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Some related numbers for just Afghanistan: American service members killed in Afghanistan through April: 2,448. U.S. contractors: 3,846. Afghan national mili

Some related numbers for just Afghanistan: American service members killed in Afghanistan through April: 2,448. U.S. contractors: 3,846. Afghan national military and police: 66,000. Other allied service members, including from other NATO member states: 1,144. Afghan civilians: 47,245. Taliban and other opposition fighters: 51,191. Aid workers: 444. Journalists: 72. https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-business-afghanistan-43d8f53b35e80ec18c130cd683e1a38f https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-business-afghanistan-... ——— It’s funny, over 60k Afghan police/military died, and our plan was to arm 300k of them and hope they like perpetual war against the Taliban. Yeah, I think they did a hard pass on that one and just wanted it all to stop.

swader999 5y ago
I think a lot of those trained had allegiances to the Taliban. Many reports of this but was ignored by higher ups.
- A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
  I think what we have here is a failure to understand population motivations. I do not want to overstate this, but it seems to be lost over the fact that it was two decades now. US was the invader here. You can train all you want, but those people are not idiots or easily swayed. They survived multiple regime changes, coups, upheavals and this is just another one of them. As insane as it sounds, in that frame of mind, Taliban is a lesser evil here compared to a foreign adversary that walks around like they own the place. Once you understand this, and by this I mean "the population does not want you here and sees you as the invader", none of this is a surprise. Next up, just wait till you hear what population of Iraq wants ( but we all know US simply cannot leave Iraq -- ever ).
baybal2 5y ago
That's a big undercount on the civilian, and opposing force side. If you count in excess deaths, and missing people, the count will more than double.
ineedasername 5y ago
Regarding perpetual war, I'm not sure that was inevitable. Without massive corruption, incompetent leadership, and Russia providing weapons to the Taliban things might not have been so bleak.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  Without massuve corruption life in Russia would not be bleak.
asdff 5y ago
They did a hard pass on that one when their commanders were embezzling their resources and they were expected to defend a nation with shoestrings and no backup or any more resources on the way. It was a suicide mission to not give up, plain and simple.

swader999 5y ago

I think a lot of those trained had allegiances to the Taliban. Many reports of this but was ignored by higher ups.

A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
I think what we have here is a failure to understand population motivations. I do not want to overstate this, but it seems to be lost over the fact that it was two decades now. US was the invader here. You can train all you want, but those people are not idiots or easily swayed. They survived multiple regime changes, coups, upheavals and this is just another one of them. As insane as it sounds, in that frame of mind, Taliban is a lesser evil here compared to a foreign adversary that walks around like they own the place. Once you understand this, and by this I mean "the population does not want you here and sees you as the invader", none of this is a surprise. Next up, just wait till you hear what population of Iraq wants ( but we all know US simply cannot leave Iraq -- ever ).

baybal2 5y ago

That's a big undercount on the civilian, and opposing force side. If you count in excess deaths, and missing people, the count will more than double.

ineedasername 5y ago

Regarding perpetual war, I'm not sure that was inevitable. Without massive corruption, incompetent leadership, and Russia providing weapons to the Taliban things might not have been so bleak.

ClumsyPilot 5y ago
Without massuve corruption life in Russia would not be bleak.

asdff 5y ago

They did a hard pass on that one when their commanders were embezzling their resources and they were expected to defend a nation with shoestrings and no backup or any more resources on the way. It was a suicide mission to not give up, plain and simple.