US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan

[Valwinz]

Joe Biden’s State Dept Halted A Trump-Era ‘Crisis Response’ Plan Aimed At Avoiding Benghazi-Style Evacuations Just MONTHS Before Taliban Takeover.

The latest MUDD NEWS FEED ! https://t.co/wtZY3u221t Thanks to @katherinemiller @DaniaPeriodista @mattyglesias

— JOHN E. MUDD (@MUDDLAW) August 18, 2021

 

[Foxi4]

The Taliban won this one fair and square - by paying off anyone who would've threatened their advance. They didn't need a magical Sun Tzu strategy - they literally went door to door and either bribed or threatened everybody until they accepted them as the rightful authority in the region, they've been doing that for the last 20 years, what'd people think would happen?

https://www.vice.com/en/article/epn...-threatened-their-way-to-power-in-afghanistan

While the coalition troops were busy dropping bombs on terrorists, the Taliban was selling rights to rare earth metal mining to China and Russia, and they've made stacks of money from that and bribery. It's painfully obvious where they're getting their funding from.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/18/business/afghanistan-lithium-rare-earths-mining/index.html

Now, quick math. The war in Afghanistan cost a grand total of 2 trillion dollars. The population of Afghanistan is somewhere around 38 million.

$2 trillion / 38 million = $52631.57

So, instead of all this fighting, the government could've gone door to door 20 years ago and could've given every single citizen of Afghanistan 52 grand - do you think the country would've been more or less stable? I'm just asking questions, since it seems that the coalition is just dropping exploding money, and losing.

 

[PityOnU]

I'm not sure that what is happening in Afghanistan is the fault of any specific administration. There's a lot of historical context as to why the USA went into the region in the first place that is difficult to summarize in a single outrage-inducing headline. There are similar complexities and nuances involved with how the Taliban have reclaimed the region so quickly.

I think what this really does demonstrate is the failure of USA policy to actually promote any lasting change in the region despite having had a significant military and (let's face it) governmental presence there for the past 20 years. All the effort and money doesn't seem to have made much of a difference at all if, when left to their own devices, the local forces capitulate in less than 2 weeks. Whether we want to admit it or not, something like this was set to happen all along.

It is my expectation that the other powers in the region will end up stepping up to the plate following the USA's departure in order to enforce some amount of stability in the region, as it will be in their own self interest.

It would be nice to see the spending which was previously set aside to fund this drawn out conflict taken and instead used to back domestic projects, as the USA has enough of its own problems right now.

 

[jimbo13]

Not parody: The chief of field operations in Afghanistan for the United Nations’ children’s agency (UNICEF) said the organization is “quite optimistic” about working with the Taliban on issues like girls’ education.

 

[Xzi]

The Taliban won this one fair and square - by paying off anyone who would've threatened their advance. They didn't need a magical Sun Tzu strategy - they literally went door to door and either bribed or threatened everybody until they accepted them as the rightful authority in the region, they've been doing that for the last 20 years, what'd people think would happen?

https://www.vice.com/en/article/epn...-threatened-their-way-to-power-in-afghanistan

While the coalition troops were busy dropping bombs on terrorists, the Taliban was selling rights to rare earth metal mining to China and Russia, and they've made stacks of money from that and bribery. It's painfully obvious where they're getting their funding from.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/18/business/afghanistan-lithium-rare-earths-mining/index.html

Now, quick math. The war in Afghanistan cost a grand total of 2 trillion dollars. The population of Afghanistan is somewhere around 38 million.

$2 trillion / 38 million = $52631.57

So, instead of all this fighting, the government could've gone door to door 20 years ago and could've given every single citizen of Afghanistan 52 grand - do you think the country would've been more or less stable? I'm just asking questions, since it seems that the coalition is just dropping exploding money, and losing.

Sums it up pretty well, though they forgot Halliburton and a couple others:

 

[Foxi4]

Sums it up pretty well, though they forgot Halliburton and a couple others:

View attachment 273446

Hey, I'm not going to blame private companies stepping in and fulfilling the orders of a government with more money than sense. Good for them. When the big man wants to give you money, you take it. If the big man is trying to take it away, you run.

 

[SG854]

America You're Fired - Jesus Christ

 

[Xzi]

Hey, I'm not going to blame private companies stepping in and fulfilling the orders of a government with more money than sense. Good for them. When the big man wants to give you money, you take it. If the big man is trying to take it away, you run.

Lol, as if it was all just a happy little accident for them and not a deliberate method of money laundering. Cheney's probably got Halliburton's logo branded on one of his ass cheeks.

 

[Foxi4]

Lol, as if it was all just a happy little accident for them and not a deliberate method of money laundering. Cheney's probably got Halliburton's logo branded on one of his ass cheeks.

Oh yeah, it's the Republicans that are at fault. Let's conveniently forget that Lloyd Austin, Biden's personal pick for Secretary of Defense, was on the board of Raytheon until his nomination and retired with a sizeable farewell basket.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-defense-idUSKBN29F0EO

Don't pin this on Cheney, they're all making money off of this, that's besides the point.

Again, if the government wants to convert their regular money into exploding money, you do just that. I don't see a reason not to - somebody's going to do it, may as well be you. Corporations are not meant to hold the government accountable - the voting population is supposed to do that.

 

[Xzi]

Oh yeah, it's the Republicans that are at fault.

I mean...yeah. The Bush administration started two wars without any clear objective or timetable. Weapons manufacturers, private mercenary groups, and oil companies were always meant to be the only beneficiaries.

Hell they even had the gall to declare "mission accomplished" over a decade before we finally got the fuck out.

 

[Foxi4]

I mean...yeah. The Bush administration started two wars without any clear objective or timetable. Weapons manufacturers, private mercenary groups, and oil companies were always meant to be the only beneficiaries.

Until Trump, there hasn't been a single U.S. President that *didn't* start a new large-scale military conflict during their term since Jimmy Carter was in charge. Trump was the first, and possibly last.

 

[Costello]

this joke thread has been renamed & Valwin has received a warn for disrespecting the rules
a bunch of his posts have been deleted too

https://gbatemp.net/threads/disclaimer-read-this-before-posting.493895/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/announcement-concerning-thread-titles.589800/

@Valwin
GBAtemp is not your propaganda playground, go spam your pro-Trump rhetoric elsewhere.

Last warning, next one gets you a suspension

 

[Valwinz]

Literally, everything I posted here is facts I guess Biden was made to look too bad and we can have that.
Facts are not propaganda Costello.
Biden is the president FACT Biden Altered the withdrawal FACT
So he is to blame whats why he is in the title

Meanwhile Lacius, Panda can sperg out all the pro-Biden propaganda literally posting lies i guess that fine

 

[Xzi]

Until Trump, there hasn't been a single U.S. President that *didn't* start a new large-scale military conflict during their term since Jimmy Carter was in charge. Trump was the first, and possibly last.

He was itching to start a war with Iran and even continued to ask about his authorization to do so after he lost the election. Starting a new war during his first term while we were still in Afghanistan and Iraq would've been electoral suicide, even Trump had enough sense to realize that. Had he been reelected, all bets would've been off, and we would've gone into Iran a month after leaving Afghanistan (at most).

this joke thread has been renamed & Valwin has received a warn for disrespecting the rules
a bunch of his posts have been deleted too

https://gbatemp.net/threads/disclaimer-read-this-before-posting.493895/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/announcement-concerning-thread-titles.589800/

@Valwin
GBAtemp is not your propaganda playground, go spam your pro-Trump rhetoric elsewhere.

Last warning, next one gets you a suspension

I was wondering when that new thread naming rule was actually going to start being enforced.

 

[Foxi4]

He was itching to start a war with Iran and even continued to ask about his authorization to do so after he lost the election. Starting a new war during his first term while we were still in Afghanistan and Iraq would've been electoral suicide, even Trump had enough sense to realize that. Had he been reelected, all bets would've been off, and we would've gone into Iran a month after leaving Afghanistan (at most).

Coulda woulda. If you have any suggestions where I might procure a crystal ball to predict the future like you do, I'm happy to go on a road trip and buy a magical device like that. Until I can verify this bold claim with a supernatural glass bauble, I'm correct - itching or no itching. That's of course not to say that Biden will necessarily buy a new boat to wipe the shame of sinking the old boat, but who knows - the electorate looooves a war time president, statistically speaking.

 

[Lacius]

He was itching to start a war with Iran and even continued to ask about his authorization to do so after he lost the election. Starting a new war during his first term while we were still in Afghanistan and Iraq would've been electoral suicide, even Trump had enough sense to realize that. Had he been reelected, all bets would've been off, and we would've gone into Iran a month after leaving Afghanistan (at most).


I was wondering when that new thread naming rule was actually going to start being enforced.

In fairness, I've reported several thread names in the world news subforum before, and they were promptly changed to my exact suggestions.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Literally, everything I posted here is facts I guess Biden was made to look too bad and we can have that.
Facts are not propaganda Costello.
Biden is the president FACT Biden Altered the withdrawal FACT
So he is to blame whats why he is in the title

Meanwhile Lacius, Panda can sperg out all the pro-Biden propaganda literally posting lies i guess that fine

Could you please tell me a specific thing I said that was a lie?

 

[Xzi]

Coulda woulda. If you have any suggestions where I might procure a crystal ball to predict the future like you do, I'm happy to go on a road trip and buy a magical device like that.

Trump's a basic bitch, predicting his future actions based on his past ones is easy. He was super submissive to Netanyahu, the Saudi royals, and Putin, and all three would love nothing more than to send the US military into a proxy war with Iran, each for their own reasons.

the electorate looooves a war time president, statistically speaking.

Historically speaking, you mean. When even neocons have mostly lost their appetite for starting new wars, that's when you know we've involved ourselves in one too many Vietnam repeats.

 

[Costello]

I was wondering when that new thread naming rule was actually going to start being enforced.

it is actively enforced, do you see another thread that requires enforcing?
if so please report it

 

[Foxi4]

Trump's a basic bitch, predicting his future actions based on his past ones is easy. He was super submissive to Netanyahu, the Saudi royals, and Putin, and all three would love nothing more than to send the US military into a proxy war with Iran, each for their own reasons.

Historically speaking, you mean. When even neocons have mostly lost their appetite for starting new wars, that's when you know we've involved ourselves in one too many Vietnam repeats.

He was doing precisely the opposite of what previous administrations were doing - using honey instead of vinegar. Whether that's a worthwhile endeavour or not remains to be tested considering we only tried that for 4 years. 4 years of relative peace, mind, but hey.

 

[Xzi]

it is actively enforced, do you see another thread that requires enforcing?
if so please report it

Admittedly I hadn't actually visited the subforum overview in a while, I just kept seeing new Valwinz/Jimbo threads pop up in the 'recent content' sidebar that obviously weren't following the new naming conventions. Seems like everything's sorted for the moment.