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US special operations vets carry out daring mission to save Afghan allies
- MattGaiser 5y agoThis seems like it shouldn't have been published until well after the operation ended and everyone was out of Afghanistan.
- ceejayoz 5y agoIt's my understanding that's what they did. ABC was allowed to embed on the condition they didn't release the reporting until it was done.
- kiba 5y agoStories like this can only happen in the context of tragedies.
- ncmncm 5y agoThe need for such a daring mission reeks of failure.
- magicalist 5y ago> The need for such a daring mission reeks of failure. We spent 20 years nation building and the Taliban is back in charge, so...yeah?
- ncmncm 5y agoThe immediate failure here is of orderly pullout. They should have been arranging for the escape of allies months ago, instead of waiting until after collapse.
- drewblaisdell 5y agoYes, we should have never entered Afghanistan.
- thatswrong0 5y agoOk cool, that doesn't help our current predicament though. Why on earth isn't our military engaging on these missions officially?
- fastball 5y agoBecause our military engaging in missions in the Middle East is exactly what started this mess in the first place.
- thatswrong0 5y agoThe least we could do after fucking things up so badly in the region is assist our allies in the region to safety. If you don't see the difference between starting an endless war and stopping it while keeping our allies safe, I don't know what to tell you.
- fastball 5y agoI do see the difference between the two things, you just clearly have more trust in the military than I do. Why would you expect our attempt to unfuck things (assist our allies in the region) to go any better than our initial push? What makes you think that wouldn't just fuck up things worse than they already are?
- koolba 5y ago> Why on earth isn't our military engaging on these missions officially? Likely because Biden doesn’t have the cajones to approve something like this in an official capacity because he’s too scared of the fallout if it goes south. This is the same guy that advised President Obama against launching the mission that killed Bin Laden: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/12/barack-obama-memoir-joe-biden-bin-laden-raid https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/12/barack-obama...
- dragonwriter 5y ago> The need for such a daring mission reeks of failure. Uh, yeah, we lost the war and signed a surrender agreement to the enemy leader who we freed from prison for that express purpose last year. What do you expect it to smell like?
- stefan_ 5y agoSeems like we had a year, then? And did.. what?
- ajay-b 5y agoWhy are they reporting this in the media?
- gaetgu 5y agoTo my understanding the operation is done. That makes it safe to report on.
- scottLobster 5y agoIt is frustrating that there are so many stories of insane bravery, from Chernobyl to any number of war stories to this, where the basic plot goes: 1. Leadership fails to plan for worst case scenario, because it's not politically expedient to act as though it might happen. 2. The worst case scenario happens 3. Brave people put their lives on the line to put out a fire they had no part in starting, that need never have been started in the first place And this certainly won't be the last such story in our lifetimes. Glad these guys are doing what they can, but it's shameful that their talents need to be called upon to clean up crap like this.
- encryptluks2 5y agoAnd like the police it is often in their best interests to make sure the worst case scenario happens everytime.
- roenxi 5y agoIt is also a sad part of human psychology that it took this to get Afghanistan back in the headlines. The level of horror has probably been pretty constant from when the troops rolled in to now. It isn't like this level of failure is a sudden and radical surprise when it comes to Afghanistan. It is clear at this point that the US hasn't been doing anything useful there for the last 20 years.
- jacobolus 5y agoThe war in Afghanistan was lost by the Bush II administration sometime between 2001–2003. They took what should have been an international law enforcement operation and turned it into an indefinite military occupation with no plan, no criteria for success, and no off-ramp. They dumped hundreds of billions of dollars in with limited accountability or due diligence. They had no clear separation between “good guys” and “bad guys” and limited understanding of local relationships or culture, and ended up killing large numbers of civilians and leaving a large part of the population and local social structures angry at them. The predictable product was a dependent and kleptocratic puppet government and military without local legitimacy or support, an endless parade of suffering, continuing local opposition, and ever growing apathy among the American public. US civilian and military leaders consistently lied to the public, and were too cowardly to admit their “mission” was an abject failure. And now all of the people who set up and supported this 20-year debacle: military contractors, hawkish congresspeople and DOD leaders, pro-establishment media, etc. have the temerity to claim that there was some kind of magical perfect withdrawal that the US military could have executed with no bloodshed or instability, and Biden’s administration were just too careless or pig headed to let them plan and execute.
- lettergram 5y agoFor those curious the US is conducting the withdrawal now and Turkey and Qatar are providing security. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-launches-drone-strike-islamic-state-after-afghan-airport-blast-2021-08-28/ https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-launches-drone... This mission is over and everyone remaining is being advised to hide or flee on foot. This is likely thousands to tens of thousands within the country. This includes children, btw... https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-24/students-from-cajon-valley-school-district-stranded-in-afghanistan https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-24/students... Given the US provided all the information needed to detain (and kill) all citizens and allies, it will likely get ugly. https://nypost.com/2021/08/27/taliban-kill-squad-hunting-afghans-with-americas-biometric-data/ https://nypost.com/2021/08/27/taliban-kill-squad-hunting-afg... My personal prediction is that we see a plane shot down on withdrawal. The airport is situated such that a bit of mortar fire could strand everyone. I’m really hopeful I’m wrong... I feel we are trading them legitimacy and a list of allies, for the opportunity to withdrawal. We shall see if that holds.
- nomoreplease 5y agoWhere in your first link does it say that Qatar/Turkey are providing security? I didn’t find it
- peter422 5y agoSerious Q: This is the worst possible scenario in terms of ending the war in Afghanistan?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- lettergram 5y agoYes, it wasn’t a phased withdrawal. We stranded children and likely tens of thousands of citizens and our allies. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-24/students-from-cajon-valley-school-district-stranded-in-afghanistan https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-24/students... That’s not including our Afghan allies. Who we also gave up (addresses, biometric data, etc) https://nypost.com/2021/08/27/taliban-kill-squad-hunting-afghans-with-americas-biometric-data/ https://nypost.com/2021/08/27/taliban-kill-squad-hunting-afg... Emboldened our enemies, provided tens of billions in weapons, were also flying tens of thousands of unvetted afghans to random places throughout the country. Frankly, I think we will see mass casualties in the next few days. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a few US planes with marines shot down. I hope I’m wrong. At the very least, after we leave I suspect there will be tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands killed. Many will be US citizens unless we have some agreement.
- landemva 5y agoUSA enriched many defense contractors. After twenty years we minted a lot of millionaire white collar paper shufflers. A person could have made a two-decade career simply processing security clearance paperwork at the multitude of sub-contractors. It is shameful the American populace dutifully paid their taxes for this waste.
- thepasswordis 5y agoHanding over what will undoubtedly become a kill list to our sworn enemy is beyond anything i could have ever imagined.
- lettergram 5y ago
- throwthere 5y agoMeanwhile we're being told this wasn't like Saigon.
- s5300 5y agoThe United States government broadcasted, several times, to all US citizens or what have ye in Afghanistan, to LEAVE the country, months ago. The fact that they did not listen to the government, months ago, how can that be the fault of anyone but themselves? I'll admit I'm not as well versed in the Vietnam war, but I don't think anything close to that happened during Saigon.
- poisonarena 5y agowell thats US citizens, what about the afghans that helped US/Allied forces whose life is in danger.
- atatatat 5y agoYeah. Those people who have never seen a hot tub before should hop in their helicopter and fuck off to Switzerland, wait out the sketchy transients.
- dragonwriter 5y agoIts not like Saigon. While we also lost in Vietnam, there actually was meaningful local capacity; the ARVN fought on (losing, sure, but it didn't collapse) for years after the general US withdrawal from Vietnam, and even right up to and during the PAVN push into Saigon. This is a much bigger catastrophe than the fall of Saigon because the Afghan war has been a much more complete failure than Vietnam.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- reillyse 5y agoAm I the only person who reads this and thinks maybe random private citizens shouldn't be playing at soldier in foreign sovereign countries? A bunch of people extra-judicially with no legal standing or authority invaded another country, did God knows what and left. And thats a good thing. Would this be covered in a similar way if a bunch of heavily armed Taliban members invaded Texas to extract some people who had given them intelligence and worked for them, I seriously doubt it. Even if they saved some pregnant members of their group and cradled a few children. I know "we" are the good guys and they are the bad guys (sarcasm there folks) but this is weird. I feel there is some crazy mind control weirdness going on. I know thats what propaganda is but the level of group think on Afghanistan is impressive. Maybe countries should have some right to run their own shit free from other countries, maybe we should call it self determination or something.
- fastball 5y agoI think the key differentiator here is "sovereign nation" – Afghanistan does not have a stable leadership at all, so it certainly seems acceptable to question their sovereignty. And a nation without sovereignty is very different from a bunch of Taliban members in Texas, as least as far as most of the world's geopolitical dealings are concerned. e.g. look at how the world just kinda let China obliterate Hong Kong's freedom – HK was never a sovereign nation state separate from China so there never was going to be much anyone could do.
- ryanmarsh 5y agoOh man. There's a bigger story behind Tim Kennedy's Pineapple Express media tour and lets just say the special operations community is not amused. Pineapple Express was sloppy, done for media attention, and resulted in a day long halt for REAL SIV's at one of the gates, all because Tim was chasing clout. Don't take my word for it. SF folks have been plenty vocal on social. Tim tried to bring in six buses of people. Out of the passengers only 4 people were actually following SIV protocol, the rest were just hangers on trying to get out of the country. This caused a backlash and a crack down halting processing at one of the gates being used as kind of a rat line. That's what happens when the media pays attention to B team show boats and civilians are none the wiser because the real professionals don't air their laundry. This time it went over the line and guys are going public.
- s5300 5y agoYeah, the only thing I get from this entire article is that there's going to be some massive investigations as to who these troops inside the airport that assisted in this were. If I had to make a guess though, they're likely people disgruntled at the administration and see this as a way with potentially low consequences to get out of the military. Hopefully, there will be serious consequences for them. Like, we seriously have a major story going on about active US military troops, in one of the most serious missions in the past ten years, actively going against orders... to do the bidding of current civilians? That sounds like court martial material.
- ryanmarsh 5y agoI should also mention, Abbey gate, the one that was being used as a rat line... suddenly getting a lot of attention, and then getting nailed with a SBIED. Do people think that's a coincidence? This game is played for keeps.
- thepasswordis 5y agoWhat level of incompetence is it when you mess up the withdrawal from a war so badly that: 1) You hand over a list of everybody who ever worked with you to the people who will likely execute them (https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/26/us-officials-provided-taliban-with-names-of-americans-afghan-allies-to-evacuate-506957 https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/26/us-officials-provid...) 2) You shut down your major airbase (with a hospital) in the middle of the night without telling anybody (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57682290 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57682290) 3) Military veterans are now having to fucking self fund their own personal missions back into the country to save people. This is happening completely outside of any chain of command. 4) Nobody has been fired over this except for a marine who spoke out against the fact that nobody had been fired. (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/marine-officer-relieved-duty-after-viral-video-questioning-senior-leaders-n1277853 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/marine-officer-relieved-d...) Meanwhile the Commander in Chief of our fighting forces is an 80+ year old, rapidly deteriorating old man who appears to be barely aware of where he is half of the time. What in the HELL are we doing? How are we to be considered a serious people anymore?
- mistermann 5y agoA scorpion enlists a frog to take him on his back across a stream, even though the frog is astute enough to protest that the scorpion "will surely sting me, and I will die." The scorpion points out that if he stings the frog, he will die too. The trusting frog thus takes on his passenger, is stung by him, and the two creatures drown together. But before the frog drowns, he asks, "Why did you sting me, Mr. Scorpion, even though it costs us both our lives?" to which the Scorpion replies, acceptingly, "It is my nature."
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]