Afghanistan News & Discussion - April 2016

Rudradev · Post by **Rudradev** » 01 Sep 2021 23:11

Ambar wrote:
If Soviet Union had as good a lobbying power in DC and as many sympathizing western media companies on its side as Pakistan does then they could have won the cold war.

Oh, they did at one point. McCarthyism has become a bad word now, but it was what was needed to completely cleanse the system of Soviet influence.

ldev · Post by **ldev** » 01 Sep 2021 23:12

^^^^This is the kind of leaking that the IC did to undermine Trump i.e. leaking the contents/transcripts of his calls to overseas leaders. That the IC is now leaking Biden calls to the media means that they do not want to be made scapegoats and are prepared to fight back. Bring out the popcorn!!

Deans · Post by **Deans** » 01 Sep 2021 23:19

Vips wrote: The statement has been issued collectively by former external affairs ministers Singh and Sinha, as well as former diplomat and Congress leader Aiyar, retired IPS officer Julio Rebeiro, former IAS officer and an ex-vice chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia Najeeb Jung, Afghan expert Vedpratap Vaidik, senior journalist Saeed Naqvi, former diplomat K C Singh, social activist Sandeep Pandey, former Rajya Sabha member Majeed Memon and Forum for a New South Asia founder Sudheendra Kulkarni.

I wonder how one gets to be an 'Afghan Expert'. I've done business with Afghanistan and probably met more Afghans than some of the `eminent citizens'

surinder · Post by **surinder** » 01 Sep 2021 23:27

Comparison of this withdrawal with Suez Canal humiliation which solidified UK's descent from being a world power.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tom- ... -v2j2mzpdt

(At the risk of saying I told you so, I had used that analogy on BRF.)

surinder · Post by **surinder** » 01 Sep 2021 23:34

Soviet Union *challenged* the US world view and power by it's idology. Terrorist Pakistan offers itself as a servant, whore and vassal, in ostensible service to enhance US power. It has no civilizational pull. That is a big difference. And for the reason alone the hubristic foreign policy apparatus will keep it around and protect it.

India, Northern Alliance, Kurds, Iran (in different ways) either challenge American ideas, offer alternate world views or seek to diminish it's dominance. That is *not* acceptable. That is the key difference.

surinder · Post by **surinder** » 01 Sep 2021 23:38

Ambar wrote:Afghan President Warned of Taliban ‘Invasion’ but Joe Biden Focused on ‘Perception’

According to a report by Reuters, in a 14 minute call between Biden and Ghani on July 23, the Afghan president told Biden, “We are facing a full-scale invasion, composed of Taliban, full Pakistani planning and logistical support, and at least 10-15,000 international terrorists.”

If Soviet Union had as good a lobbying power in DC and as many sympathizing western media companies on its side as Pakistan does then they could have won the cold war.

Ghani is stating the obvious - TSP planning, logistical and intelligence support is what made this invasion possible and successful.

Are there any other reports of Pakistanis on the ground in this take over?

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 01 Sep 2021 23:51

^^^There are lots of pictures of armed Taliban wearing the traditional Sindhi cap that is commonly worn in Pakistan.

The protective detail for Khalil al-Rahman Haqqani, a leader of the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network, after visiting the Pul-i-Khishti Mosque in Kabul a couple of weeks ago:

I really miss N^3 who said, "Give Peace a Chance - Destroy Pakistan".

surinder · Post by **surinder** » 02 Sep 2021 00:10

Thanks. People who say Afghanistan cannot be conquered should see this: Pakistan has just conquered Afghanistan.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 02 Sep 2021 01:47

do the amerikis even realize that a taliban ruled afghanistan is a major non-NATO ally (MNNA)

will "bye"-den now revoke the major non-NATO ally (MNNA) status enjoyed by afghanistan and taliban proxy pakistan

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 02 Sep 2021 02:42

CNN: Taliban members escorted Americans to gates at Kabul airport in secret arrangement with US

One of the officials also revealed that US special operations forces set up a "secret gate" at the airport and established "call centers" to guide Americans through the evacuation process.

While one of the military officials said the arrangement with the Taliban "worked beautifully,"

surinder · Post by **surinder** » 02 Sep 2021 02:52

very nice cartoon. Says it all.

Ambar · Post by **Ambar** » 02 Sep 2021 03:45

I'll admit I was very wrong in my assessment of the current administration in the Whitehouse and defense chiefs at the Pentagon, they are much much dumber than I thought they were.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that it’s “possible” the United States will seek to coordinate with the Taliban on counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan against Islamic State militants or others.

Milley did not elaborate, and his comment did not appear to suggest immediate plans to work with the Taliban.

U.S. military commanders coordinated daily with Taliban commanders outside the Kabul airport over the past three weeks to facilitate the evacuation of more than 124,000 people. But that was a matter of convenience for both parties and not necessarily a sign that they will pursue, or even want, a regular relationship in the future.

The U.S. military ousted the Taliban from power in the fall of 2001 and fought against them for the 19 years that followed.

The extent and nature of a U.S.-Taliban relationship, now that the war is over, is one of the key issues to be worked out. The U.S. diplomatic presence in Kabul has been moved to Doha, Qatar. President Joe Biden has noted several times recently that the Taliban are avowed enemies of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan, suggesting a shared interest with the United States.

At a Pentagon news conference with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Milley called the Taliban “ruthless” adding, “Whether or not they change remains to be seen.” He suggested that the recent cooperative arrangement with the Taliban at Kabul airport was not necessarily a model for the future.

“In war you do what you must in order to reduce risk to mission and force, not what you necessarily want to do,” Milley said.

Biden has promised further targeting of the IS group in Afghanistan in response to the IS suicide bombing last week at a Kabul airport gate that killed scores of Afghans and 13 American service members. On Saturday the U.S. military carried out a drone strike in Afghanistan that it said killed two IS planners. On Tuesday, Biden said, “To ISIS-K: We are not done with you yet,” referring to the IS group.

Milley and Austin urged war veterans to view their service as worthwhile and appreciated by the American public, while acknowledging that the memories can be painful.

“War is hard. It’s vicious. It’s brutal. It’s unforgiving,” Milley said. “Yes, we all have pain and anger. When we see what has unfolded over the last 20 years and over the last 20 days, that creates pain and anger.”

With the U.S. involvement in the war over and all American military out of the country, Biden is grappling with the prospects of a new relationship with the Taliban. He has tasked Secretary of State Antony Blinken with coordinating with international partners to hold the Taliban to their promise of safe passage for Americans and others who want to leave in the days ahead.

Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, has described the U.S. relationship with the Taliban during the evacuation as “very pragmatic and very businesslike,” saying they helped secure the airport. But other reports from people in Afghanistan described shootings, violence and Taliban moves to block desperate Afghans from getting through the gates.

Biden in an address to the nation Tuesday defended his decision to end America’s longest war and withdraw all U.S. troops by an Aug. 31 deadline.

“I was not going to extend this forever war,” Biden declared from the White House. “And I was not going to extend a forever exit.”

Biden is coming under heavy criticism, particularly from Republicans, for his handling of the evacuation. But he said it was inevitable that the final departure from two decades of war, first negotiated with the Taliban for May 1 by former President Donald Trump, would have been difficult, with likely violence, no matter when it was planned and conducted.

“To those asking for a third decade of war in Afghanistan, I ask, ‘What is the vital national interest?’” Biden said. He added, “I simply do not believe that the safety and security of America is enhanced by continuing to deploy thousands of American troops and spending billions of dollars in Afghanistan.”

___

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 02 Sep 2021 03:50

Taliban fighters upset, feel betrayed that US military left non-working helicopters: report

Taliban fighters are feeling angry and betrayed Wednesday after discovering that Afghan National Army helicopters abandoned at Kabul’s airport have been rendered inoperable by departing U.S. troops, according to a report.

An Al Jazeera reporter who toured a hangar on the military side of the airport said in a video that the terrorist group "expected the Americans to leave helicopters like this in one piece for their use."

"When I said to them, ‘why do you think that the Americans would have left everything operational for you’? They said because we believe it is a national asset and we are the government now and this could have come to great use for us," she continued.

A U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson told Fox News on Wednesday that "we disabled/demilitarized that equipment at Hamid Karzai International Airport prior to our departure."

This proves it. Tellibunnies are pakis in mufti. Same entitlement issues.

https://news.yahoo.com/taliban-fighters ... 41957.html

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 02 Sep 2021 08:48

The US president knew Afghan government and forces were collapsing.

Reuters: Before Afghan collapse, Biden pressed Ghani to ‘change perception’

Biden said. “And there is a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.”

As usual, this administration lied to everyone in the world, and then had the gall to state that the ANA didn't have the will to fight. Time for this entire lot of duffers to resign.

surinder · Post by **surinder** » 02 Sep 2021 10:27

Shouldn't Kaafir weapons be haram?

surinder · Post by **surinder** » 02 Sep 2021 11:02

How about if Uncle declares that all hardware and planes must be returned to them at, say Tajikistan or Uzbekestan or even Pakistan border, in a certain time frame. After that any US plane, heli or humvee spotted is permissible target practice. That would make all the hardware unusable and increase soil fertility if some smelly Talibs did try to use it.

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 02 Sep 2021 12:53

Mort Walker wrote:
Biden said. “And there is a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.”
As usual, this administration lied to everyone in the world, and then had the gall to state that the ANA didn't have the will to fight. Time for this entire lot of duffers to resign.

In a perverted way Biden was telling the truth about the will to fight.

If the ANA had the will to fight, the situation would not be what it developed into. Followed by the political deals with the provincial governments authorities to surrender the provinces.

So this was a double whammy in a sense.

Biden was complicit in not endorsing the deal that was signed between US and the Taliban and leaving Bagram in the middle of the night. Without informing the Afghanistan authorities.

sajaym · Post by **sajaym** » 02 Sep 2021 14:49

anupmisra wrote:Taliban fighters upset, feel betrayed that US military left non-working helicopters: report

They needn't be...their bhai jaans in Pakistan operate the MI-17s and the Abba jaans in Turkey operate Blackhawks & Hercules. So expect to see these assets to be operational in double time.

The funniest part is that we paid $ 2.6 billion for 24 of the Blackhawk family and the telebunnies get 33 of them for free. So they are an even bigger operator of the Blackhawk family than even us!

SRajesh · Post by **SRajesh** » 02 Sep 2021 14:59

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/naseeru ... topstories
Interesting this from a 'Closet Jihadi'
His 4Fathers the Original Afghan refugees to be 'air lifted' after siding with the Brit-shits during the Afghan Wars!!

Adrija · Post by **Adrija** » 02 Sep 2021 17:10

Interesting this from a 'Closet Jihadi'

Should we not applaud and support such a declaration please? If nothing else, it is an acknowledgement that there is something called Indian Islam and it is worth preserving and adhering to by Muslims in India..........and it does requires bravery to speak out publicly like this against the jihadis

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 02 Sep 2021 17:48

Pratyush wrote:
Mort Walker wrote:

As usual, this administration lied to everyone in the world, and then had the gall to state that the ANA didn't have the will to fight. Time for this entire lot of duffers to resign.
In a perverted way Biden was telling the truth about the will to fight.

If the ANA had the will to fight, the situation would not be what it developed into. Followed by the political deals with the provincial governments authorities to surrender the provinces.

So this was a double whammy in a sense.

Biden was complicit in not endorsing the deal that was signed between US and the Taliban and leaving Bagram in the middle of the night. Without informing the Afghanistan authorities.

The ANA had the will to fight alright, but "bye"-den deliberately removed the means for the ANA to be able to continue the fight. He took the vital air support element out of the ANA's support ecosystem. These guys were trained by the US and NATO and their battlefield doctrines are based heavily on the air support element

one suspects that there is an ongoing dirty deal between the US and the taliban and the pakis are inherently complicit.

let's see how things unfold and how the various actors play out their parts, post the ameriki and NATO withdrawal, which may possibly give us an insight into the entire game plan

One thing is obvious, the rank and file of the military forces were not too keen on the how the disastrous departure was orchestrated by the "bye"-den whitehouse.

They see it as unworthy, dishonorable, dishonest, devious and unwarranted, especially after 20 years of military sacrifice and thousands of war dead and wounded which was all for naught.

several hundred amerikis still remain trapped in afghanistan

yensoy · Post by **yensoy** » 02 Sep 2021 20:02

surinder wrote:Shouldn't Kaafir weapons be haram?

How did the Americans disable the equipment? Stick a piece of bacon to the controls?

andy B · Post by **andy B** » 02 Sep 2021 20:12

chetak wrote:
One thing is obvious, the rank and file of the military forces were not too keen on the how the disastrous departure was orchestrated by the "bye"-den whitehouse.

They see it as unworthy, dishonorable, dishonest, devious and unwarranted, especially after 20 years of military sacrifice and thousands of war dead and wounded which was all for naught.

several hundred amerikis still remain trapped in afghanistan

Chetak saar you are on point on this. The services are hurting hard in this moment and as you can imagine active service have been talked to in order to sing the same tune. Have heard the exact same sense of confusion, anguish, disdain and anger from friends in service.

For any service irrespective of country the execution of this exit is a deep scar that will linger for long.

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/42 ... -not-alone

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 02 Sep 2021 21:23

Wish they grant Noble Peace Prize to Biden ji. After all he has finished 20 year long war.He may share this Prize with Talibans.......who avoided much bloodshed and captured the country peacefully.

Rudradev · Post by **Rudradev** » 02 Sep 2021 22:05

chetak wrote: The ANA had the will to fight alright, but "bye"-den deliberately removed the means for the ANA to be able to continue the fight. He took the vital air support element out of the ANA's support ecosystem. These guys were trained by the US and NATO and their battlefield doctrines are based heavily on the air support element

This is incorrect.

Donald Trump was the President who signed the February 2020 agreement with the Taliban. Every provision of that agreement ensured that ANA's will and capacity to fight the Taliban would be critically handicapped, long before Biden became the President.

The ANDSF suffered approximately 55,000 killed-in-action (KIA) between 2015 and 2021. Over the same period, US troops suffered perhaps 100 casualties. So it is clear who was actually doing the fighting, at least since ANDSF matured as a military force.

In the agreement Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo signed with the Taliban in February 2020, the following terms were agreed to:

1) The United States would withdraw all forces from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021.

2) The Taliban would refrain from attacking any US or NATO personnel until the date of the withdrawal. ANDSF, however, were fair game.

3) The Taliban were under NO obligation to recognize the Afghan Govt or arrive at any power-sharing arrangement with it. In fact, the Afghan Govt was simply excluded from the final rounds of the Doha talks leading up to the agreement. This clearly communicated to the ANDSF that the US did not consider their national government to be worthy of consultation, let alone preservation.

Just imagine if some foreign government started to have open, official talks with the Khalistanis/Naxals/Hurriyat (in the first place) and did so without even consulting the Govt of India (on top of that). You can get a sense of how the ANDSF people would have felt about the Americans by this point. India would never tolerate any such thing, of course-- but for the ANDSF, they had no choice but to swallow the insult. This caused a catastrophic loss of morale.

4) The US/Afghan-Govt side would release 5,000 hardcore Taliban terrorists from prison. To get a sense of what this means, even in the worst years of J&K terrorism there were never more than 2000-3000 hardcore terrorists active in the valley at any one time. So the US essentially reinforced the Taliban's already considerable numbers with another 5,000 fighters and unleashed them against the ANDSF in exchange for leaving the US/NATO personnel out of it.

5) While this was not officially spelled out in the agreement, the US would quietly stop providing support for ANDSF. This included close air support, intelligence, and of course contractor maintenance of the ANDSF's own air assets and heavy weapons. Effectively, even the existing capability of the ANDSF to fight the Taliban was to be utterly crippled by degrading whatever advantages they had.

Again... this agreement was between Donald Trump's administration and the Taliban, not Joe Biden's. And the deliberate handicapping of the ANDSF by withdrawing contractor support began under Trump as well.

Joe Biden compounded everything and made it much worse, no question about that. He had a chance to renegotiate whatever Trump had agreed to, but absolutely refused. And of course, his execution of the withdrawal was so terribly incompetent as to result in utter humiliation for the United States, besides arming the Taliban with billions of dollars' worth of US military equipment.

Joe Biden may also be more willing to "work with" the Taliban (and Pakistan) after withdrawal than Donald Trump might have been... whatever that turns out to mean. Trump probably just wanted to get the hell out and never think about Af-Pak again. Biden's policies have a greater likelihood of sinister impact on the region, particularly India.

But there is no question that the deliberate sabotage and degradation of the ANA's will and capability to fight, had begun during the Trump administration-- and had probably gone so far as to become irreversible as of this year.

Remember, when it comes to non-white/non-JC "allies" of the United States, there is no real difference between Republicans and Democrats. One will throw you under the bus. The other will piously blame your corpse for failing to follow the 'rules of the road'.

anupmisra · Post by **anupmisra** » 02 Sep 2021 22:07

rsingh wrote:Wish they grant Noble Peace Prize to Biden ji. After all he has finished 20 year long war.He may share this Prize with Talibans.......who avoided much bloodshed and captured the country peacefully.

And, why not include Immy the Dimmy while the Swedes are at it? Maybe then Dimmy will get to meet Biden.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 02 Sep 2021 22:15

Rudradev wrote:
chetak wrote: The ANA had the will to fight alright, but "bye"-den deliberately removed the means for the ANA to be able to continue the fight. He took the vital air support element out of the ANA's support ecosystem. These guys were trained by the US and NATO and their battlefield doctrines are based heavily on the air support element
This is incorrect.

Donald Trump was the President who signed the February 2020 agreement with the Taliban. Every provision of that agreement ensured that ANA's will and capacity to fight the Taliban would be critically handicapped, long before Biden became the President.

The ANDSF suffered approximately 55,000 killed-in-action (KIA) between 2015 and 2021. Over the same period, US troops suffered perhaps 100 casualties. So it is clear who was actually doing the fighting, at least since ANDSF matured as a military force.

In the agreement Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo signed with the Taliban in February 2020, the following terms were agreed to:

1) The United States would withdraw all forces from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021.

2) The Taliban would refrain from attacking any US or NATO personnel until the date of the withdrawal. ANDSF, however, were fair game.

3) The Taliban were under NO obligation to recognize the Afghan Govt or arrive at any power-sharing arrangement with it. In fact, the Afghan Govt was simply excluded from the final rounds of the Doha talks leading up to the agreement. This clearly communicated to the ANDSF that the US did not consider their national government to be worthy of consultation, let alone preservation.

Just imagine if some foreign government started to have open, official talks with the Hurriyat (in the first place) and did so without even consulting the Govt of India (on top of that). You can imagine how the ANDSF people would have felt about the Americans by this point. India would never tolerate any such thing, of course-- but for the ANDSF, they had no choice but to swallow the insult. This caused a catastrophic loss of morale.

4) The US/Afghan-Govt side would release 5,000 hardcore Taliban terrorists from prison. To get a sense of what this means, even in the worst years of J&K terrorism there were never more than 2000-3000 hardcore terrorists active in the valley at any one time. So the US essentially reinforced the Taliban's already considerable numbers with another 5,000 fighters and unleashed them against the ANDSF in exchange for leaving the US/NATO personnel out of it.

5) While this was not officially spelled out in the agreement, the US would quietly stop providing support for ANDSF. This included close air support, intelligence, and of course contractor maintenance of the ANDSF's own air assets and heavy weapons. Effectively, even the existing capability of the ANDSF to fight the Taliban was to be utterly crippled by degrading whatever advantages they had.

Again... this agreement was between Donald Trump's administration and the Taliban, not Joe Biden's. And the deliberate handicapping of the ANDSF by withdrawing contractor support began under Trump as well.

Joe Biden compounded everything and made it much worse, no question about that. He had a chance to renegotiate whatever Trump had agreed to, but absolutely refused. And of course, his execution of the withdrawal was so terribly incompetent as to result in utter humiliation for the United States, besides arming the Taliban with billions of dollars' worth of US military equipment.

Joe Biden may also be more willing to "work with" the Taliban (and Pakistan) after withdrawal than Donald Trump might have been... whatever that turns out to mean. Trump probably just wanted to get the hell out and never think about Af-Pak again. Biden's policies have a greater likelihood of sinister impact on the region, particularly India.

But there is no question that the deliberate sabotage and degradation of the ANA's will and capability to fight, had begun during the Trump administration-- and had probably gone so far as to become irreversible as of this year.

Remember, when it comes to non-white/non-JC "allies" of the United States, there is no real difference between Republicans and Democrats. One will throw you under the bus. The other will piously blame your corpse for failing to follow the 'rules of the road'.

twitter

Biden-Ghani phone call exposes America's lies.

In a July 23 call with Ashraf Ghani, Joe Biden admitted the tide was changing in the Afghan war.

He pulled out US contractors despite promising to keep the Afghan air force flying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWxryO_8Ll8

Gravitas: Biden-Ghani phone call exposes America's lies

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 02 Sep 2021 22:19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV-GTMhYPek

Joe Biden-Ashraf Ghani's Pre-Taliban Surge Call Accessed | Afghanistan Crisis

Rudradev · Post by **Rudradev** » 02 Sep 2021 22:22

Thank you for the reference from "Eagle Eye" on Twitter.

Here is an interview with Thomas Lynch, a Pentagon babu who ran the Afghanistan effort during the Bush and Obama administrations:

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cH ... HQAAAAAQAQ

Here is an interview with Rich Outzen, a Pentagon babu who ran the Afghanistan effort during the Trump administration:

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cH ... HQAAAAAQCg

The history of US policies in Afghanistan is given in considerable detail from both perspectives. Both of them concur that the crippling of ANDSF began under the Trump administration following the February 2020 agreement.

In fact, they reveal that widespread bribery of ANDSF leaders to offer no resistance against the Taliban at the time of American withdrawal also took place in the months following the February 2020 agreement.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 02 Sep 2021 22:45

Rudradev wrote:Thank you for the reference from "Eagle Eye" on Twitter.

Here is an interview with Thomas Lynch, a Pentagon babu who ran the Afghanistan effort during the Bush and Obama administrations:

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cH ... HQAAAAAQAQ

Here is an interview with Rich Outzen, a Pentagon babu who ran the Afghanistan effort during the Trump administration:

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cH ... HQAAAAAQCg

The history of US policies in Afghanistan is given in considerable detail from both perspectives. Both of them concur that the crippling of ANDSF began under the Trump administration following the February 2020 agreement.

In fact, they reveal that widespread bribery of ANDSF leaders to offer no resistance against the Taliban at the time of American withdrawal also took place in the months following the February 2020 agreement.

Rudradev ji

people are already at work, feverishly writing books on their views on this debacle, in the desperate bid to be the first at print on this interesting tale.

Only a month or two before we start to read the juicy details, especially the insider versions from the recently retired military types.

a fuller picture is sure to emerge, sooner rather than later..

my money is on lara logan

BTW, I get many whatsapp forwards, and if it's interesting I try to find links.

You seem to have found one link and I, found another.

I am very sure that there are many more such links on this subject.

The WION links are reliable because their research team is very good and the anchor has good street cred.

bye-den and his party have repudiated almost all agreements made by trump.

why then, did bye-den insist on following this one specific agreement, only with the taliban, that was made by trump. The last date or expiry date mentioned in the trump-taliban agreement expired quite some time ago, so legally, it appears that there was no requirement for bye-den to stick to any agreement or even deadline

Now that afghanistan has blown up in his rat face, bye-den needs a ready fall guy and trump is the handiest. The wokes and the liberals are backing him.

where is the mylapore maami in all this, she and her dumb niece who always have an opinion on every topic under the sun are suddenly so very quiet or is mylapore maami praying that bye-den is forced out and she clambers on to the throne so she is diplomatically setting the stage

Venkarl · Post by **Venkarl** » 03 Sep 2021 00:23

*mylapore munda

Rudradev · Post by **Rudradev** » 03 Sep 2021 01:45

chetak wrote:

Rudradev ji

people are already at work, feverishly writing books on their views on this debacle, in the desperate bid to be the first at print on this interesting tale.

Only a month or two before we start to read the juicy details, especially the insider versions from the recently retired military types.

a fuller picture is sure to emerge, sooner rather than later..

my money is on lara logan

Chetak ji,

I think Lara Logan will be silenced, or put into information quarantine, just as Tulsi Gabbard was. People who have seen too much (and have little to lose) cannot be allowed to say anything.

BTW, I get many whatsapp forwards, and if it's interesting I try to find links.

You seem to have found one link and I, found another.

I am very sure that there are many more such links on this subject.

In the links I provided you can hear-- directly from the mouths of the horses who were in the harness-- an accounting of US policies in Afghanistan particularly since 2007-8 up to the present day. One person is pro-Trump, one person is anti-Trump, so you can hear both perspectives (and there are differences between what they say).

One point they definitely agree on is that the deal signed by Trump and the Taliban in February 2020 was effectively the death sentence for the Afghan Govt and the ANDSF (which had been doing the vast majority of the fighting for five years). Releasing the 5000 Taliban prisoners and withdrawing all kinds of aerial, intelligence, and maintenance support were the means by which the February 2020 deal undermined the ANDSF.

This policy was continued and worsened under Biden, but it was initiated and taken dangerously far by Trump.

bye-den and his party have repudiated almost all agreements made by trump.

why then, did bye-den insist on following this one specific agreement, only with the taliban, that was made by trump. The last date or expiry date mentioned in the trump-taliban agreement expired quite some time ago, so legally, it appears that there was no requirement for bye-den to stick to any agreement or even deadline

Biden chose to stick to the deadline. After becoming the President, he contacted the Taliban and initially asked for more time to finalize the withdrawal.

On March 26th, 2021, the Taliban officially released a statement that if Biden doesn't stick to the May 1st deadline, they will not be responsible for the consequences that American (and Western) nationals in Afghanistan may face.

Biden ripped his diaper on hearing this. After a lot of begging (and promising who-knows-what inducements to the Taliban), a date of Aug 31st 2021 was agreed upon.

Now that afghanistan has blown up in his rat face, bye-den needs a ready fall guy and trump is the handiest. The wokes and the liberals are backing him.

Biden cannot use Trump as a fall guy because Biden himself made things much worse. Biden owns the fiasco of the actual withdrawal, as well as the aftermath, and there is no disputing that.

However this doesn't change the fact that Trump was the one who initially sold the ANDSF down the river. That is a matter of record. One can come up with all kinds of counter-factuals, what if this/that or the other. But what actually happened is clear.

where is the mylapore maami in all this, she and her dumb niece who always have an opinion on every topic under the sun are suddenly so very quiet or is mylapore maami praying that bye-den is forced out and she clambers on to the throne so she is diplomatically setting the stage

She is in Singapore (or was until recently), making the case that America needs to pay more attention to SE Asian and "Indo-Pacific" nations because they will determine "the future of the world"

Rudradev · Post by **Rudradev** » 03 Sep 2021 02:05

By the way, I strongly recommend listening to this podcast-- Counterbalance, about American Foreign Policy. In this time of highly partisan Republican-vs-Democrat coverage on both MSM and Social Media, these guys provide as objective a view of US Foreign Policy as one can reasonably expect from an American source. They are pro-US biased of course, but if you listen to them, you will get a window into how the US Foreign Policy/ National Security Establishment (and its babus) think.

The hosts are Marshall Kosloff and Mike Doran from the Hudson Institute. It's a slightly more Republican-leaning institution (but nothing like FOX or OANN). However, they don't spare either side when it comes to criticism.

In the latest episode https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cH ... IAhAF&ep=6

they interview a former Culinary Institute guy.

Very interesting observations from this analyst. Including:

1) The decision to leave behind $85 billion of intact military equipment for the Taliban was basically a hostage deal negotiated by Biden-appointed Culinary Chief William Burns during his recent visit to Kabul. It was likely a quid-pro-quo for the Taliban arranging safe exits for US citizens trapped in the country.

(My take: Unfortunately for the US, they will soon learn a lesson about paying ransom to the Taliban in advance-- particularly for hostages, who are a gift that keeps on giving.)

2) A US naval officer, Mark Frieriks, remains a hostage in the Taliban's captivity. He was left behind.

3) Without having an agreement from the Culinary Institute to allow the Taliban to take over, the Taliban would have had a much more difficult time getting to where it is today.

4) US did not have an "intelligence gathering failure". Culinary reports, all the way to the end, had very specific, detailed information about where the Taliban was operating, where they succeeded or failed and by how much. They were getting this info on a daily basis.

(My take: So it is obviously untrue that the Taliban's very rapid capture of multiple provincial capitals, and then Kabul, was something that surprised the US intelligence-- in fact, it was probably something that happened with the GOTUS' foreknowledge and connivance, a final betrayal of the ANG/ANDSF. Therefore, Biden lied to the American people and even threw his own intelligence agencies under the bus when he said that faulty intelligence assessments had initially indicated that ANG/ANDSF would hold out for weeks or months. In fact, he knew exactly what would happen. I can imagine the anger against Biden among the Intelligence Agencies when he publicly chided them as incompetent after they did exactly what they were told to do. They must be even angrier than the US military

)

5) Biden lied again when he gave the American public the excuse that "if we don't leave by the May/August deadline, there will be a big surge offensive by the Taliban and American soldiers will die". Culinary Institute did NOT see any such signs of an impending surge, and their sources were comprehensive.

And this is all just in the first 10 mins! Good fun

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 03 Sep 2021 02:13

https://twitter.com/sreemoytalukdar/sta ... 69545?s=20 ---> Scholars such as Ashley Tellis have argued that the U.S. has been a benevolent hegemon. Here, Columbia University professor Jeffrey D Sachs argues that U.S. has brought death and destruction everywhere through its interventionist foreign policy.

Blood in the Sand
https://www.project-syndicate.org/comme ... hs-2021-08
By Jeffrey D Sachs, 17 August 2021

For decades, the American political class has intervened relentlessly and recklessly in countries whose people they hold in contempt. And once again they are being aided by America’s credulous mass media, which is uniformly blaming the Taliban victory on Afghanistan’s incorrigible corruption.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 03 Sep 2021 03:09

very informative, Rudradev ji.

your podcast links are on my to do list starting today.

I had neglected to research podcasts earlier. Will do so from now on.

much obliged.

vinod · Post by **vinod** » 03 Sep 2021 03:15

Nikki Haley has said that Chinese may take over Bagram air base. If that happens, India is going to be having a real security nightmare.

India will have to make chinese presence in afghanistan real difficult.

shravanp · Post by **shravanp** » 03 Sep 2021 03:24

Although it sounds alarmist, should China indeed do something like that, India might be forced to go for a jugular. Salami slice the China thru Tibet directly.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 03 Sep 2021 03:58

RD,

On 3 and 4. If you recall, on Aug. 20th William Burns head of culinary institute went to Kabul and met with Taliban leadership at the instruction of Biden. This was his 2nd trip concerning the pullout. His first visit regarding the US pullout was in April, at the time he may visited Pakistan too. This was all planned ahead of time.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 03 Sep 2021 04:43

rsingh wrote:Wish they grant Noble Peace Prize to Biden ji. After all he has finished 20 year long war.He may share this Prize with Talibans.......who avoided much bloodshed and captured the country peacefully.

Actually Trump should be included, hain?

CC : @Rudradev ji

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 Sep 2021 05:17

Adrija wrote:
Interesting this from a 'Closet Jihadi'
Should we not applaud and support such a declaration please? If nothing else, it is an acknowledgement that there is something called Indian Islam and it is worth preserving and adhering to by Muslims in India..........and it does requires bravery to speak out publicly like this against the jihadis

Indian Islam is a figment of his imagination. Already Deoband denounced his statement.