Saturday 27th of April 2024

20 years in 9 vignettes...

20 years20 years

original toon...

a war of absurdity ....

 

leadershit...leadershit...

the sad case...

The war may have set Afghanistan 50 years back or into the Middle-Ages and people are going to die, are dying and have died... A lot of effort was exerted by a lot of good people to help "civilizing/democrazing" the place, but few — especially the US leadership — understood the strength of the religious/ethnic/tribal dynamics within that country. Another 20 years of war and occupation would have not solved the situation, or it could have?... Who knows. We can only decry the deaths since 2001 and those to come...

 

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Germany should make its military forces “available” for another operation in Afghanistan to stop the Taliban from conquering it, the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee head said. His fellow MPs did not share the sentiment. 

US President Joe Biden should stop America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, Norbert Roettgen, the head of the German parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, told the German FAZ newspaper on Sunday. Roettgen said he was concerned about the prospects of Taliban militants taking control of Afghanistan by force, if left undeterred in the wake of the US pullout.

“This drama is looming. It is not [gone] that far yet. It is up to us… to stop this,” Roettgen said, adding that “our own security” and “responsibility for the majority of Afghans” demand it. The MP also said the ongoing US pullout, which is expected to be completed by early September, could be the “the first major policy disaster” for Biden.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/531584-germany-military-intervention-afghanistan-taliban/

 

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more absurd biden...

US President Joe Biden has said he does not regret his decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, as the Taliban continue to make advances.

Mr Biden urged Afghanistan's leaders to unite and "fight for their nation".

Violence has escalated across the country now that US-led forces have all but withdrawn following 20 years of military operations.

The Taliban have taken at least eight of the country's 34 provincial capitals, and are threatening more.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Mr Biden said the US was keeping the commitments it had made to Afghanistan, such as providing close air support, paying military salaries and supplying Afghan forces with food and equipment.

But he said: "They've got to fight for themselves."

 

The Washington Post cited unnamed officials as saying the capital Kabul could fall to the Taliban within 90 days, based on US military assessments. 

More than 1,000 civilians have been killed amid fierce fighting between the Taliban and government forces in the past month, according to the UN. Its children's agency Unicef warned this week that atrocities being committed against children were growing "higher by the day".

In their latest major advances, Taliban militants seized two more provincial capitals - Farah city and Pul-e-Khumri - on Tuesday. 

Officials said the insurgents had raised their flag in the main square and on the governor's office in Pul-e-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province, which is located about 200km (125 miles) from Kabul. 

A local journalist and provincial council member told the BBC that the western city of Farah had also fallen.

Other gains by the Taliban this week include the key northern city of Kunduz. It is considered a gateway to mineral-rich provinces and is in a strategically important location close to the border with Tajikistan, which is used for the smuggling of opium and heroin. 

 

Heavy fighting is continuing in other parts of the country, and US and Afghan planes have been carrying out airstrikes. 

 

 Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58167408  See toon at top. Free Julian Assange NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sad for those who are going to die...

The speed of the Taliban advance in Afghanistan appears to have taken many by surprise - regional capitals seem to be falling like dominoes. 

The momentum is clearly with the insurgents, while the Afghan government struggles to keep its grip on power.

This week, one leaked US intelligence report estimated that Kabul could come under attack within weeks, and the government could collapse within 90 days. 

So how did it unravel so quickly?

The US and its Nato allies - including the UK - have spent the best part of the last 20 years training and equipping the Afghan security forces.

 

Read more:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58187410

 

Well, yes. The training of troops was obviously superiorly inadequate. What's more is that most of the soldiers are in favour of supporting the Taliban. Why get shot at by family and friends?... 80 per cent of the population in Afghanistan seems to support the religious fanatics. And there is little we can do. Religious extremism — or even moderatelism — is a pox on humanity and the flux will eventually pass... Some people will die... Bombs? Innocent people will die as well...  Some people were going to die because of the US occupation nonetheless. It is likely that the no-joy, no-music, no-fun Taliban will extinguish itself in the long run... It took about ten years for the French period of Terror to end with... Napoleon... 

 

Poor people and poor women...

 

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what did you expect?...

 

Faced with unexpectedly rapid military gains by the Taliban, Britain and the US will deploy troops in Afghanistan to help their citizens get out of the country as the security situation worsens.

In response to the militants’ swift and violent advances that are further loosening the Afghan government’s hold on the country, the Pentagon said it would temporarily send about 3000 extra troops within 48 hours to help move embassy staff.

Britain said it would deploy about 600 troops to help its nationals and local translators get out.

  

The reinforcements will fly in just weeks before the departure of the last of the US-led international force that has had a core role in maintaining security in the country.

News of the drawdown underscored Washington’s rapidly deteriorating hopes that diplomacy will halt the Taliban’s advance and keep the capital in the Afghan government’s hands.

“We’ve been evaluating the security situation every day to determine how best to keep those serving at the embassy safe,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday.

“We expect to draw down to a core diplomatic presence in Afghanistan in the coming weeks,” he said, adding the embassy was not closed.

President Joe Biden ordered the drawdown during a meeting on Thursday (local time) with top security advisers and accepted their recommendation to do so, a source said.

A decision to stay in the country might have required the commitment of many more US troops there to fight a civil war, the source said, as the United States looks to end its 20-year presence prompted by the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Still, the drawdown decision cast new doubt on Washington’s strategy to influence the country’s peace process by maintaining aid and diplomatic personnel even after the troop withdrawal.

Administration officials did not adjust that timetable even as Mr Biden ordered additional troops to Afghanistan to help secure the exit of civilian personnel. The first deployment to the airport in Kabul was expected within 24 to 48 hours, said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

 

In Britain, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Thursday hundreds of military personnel would help British citizens and local translators leave.

The British embassy in Kabul will be moved to a more secure location and will remain manned by only a core staff. The British ambassador, Laurie Bristow, will be among those staying in Kabul.

“I have authorised the deployment of additional military personnel to support the diplomatic presence in Kabul, assist British nationals to leave the country and support the relocation of former Afghan staff who risked their lives serving alongside us,” Mr Wallace said in a statement.

 

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2021/08/13/us-britain-troops-afghanistan/

 

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What did you expect?... 

 

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a taliban sunday picnic...

 

The Afghan Military Was Built Over 20 Years. How Did It Collapse So Quickly?

 

The Taliban’s rapid advance has made clear that U.S. efforts to turn Afghanistan’s military into a robust, independent fighting force have failed, with its soldiers feeling abandoned by inept leaders.

 

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The surrenders seem to be happening as fast as the Taliban can travel.

In the past several days, the Afghan security forces have collapsed in more than 15 cities under the pressure of a Taliban advance that began in May. On Friday, officials confirmed that those included two of the country’s most important provincial capitals: Kandahar and Herat.

The swift offensive has resulted in mass surrenders, captured helicopters and millions of dollars of American-supplied equipment paraded by the Taliban on grainy cellphone videos. In some cities, heavy fighting had been underway for weeks on their outskirts, but the Taliban ultimately overtook their defensive lines and then walked in with little or no resistance.

This implosion comes despite the United States having poured more than $83 billion in weapons, equipment and training into the country’s security forces over two decades.

Building the Afghan security apparatus was one of the key parts of the Obama administration’s strategy as it sought to find a way to hand over security and leave nearly a decade ago. These efforts produced an army modeled in the image of the United States’ military, an Afghan institution that was supposed to outlast the American war.

But it will likely be gone before the United States is.

While the future of Afghanistan seems more and more uncertain, one thing is becoming exceedingly clear: The United States’ 20-year endeavor to rebuild Afghanistan’s military into a robust and independent fighting force has failed, and that failure is now playing out in real time as the country slips into Taliban control.

 

 Read more:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/13/world/asia/afghanistan-rapid-military-collapse.html

 

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