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The current White House administration has a terrible poker face. The withdrawal from Afghanistan has become a fiasco. It's clear from media reports that not e

The current White House administration has a terrible poker face. The withdrawal from Afghanistan has become a fiasco. It's clear from media reports that not enough planning was done and the wrong assumptions were made about the Afghan Army. It didn't have to be like this.

jjoonathan 5y ago
"Poker face?" lol. The previous two presidents were willing to engage in troop surges and other steps (quite beyond "poker face") that were sold as stabilizing steps before a pull-out, but despite the "investmet" the stability never appeared. It's time to call the bluff. We've been stuck in this quagmire for 20 years, and now we're not. Evidently, it did have to be like this.
thatguy0900 5y ago
What would having a poker face have looked like? I always assumed it would be a fiasco, we did nothing to ensure stability and the stories of afghans army being completely incompetent go back to when we first got there. My brother is a vet, and his personal anecdotes about them make them seem like toddlers.
VictorPath 5y ago
> not enough planning was done 20 years of planning was done. 40 years, if you count when the US was arming the proto-Taliban to fight the secular leftists in the PDPA who were running the country back then. > and the wrong assumptions were made about the Afghan Army. 20 years and trillions of dollars poured in, and four months after the US and NATO announces they will keep funding but remove ground troops, pretty much the whole country outside Kabul and surrounding areas is under Taliban control. I had the right assumption about the Afhan army as I'm sure the White House had - that they are puppets of US policy and would immediately fold when foreign armies leave. One reason the taking back of Afghanistan is so slow is the Taliban is being a little cautious. > It didn't have to be like this. When the NLF and PAVN went on the offensive in Vietnam in 1975, Saigon was liberated by the NLF within two months. Puppet governments and armies do not survive when their puppet masters begin withdrawing support. As the US is not going to sacrifice money and enlisted men's lives forever in a country on the other side of the world with a GDP less than Zimbabwe, it was always going to be like this.
- engineer_22 5y ago
  > I had the right assumption about the Afhan army Who cares? No, begging the Taliban to spare the embassy, and evacuating in a panic are not hallmarks of good planning. Rushing in troops at the last minute to hold the door for your civilian staff is not planning.
refurb 5y ago
Agreed. I’m surprised it doesn’t get painted that way in the media more. At least in Vietnam we left the government and military in decent enough shape to hold the country together for 3 years after we left.

jjoonathan 5y ago

"Poker face?" lol. The previous two presidents were willing to engage in troop surges and other steps (quite beyond "poker face") that were sold as stabilizing steps before a pull-out, but despite the "investmet" the stability never appeared. It's time to call the bluff. We've been stuck in this quagmire for 20 years, and now we're not. Evidently, it did have to be like this.

thatguy0900 5y ago

What would having a poker face have looked like? I always assumed it would be a fiasco, we did nothing to ensure stability and the stories of afghans army being completely incompetent go back to when we first got there. My brother is a vet, and his personal anecdotes about them make them seem like toddlers.

VictorPath 5y ago

> not enough planning was done 20 years of planning was done. 40 years, if you count when the US was arming the proto-Taliban to fight the secular leftists in the PDPA who were running the country back then. > and the wrong assumptions were made about the Afghan Army. 20 years and trillions of dollars poured in, and four months after the US and NATO announces they will keep funding but remove ground troops, pretty much the whole country outside Kabul and surrounding areas is under Taliban control. I had the right assumption about the Afhan army as I'm sure the White House had - that they are puppets of US policy and would immediately fold when foreign armies leave. One reason the taking back of Afghanistan is so slow is the Taliban is being a little cautious. > It didn't have to be like this. When the NLF and PAVN went on the offensive in Vietnam in 1975, Saigon was liberated by the NLF within two months. Puppet governments and armies do not survive when their puppet masters begin withdrawing support. As the US is not going to sacrifice money and enlisted men's lives forever in a country on the other side of the world with a GDP less than Zimbabwe, it was always going to be like this.

engineer_22 5y ago
> I had the right assumption about the Afhan army Who cares? No, begging the Taliban to spare the embassy, and evacuating in a panic are not hallmarks of good planning. Rushing in troops at the last minute to hold the door for your civilian staff is not planning.

refurb 5y ago

Agreed. I’m surprised it doesn’t get painted that way in the media more. At least in Vietnam we left the government and military in decent enough shape to hold the country together for 3 years after we left.