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Another interesting take. 2011 is when I was in Afghanistan and I can attest that both Joe Biden and Barack Obama lied to the American people about the progres
by kodah 5y ago
Another interesting take.
2011 is when I was in Afghanistan and I can attest that both Joe Biden and Barack Obama lied to the American people about the progress in the war during that time because they ultimately wanted out. Let me juxtapose my experience with Mr Biden's words:
> "We are in a position where if Afghanistan ceased and desisted from being a haven for people who do damage and have as a target the United States of America and their allies, that's good enough. That's good enough. We're not there yet.
To be clear, the Taliban is the only force we were fighting in Helmand and Nimroz provinces.
> Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That's critical. There is not a single statement that the president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens U.S. interests.
The only thing I can think of during that time that this correlates to is the fact that they wanted out so bad they were willing to make peace with the Taliban. The Taliban's guerilla techniques and crafty use of IEDs and VBIEDs were having a huge impact on US troops and were dessimating the local population. To the extent that the Taliban figured out that if they just bombed places we went that local populaces would blame us for attracting the Taliban to their area.
> If, in fact, the Taliban is able to collapse the existing government, which is cooperating with us in keeping the bad guys from being able to do damage to us, then that becomes a problem for us."
This is almost a complete reverse course in what he had just said. Basically, the Taliban is not a threat until they are. He's basically trying to coax the people guilty of a series of heinous war crimes that they can also be regarded as a political entity. I'm reminded of the whitewashing of the IRA, who shouldn't have been a political party either.
Human rights has everything to do with their connection to the word "terrorism".
- vmception 5y agoIts just not our place to bother with organizations already in power. And I’m glad this is the not an “edgy” take anymore. Due to a third party, we went in to deal with the third party and used the opportunity to oust the first party. We took their state and designated them as non-state enemy combatants, colloquially calling them terrorists. That’s kinda messed up. It also didn’t work.
- kodah 5y agoPromoting American isolationism isn't an edgy take, it's pretty age old. Nationalists have done it for quite some time with varying degrees of success. It's also why we didn't join WWII until we were attacked. What's an edgy take here is your clear lack of understanding between the Taliban and the Afghan populace, the history of Afghanistan, and your ignorance to the definition of terrorism. To correct some of the misinformation you're echoing: > Due to a third party, we went in to deal with the third party and used the opportunity to oust the first party. First, your speech is really confusing. If you could just directly mention who you're talking about then it'd be easier to track. I'm assuming "third party" here is the Taliban, who started a violent civil war in 94. [1] > We took their state and designated them as non-state enemy combatants It never was their state. The Taliban fought with the Mujahideen, whom are also terrorists, to unseat a democratic government. [1] > We took their state and designated them as non-state enemy combatants, colloquially calling them terrorists I'm going to assume in good faith that you did not know that at the time Al Qaeda was partnered with the Taliban [2]. The Taliban and Al Qaeda are bent on localized islamic states, while ISIL had global motivations, which is why they were partnered. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Civil_War_(1992%E2%80%931996) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Civil_War_(1992%E2%80%9... 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_invasion_of_Afghanistan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_invasion_of_Afgh...
- vmception 5y agoI weigh the scope creep of the US negatively. I'm aware they partnered and that the US was initially making sure that Al Queda could not use Taliban resources. If this is something you are passionate about, somebody else should have attempted to deal with the Taliban, which is the future we are currently in.