Afghanistan, as the US tries to "pull out" after 20 years of "holding land".

[GreenGO Juan]

The unity of the people is the power and one of the reasons the media and government pushes division. The last thing they want is the people unified against them, they want to manipulate that for their own agenda. They fear our unity!!

 

[Jim Out]

Worth a read.

"But for the reasons cited in this paper, a post-withdrawal collapse might come sooner. And so might the regret. The enemies that drew the United States back into Afghanistan in 2001 and back into Iraq in 2014 are still present in Afghanistan in 2019."

"As noted, it has become a common view that there is no military solution to the war in Afghanistan, but this is, at best, only half true. Winning may not be an available option, but losing certainly is, and a precipitous departure, no matter how rationalized, would mean choosing to lose."

- Consequences of a Precipitous U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan (2019)

^^^^^RAND report by James Dobbins, Jason H. Campbell, Sean Mann, Laurel E. Miller

James Dobbins (diplomat) - Wikipedia​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dobbins_(diplomat)
James Francis Dobbins Jr. (born May 31, 1942) is an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to the European Union (1991-1993), as Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (2001), and as Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (May 2013 - July 2014). He is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy.He was envoy to Kosovo, Bosnia, Haiti, and Somalia.

Insiders secretly blame Bush and Obama for faulty Afghan ...​

https://www.studentnewsdaily.com/da...h-and-obama-for-faulty-afghan-war-strategies/
James Dobbins, who served as a special envoy to Afghanistan under both presidents, said Bush's decision to leave troops there while also planning to invade Iraq was a crucial — and obvious — blunder. "First, you know, sort of just invade only one country at a time. I mean that seriously," Dobbins said in 2016.

At Center of Taliban Deal, a U.S. Envoy Who Made It Personal (Published 2020)

Zalmay Khalilzad, the Afghan-born veteran American diplomat, earned the trust of the militants, if not of Afghan officials.

www.nytimes.com

The above linked article gives some slight insight into "who" wrote the paper for Rand (your .pdf) for a glimpse of the "mistake" that maybe is an "on purpose"?

"
James Dobbins, a former American special envoy to Afghanistan and Mr. Khalilzad’s one-time boss, said a sense of regret over that abandonment has perhaps reaffirmed Mr. Khalilzad’s commitment. When President Bush appointed him as ambassador to Afghanistan in 2003, he conditioned his acceptance on a larger aid package for the impoverished country.

“He has a unique combination of experience with American national security and American diplomacy and Afghanistan,” Mr. Dobbins said. “There is no one who knows more players and influential figures in Washington and Kabul than Zal Khalilzad.”"

***.pdf of linked article attached

 

[JustSendit]

Sir
I believe you have hit the preverbal nail on the head. Sure seem easy and planned out. No fighting and just showed up. Seems a little sinister to me.

We stopped paying the ANA months ago and everyone in the country overtly went into withdrawal mode, which was kind of a short timeline for an exit. During that time the Afghan security forces start their retreat as well.

These guys fought, but only when they were paid and outside of their backyard, in a different or neighboring province. They’re very much tribal.

I really don’t think Americans understand Afghan culture even a little. Their too busy equating developed western life to Afghans. “I would stand and fight!” That attitude applies when you care for something like a unified country. People in say, Uruzgun give no consideration to a country. Just leave them to govern their little piece of the earth and all will be well. Here’s your options as an Afghan army guy: stay and fight, the Taliban probably kills your family. Especially the leadership. Americans no longer cover you with bombs, so you will win but it won’t be easy. Finally, the populace is so ready for anything but war - they support the taliban as they’ve been the shadow governer for 20 years!

There’s no option there.

Gen Miley is a dumb motherfucker or a complete liar. Everyone who left the FOB in Afghanistan knew goddamn well the Taliban would take the country quickly. He ought to be fired and so should the SecDef. Im not upset we left but to be so ignorant that we left the country and immediately had to launch more troops over there because our plan was such shit. That’s outright embarrassing!

 

[Mr.BR]

End of the day of 2.26 Trillion $ that Afghanistan has cost, 90% of the $$ never left US . That is why endless wars are so popular in US military industrial,congresional,media complex.

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

We stopped paying the ANA months ago and everyone in the country overtly went into withdrawal mode, which was kind of a short timeline for an exit. During that time the Afghan security forces start their retreat as well.

These guys fought, but only when they were paid and outside of their backyard, in a different or neighboring province. They’re very much tribal.

I really don’t think Americans understand Afghan culture even a little. Their too busy equating developed western life to Afghans. “I would stand and fight!” That attitude applies when you care for something like a unified country. People in say, Uruzgun give no consideration to a country. Just leave them to govern their little piece of the earth and all will be well. Here’s your options as an Afghan army guy: stay and fight, the Taliban probably kills your family. Especially the leadership. Americans no longer cover you with bombs, so you will win but it won’t be easy. Finally, the populace is so ready for anything but war - they support the taliban as they’ve been the shadow governer for 20 years!

There’s no option there.

Gen Miley is a dumb motherfucker or a complete liar. Everyone who left the FOB in Afghanistan knew goddamn well the Taliban would take the country quickly. He ought to be fired and so should the SecDef. Im not upset we left but to be so ignorant that we left the country and immediately had to launch more troops over there because our plan was such shit. That’s outright embarrassing!

They know every bit of this ^^^^^ it doesn't get them a consultant job that pays millions of dollars when they retire if they make it public knowledge.
So I will pick option B. He's a complete liar

 

[NoDopes]

Most were tolerating the US/Nato presence, because they had no choice and don't want to die fighting.

Most were tolerating the stolen election, because they had no choice and don't want to die fighting.

Ftfy

 

[JustSendit]

They know every bit of this ^^^^^ it doesn't get them a consultant job that pays millions of dollars when they retire if they make it public knowledge.
So I will pick option B. He's a complete liar

I think it’s a shitty officer thing, like a politician, you cannot offer the truth. Such as: I was in charge of X, during my time, our control was reduced and the enemy gained an advantage. That’s like a career ender, even if it’s the truth. So instead, they lie. I saw it in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just inflated bullshit, skew the numbers a little, yeah all is good we’re winning… on paper.

 

[Matches Malone]

We stopped paying the ANA months ago and everyone in the country overtly went into withdrawal mode, which was kind of a short timeline for an exit. During that time the Afghan security forces start their retreat as well.

These guys fought, but only when they were paid and outside of their backyard, in a different or neighboring province. They’re very much tribal.

I really don’t think Americans understand Afghan culture even a little. Their too busy equating developed western life to Afghans. “I would stand and fight!” That attitude applies when you care for something like a unified country. People in say, Uruzgun give no consideration to a country. Just leave them to govern their little piece of the earth and all will be well. Here’s your options as an Afghan army guy: stay and fight, the Taliban probably kills your family. Especially the leadership. Americans no longer cover you with bombs, so you will win but it won’t be easy. Finally, the populace is so ready for anything but war - they support the taliban as they’ve been the shadow governer for 20 years!

There’s no option there.

Gen Miley is a dumb motherfucker or a complete liar. Everyone who left the FOB in Afghanistan knew goddamn well the Taliban would take the country quickly. He ought to be fired and so should the SecDef. Im not upset we left but to be so ignorant that we left the country and immediately had to launch more troops over there because our plan was such shit. That’s outright embarrassing!

Gen Miley isn’t going to get fired as long as he keeps reading Ibram x kendi books.
One could argue, he should have been doing less woke reading and more his job…but that’s none of my business.