nixon and Kissinger got away with it.”

The debacle in #Afghanistan was intentional.

via@ian_mckelvey

I can’t help but feel that what has happened in Afghanistan over the past 72 hours was deliberate.

This was the execution Biden’s plan.

He, his vice president, and his press secretary remain on vacation.

Complete silence from the Democrats.

It has to be intentional.

viaIan McKelvey@ian_mckelvey · 16 Aug

[vera_k]

Really hope China will give a shot at this. Xinjiang people really need some strategic depth. And it will help keep the PLA’s senior promotion line chugging, as successive military leader gets a chance to experience the boom time economy.

More than that, if China wins where the USA lost, it makes it very obvious who the top dog is. Also will help show how the Chinese domestic system is superior to that of other countries.

[chetak]

Kandahar, Zabul, Ghazni, Helmand - you name it. Afghans are being executed, beheaded, disappeared to end up dead.

The provinces are on fire because of the Taliban’s retribution killings.

To those saying “Kabul is peaceful” - Kabul doesn’t = Afghanistan.

via@Peymasad·17 Aug

[chetak]

Taliban largely showing restraint in #Kabul, which the world is watching closely.

But very different story in other cities/provinces, where there have been summary executions/revenge killings of govt officials, captured soldiers, and civilians affiliated with govt.

via@FrudBezhan · 17 Aug

[hnair]

More than that, if China wins where the USA lost, it makes it very obvious who the top dog is. Also will help show how the Chinese domestic system is superior to that of other countries.

And how is China going to win without boots on the ground and doing something different than others? Elaborate please on the “More than that” part.