So we are no longer in Afganistan.

How about . . .

1. Listen to your Centcom General on the ground
2. Have a contingency plan that didn't rely on the 82nd and MF1 (who are only suppose to whistled up in Emergencies). That fact that they are the first units that got called tells you alot. Like the fact that there was no contingency planning at all in place. As those units are ONLY called when your contengency falls apart and you've exhausted all other means of extraction.
3. Follow the military protocols for equipment that have been around (probably) since your era when leaving an AO, so they don't fall into enemy hands. What we exfill like the Russian military now. . . that's how all the Haji's had access to weapons and explosives that were used against us when I was there.

There is just as much blame to go around on our intelligence community, but dang Biden botched this one up big time by thinking he was smarter than everybody else.

 

1. My understanding is that they did listen to the military. The military was predicting months at the quickest for a Taliban victory. The intelligence side of things was guessing perhaps faster.

2. You assertion doesn't make sense to me. The 82nd is very prestigious, why would they not be in a contingency plan?

3. My understanding is that most of the US military equipment the Taliban now has came from the Afghan army.

Your assertion as to that being what Biden thinks is unfounded speculation at best.

 

There are two very specific military units who are trained for civilian exfill on a larger scale, the 82nd is one of the two unit specifically trained in this activity. Keep in mind the military is not a humanitarian force, so its takes a level of addition training for the military to go into for civilian-militant interface situation, execute a dynamic extraction, without escalating or making a use of force mistake on an international stage. The 82nd is very prestigious, which is why they are one of the two specifically trained for this particular activity.

Unfounded speculation? The situation is unfolding before us in real time, and there is a reason Biden isn't taking questions pertaining to his actions. . . because those with knowledge in this arena would tear him apart. The only thing the Centcom got wrong, was the timeline in which things unfolded. Instead of months, it was days. Like I said, that's a ding on the intel community but also on the adminstration for surrounding themselves with questionable intel that fits their intended objectives. You don't get to the CentCom Commander position by being stupid, or within being extremely calculated or politically savvy. So if Centcom advises against your course of action, being the only one who advises you against your otherwise stated objective; but you move forward anyway, this is the unfortuate result.

 

If or when and most likely when.

Chinese propaganda and psychological warfare is not loosing time.

https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-state-media-says-afghanistan-lesson-taiwan-how-us-abandons-allies-1619865

"Chinese State Media Says Afghanistan a Lesson for Taiwan on How U.S. Abandons Allies"
Chinese warships, fighter jets conduct drills near Taiwan.

 

You seem to be saying that the 82nd should have been in the contingency plan . Isn't that what happened? If the 82nd is trained in civilian-militant interface situations then wouldn't you want them called up when they were? Or did you mean that they were not called up when you said that they were called up?

 

Multiple levels of contingency planning are done at various levels, or at least they're suppose to be done. It's only when they fail, that you need to call 9-1-1. Keep in mind the amount of careful planning, if done correctly, wouldn't (shouldn't) unravel that quickly if due dilligence was performed on the front end. Hense my observation that they (the 82nd) was the first call made within hours of everthing going south. How its suppose to unfold, is you move through the progressive levels of your contigency plan before hitting the preverbal 9-1-1 button. The fact that the call was made within 6 hours, tells me as someone who operated in this space, that there was little to no contingency plans in place. Again, an example of why things unfolded in the manner in which they did. Piss poor planning on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on my part. That is the phase that comes to mind and has to be what the Centcom and 82nd are thinking. Now thousands more service members are being put in harms way because this adminstration failed to plan, failed to listen, and ultimately failed to execute.

 

You said the 82nd is best trained for the mission that they are performing. You said the 82nd is now performing that mission. That seems like to me that things are being done the best they can be then?

If this is trying to support your speculation that Biden thinks he's smarter than everyone else, it fails completely in my opinion.

 

Newsweek is rated "High" accuracy by MediaBiasFactCheck.com! Congratulations!! I'm leading the marching band this time! TA TA TATATAAA TA TA TATATAA ...

P.S. My wife is Taiwanese. Now a registered Republican American citizen. She predicated that China would make this play.

 

The Afghan government lost this one, not the American government. There was no way we could win, except to not play this game.

 

The Great Game. Afghanistan worries a lot of people who aren't Americans. The country is a buffer just as it was in the time of Kipling and the British Raj. From what little I know, I understand that Pakistan is about the closest thing to an ally the Taliban government has. The rest of the neighborhood is nervous.

One consequence for the U.S. though. We no longer have to look the other way when Pakistan supports terrorism. We no longer need her assistance.

 

If President Biden has any sense, he will extend de facto recognition to the Taliban administration in the next few weeks and de jure recognition after a Decent Interval. Biden needs the cooperation of the Taliban and they will extract a price for that. Best to be talking to them.

 

Yes, be respectful but keep reminding the Taliban that we carry a big stick. Any activity in their territory like what Al Qaeda did leading up to 9/11/2001 will not be tolerated. We won't hesitate to use that big stick once again.

 

The critics are out in full force. Not the fact that we are leaving the fact how its being done.

With Afghan army running folding so fast, the situation developed is that many US and Afghan eligible civilians are stranded in Afghanistan at mercy of Taliban.
Its like the captain and the officers , crew abandoned the sinking ship to drown with its passengers.

Some US military commanders are now trowing the commander and chief under the buss.
GOP and Democrats are highly critical of the way tis is handled and of President Biden.

Many agree on the withdrawal but not on the way it was done. Accuse of failed or non existing strategy.
Afghan army fled, they were twice the # of Taliban, better equipped and trained.
President Ashraf Ghani had fled his nation.
Marco Rubio
@marcorubio
"When the Biden Administration announced their Afghanistan pullout plan, several of us on the Intel Committee told them their predictions of what would happen next were complete fantasy. "

We are now witnessing how true our warnings to them were.
The media seems to make apologetic attempt to swing the issue in to decision to leave Afghanistan, withdraw instead of the strategy how its being done.
Biden said Monday, insisting that his administration was prepared for all scenarios but that the Afghan government and military were unwilling to defend their own country.
But maybe they didn't listen to those who warned them about it?
Abandoning civilians is heart-braking.

Responding to criticism from some that the administration should have started to evacuate Afghans and U.S. personnel sooner, Biden said that some Afghans did not want to leave earlier in hope that it would not be necessary. The Afghan government also discouraged the U.S. from organizing a mass exodus out of concern that it would trigger a "crisis of confidence," Biden said.

CNN
Biden's judgment as commander-in-chief is being called into question since he is on record, in damning video footage, saying that the Taliban's victory was "not inevitable." He said there would be no Saigon-style pictures of helicopters lifting off the roof of the US embassy in Kabul. That exact scenario unfolded this weekend.

 

Ignorance is bliss. Agree to disagree.

 

For two decades no one cared one whit about Afghanistan, and now it's the issue all things Biden are measured by. Even if we stipulate--and that's a big if--that his administration could have done a better job of exiting, it still had to happen and would have had the exact same result.

It took the Taliban 11 days to conquer Afghanistan, taking Kabul without a shot. The Afghan "government" and "army" and "police" were myths. No matter how or when the Biden administration began a pullout, the rapid collapse was inevitable.

 

Sorry to burst your bubble of bliss but Biden doesn't think he's smarter than everyone, you're just projecting your own characteristic onto him.

 

As a warrior who served his country in uniform, now retired, I agree wholeheartedly.

But I think you see my point. All of his high dudgeon over Afghanistan is opportunistic posturing.

 

But was this a surprise or and underestimated miscalculation by the Biden. Its viewed as a failure.
US civilians and Afghanis left homeless at
Mercy of Taliban.

Politicized yes. But politics aside I hope the Taliban delivers on their word and let civilians out without taking hostages etc