3 ms·

20 years for what?

by kome 5y ago

20 years for what?

convery 5y ago
For funding the military industrial complex; what else?
- arthurcolle 5y ago
  They have UAP vehicles now, maybe worth it? More seriously, this is extremely concerning from a geopolitical perspective. Looks like this next week will be tumultuous. EDIT: I'm too scared to post to their Twitter, but the latest tweet from Matin Bek ("Member of negotiating team of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan" per his profile) was "Don't panic! Kabul is safe!" which just darkly reminded me of this scene from a Mars Attacks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vUrAMxmO_A&ab_channel=SadysticBathory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vUrAMxmO_A&ab_channel=Sadys...
- raincom 5y ago
  Exactly this. Wish some journalist provide an accounting of how much Military industrial complex made out of this mess.
- woodpanel 5y ago
  Don't forget the massive "NGO-industrial complex" presence. https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/exotic-birds-in-a-cage-criticism-grows-of-afghanistan-s-bloated-ngo-industry-a-718656.html https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/exotic-birds-in-a...
- kome 5y ago
  that's exactly what i was thinking while asking this question.
yyyk 5y ago
20 years of fighting the same one-year war. The US Army never learned, and the politicians were fine with delegating responsibility. Also, the recent status quo was fine, and there was no reason to be hasty about a withdrawal deal that the Taliban never honoured.
- Hamuko 5y ago
  What would be different if they withdrew a year later?
  - yyyk 5y ago
    Well, if they actually withdrew when they said they would rather than sneaking in the night months in advanced, the Afghan government could have prepared better. If they didn't abruptly stopped supplies the Afghan air force wouldn't have been grounded and some more troops could fight. If they didn't press Kabul to release Taliban prisoners they'd have more cards to play. And someone could have done fieldwork to prevent the predictable defection avalanche (a bit of money to select warlords would have helped). And if the withdrawal process wasn't so transparently lopsided in favour of the Taliban, Afghan factions wouldn't have assessed the Taliban as the winners, which would have again helped to stop defections. But that the withdrawal was done with maximum spite is just the latest bout of ideological incompetence, and not the real issue. The real issue is how the US is so entirely self-absorbed it can't even begin to understand another country, much less try to act in someone else's self interest. Until that is fixed there's isn't much the US army can do regarding counterinsurgency, aside from the 'do no harm' principle (and this change to the status quo in AfPak is very much 'harm'). And maybe letting smarter countries lead for once.

20 years for what?

by kome 5y ago

20 years for what?

convery 5y ago

For funding the military industrial complex; what else?

arthurcolle 5y ago
They have UAP vehicles now, maybe worth it? More seriously, this is extremely concerning from a geopolitical perspective. Looks like this next week will be tumultuous. EDIT: I'm too scared to post to their Twitter, but the latest tweet from Matin Bek ("Member of negotiating team of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan" per his profile) was "Don't panic! Kabul is safe!" which just darkly reminded me of this scene from a Mars Attacks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vUrAMxmO_A&ab_channel=SadysticBathory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vUrAMxmO_A&ab_channel=Sadys...
raincom 5y ago
Exactly this. Wish some journalist provide an accounting of how much Military industrial complex made out of this mess.
woodpanel 5y ago
Don't forget the massive "NGO-industrial complex" presence. https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/exotic-birds-in-a-cage-criticism-grows-of-afghanistan-s-bloated-ngo-industry-a-718656.html https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/exotic-birds-in-a...
kome 5y ago
that's exactly what i was thinking while asking this question.

yyyk 5y ago

20 years of fighting the same one-year war. The US Army never learned, and the politicians were fine with delegating responsibility. Also, the recent status quo was fine, and there was no reason to be hasty about a withdrawal deal that the Taliban never honoured.

Hamuko 5y ago
What would be different if they withdrew a year later?
- yyyk 5y ago
  Well, if they actually withdrew when they said they would rather than sneaking in the night months in advanced, the Afghan government could have prepared better. If they didn't abruptly stopped supplies the Afghan air force wouldn't have been grounded and some more troops could fight. If they didn't press Kabul to release Taliban prisoners they'd have more cards to play. And someone could have done fieldwork to prevent the predictable defection avalanche (a bit of money to select warlords would have helped). And if the withdrawal process wasn't so transparently lopsided in favour of the Taliban, Afghan factions wouldn't have assessed the Taliban as the winners, which would have again helped to stop defections. But that the withdrawal was done with maximum spite is just the latest bout of ideological incompetence, and not the real issue. The real issue is how the US is so entirely self-absorbed it can't even begin to understand another country, much less try to act in someone else's self interest. Until that is fixed there's isn't much the US army can do regarding counterinsurgency, aside from the 'do no harm' principle (and this change to the status quo in AfPak is very much 'harm'). And maybe letting smarter countries lead for once.