Afghan War ending, foretold by The Onion 10 years Ago [DT thread ruined by politics]

[Sawbonz 26734]

Just now, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Are you fine with leaving Americans behind? Do you think we should leave Americans stranded on rooftops after they ride out cat 5 hurricanes when they ignore warnings to evacuate?

Dennis says we’re done. Good. Move on.

You tell me how many more military lives you were willing to ruin to get those people out. Now how many of your relatives and loved ones are you willing to sacrifice to do the same? Because that’s really what we’re talking about.Getting them out doesn’t happen without that

[David Dennison 17657]

3 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Are you fine with leaving Americans behind? Do you think we should leave Americans stranded on rooftops after they ride out cat 5 hurricanes when they ignore warnings to evacuate?

Dennis says we’re done. Good. Move on.

You won't know if Americans are left behind until next week at the earliest.

 

[TXSG8R 3325]

Biden just laid it out there, he accepted the advice of the pentagon to go with HKIA over Bagram. 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8780]

You tell me how many more military lives you were willing to ruin to get those people out. Now how many of your relatives and loved ones are you willing to sacrifice to do the same? Because that’s really what we’re talking about.Getting them out doesn’t happen without that

Why didn’t the taliban take out US soldiers despite being on the same airport premises? They have surrounded Americans for 10 plus days now and counting

[DDD Dad 14060]

We can do whatever the fuck we want. They’re not going to do shit and can’t do shit against us. We leave on our terms.

[wildcat09 28387]

Just now, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Why didn’t the taliban take out US soldiers despite being on the same airport premises? They surrounded Americans for 10 plus days.

This has already been explained a dozen times today in this very thread.

[Brisketexan 103139]

12 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

1 -- We can do whatever the fuck we want. They’re not going to do shit and 2 -- can’t do shit against us. We leave on our terms.

1:

SEAL team 6 sure as shit couldn't "do whatever we want."

2:

Looks like the Taliban actually DID do shit against us.  Like, in this very theater of operations.

You are insane.  You have guzzled 1,000 gallons of America Fuck Yeah We're Invincible Kool-Aid.

We're not leaving Afghanistan because we won.  We're leaving because we lost the mission we occupied the country to accomplish.  We brought back home 2400 body bags stuffed with "things the Taliban did against us."  2400 American sons and daughters, denied the opportunity to build a future in our country because of a foolish decision supported by mindless jingoist flag-waving bullshit.

The ragtag forces on the ground in Afghanistan right this fucking moment sure as shit can "do shit against us."  They literally just did. 20+ more American Marines are coming home, either in body bags or on stretchers.  Shove your "we are the best hoorah we can do what she want and ain't nobody can touch us!" bullshit.  Believing that fantasy just gets more American troops killed.

[Sawbonz 26734]

1 minute ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Why didn’t the taliban take out US soldiers despite being on the same airport premises? They have surrounded Americans for 10 plus days now and counting

I really don’t understand what you were trying to say. You are saying there are Americans “left behind”. Are you also saying that they can just walk over to the airport anytime they want? Because that seems to be what you were saying.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8780]

This has already been explained a dozen times today in this very thread.

Finger pointing, whataboutisms and name calling aren’t answering it.

[Neonmoon 38126]

I thought we defeated ISIS?

Is this a different one? Like electric boogaloo?

[David Dennison 17657]

What's really crazy is that now we're gonna be partnering up (again) with the Taliban to fight ISIS.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8780]

1:

SEAL team 6 sure as shit couldn't "do whatever we want."
2:

Looks like the Taliban actually DID do shit against us.  Like, in this very theater of operations.
You are insane.  You have guzzled 1,000 gallons of America Fuck Yeah We're Invincible Kool-Aid.
We're not leaving Afghanistan because we won.  We're leaving because we lost the mission we occupied the country to accomplish.  We brought back home 2400 body bags stuffed with "things the Taliban did against us."  2400 American sons and daughters, denied the opportunity to build a future in our country because of a foolish decision supported by mindless jingoist flag-waving bullshit.
The ragtag forces on the ground in Afghanistan right this fucking moment sure as shit can "do shit against us."  They literally just did. 20+ more American Marines are coming home, either in body bags or on stretchers.  Shove your "we are the best hoorah we can do what she want and ain't nobody can touch us!" bullshit.  Believing that fantasy just gets more American troops killed.

The taliban blew up 12 marines today?

[Incredulity 11141]

1 minute ago, Neonmoon said:

I thought we defeated ISIS?

Is this a different one? Like electric boogaloo?

We defeated ISIL and Daesh.

<——-channeling John Kerry

[MNLonghornFUKM 8780]

What's really crazy is that now we're gonna be partnering up (again) with the Taliban to fight ISIS.

Best possible outcome. Couldn’t go any better

[Anastasis 23191]

1 minute ago, David Dennison said:

What's really crazy is that now we're gonna be partnering up (again) with the Taliban to fight ISIS.

THE ARISTOCRATS!

[BabaYaga 15115]

3 minutes ago, The Ace of Aces said:

You keep saying this. Repeating a lie over and over and over does not - no matter what MAGAers think - make it true.

Bagram is about 30 miles from Kabul. You can’t move 100,000+ soldiers and equipment 30 miles safely in this environment. This isn’t a 30 mile drive down I-10. No one on the military involved in logistics believes you can. My source: my grandfather who is a general and was responsible for Korea logistics. 

Dafuk.  We already had the base?  We abandoned it.  Precipitating the ANA collapse by turnign off their support overnight. JFC, Kabul is such a fucking shit show just this week someone from WAPO asked Milley about retaking Bagram because of the size, location, and dual runways.  

 

 “has a single runway, with a commercial airport making it much more difficult to defend that runway. We’ve already seen that this week. Bagram has two runways. It would have been a lot easier to protect people once inside,” he noted. “Is there any thought of retaking Bagram in order to expedite this evacuation?”

 

[Brisketexan 103139]

5 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Why didn’t the taliban take out US soldiers despite being on the same airport premises? They have surrounded Americans for 10 plus days now and counting

 

4 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

This has already been explained a dozen times today in this very thread.

You are literally the dumbest motherfucker I've ever talked to.  And I used to get in drunken arguments with Sooner fans on OU weekends in my youth.

The Taliban isn't attacking us. ISIS is.  ISIS is able to do so because when the ANA collapsed, it left a power vacuum.  The Taliban is the largest group to fill that vacuum, and they are able to generally occupy cities.  But they aren't a complete and competent occupying force.  There is room for bullshit to happen all around them.  Bullshit like ISIS attacking HKIA.

Earlier, I refused to believe you were this dumb.  But no worries now, you've convinced me.

[Muy Frio 182]

So let me state more clearly.
 

The prevailing sentiment here is that it was always going to be something like this. Not much could’ve been done to change the outcome. 
 

So let me ask why then were we so surprised by this? Specifically POTUS. Why were these contingencies clearly not planned for if they were inevitable? 
 

Was it inevitable that we essentially hand over a target list to the Taliban of people we value?

[MNLonghornFUKM 8780]

You are literally the dumbest motherfucker I've ever talked to.  And I used to get in drunken arguments with Sooner fans on OU weekends in my youth.
The Taliban isn't attacking us. ISIS is.  ISIS is able to do so because when the ANA collapsed, it left a power vacuum.  The Taliban is the largest group to fill that vacuum, and they are able to generally occupy cities.  But they aren't a complete and competent occupying force.  There is room for bullshit to happen all around them.  Bullshit like ISIS attacking HKIA.
Earlier, I refused to believe you were this dumb.  But no worries now, you've convinced me.

JESUS SHIT. Is Isis surrounding the airport or is the taliban?

Shut up brisket. Your long winded posts nobody reads need to fuck off

If the Taliban wanted to fucking kill Americans- they would have started last week before ISIS rolled in.

[The Ace of Aces 4946]

8 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Dafuk.  We already had the base?  We abandoned it.  Precipitating the ANA collapse by turnign off their support overnight. JFC, Kabul is such a fucking shit show just this week someone from WAPO asked Milley about retaking Bagram because of the size, location, and dual runways.  

 

 “has a single runway, with a commercial airport making it much more difficult to defend that runway. We’ve already seen that this week. Bagram has two runways. It would have been a lot easier to protect people once inside,” he noted. “Is there any thought of retaking Bagram in order to expedite this evacuation?”

 

The military - and a man I love to death who is a goddamn hero to this country who has four Purple Hearts and a silver star - clearly disagrees with you. For logical reasons that anyone involved in logistics in war ones can see. But please do keep ranting about things you clearly know absolutely nothing about. 

Edited August 26, 2021 by The Ace of Aces

[Brisketexan 103139]

Just now, MNLonghornFUKM said:

JESUS SHIT. Is Isis surrounding the airport or is the taliban?

Shut up brisket. Your long winded posts nobody reads need to fuck off

If the Taliban wanted to fucking kill Americans- they would have started last week before ISIS rolled in.

God.  Fucking.  Dammit.  You are sofaking stupid.

Taliban forces are all around the airport.  But they are not an effective police force, because....Taliban.  ISIS actors made their way into the crowd and set off suicide bomb(s).

The Taliban isn't killing us.... because THEY DON'T WANT TO.  THEY WANT US TO LEAVE, AND THEY KNOW THAT IF THEY START FIGHTING US, WE'LL FIGHT BACK AND STAY.  But the opposite follows -- if we STAY, and break our promise to leave, they WILL START KILLING US.

Jesu christo on the cross, I'm done with you.  

[MNLonghornFUKM 8780]

God.  Fucking.  Dammit.  You are sofaking stupid.
Taliban forces are all around the airport.  But they are not an effective police force, because....Taliban.  ISIS actors made their way into the crowd and set off suicide bomb(s).
The Taliban isn't killing us.... because THEY DON'T WANT TO.  THEY WANT US TO LEAVE, AND THEY KNOW THAT IF THEY START FIGHTING US, WE'LL FIGHT BACK AND STAY.  But the opposite follows -- if we STAY, and break our promise to leave, they WILL START KILLING US.
Jesu christo on the cross, I'm done with you.  

You are literally making my argument for me and I’m stupid?


The taliban isn’t fucking with the American army. They know how it ended in 2001. Did it take even a week before they were out of kabul and on the run? Add 20 years of technology to that

[David Dennison 17657]

The Taliban want us to leave, but they also want us to continue helping them with their fight against ISIS.

That's why they aren't killing Americans and it's also probably why we gave them a list of Americans who need help getting out of a nation state they control.

Edited August 26, 2021 by David Dennison

[MNLonghornFUKM 8780]

The Taliban want us to leave, but they also want us to continue helping them with their fight against ISIS.
That's why they aren't killing Americans and it's also probably why we gave them a list of Americans that needed help getting out of a nation state they control.

Hey not a bad way to get money from America if we can keep these Americans from getting to the airport.

[Starfleet Command 441]

The people shrieking about the logistics of the pull out remind me of the "Two Reigns of Terror" passage from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.  

Edited August 26, 2021 by Starfleet Command

[Tailgate 2972]

I have faith the military has more power than Biden and they will now be calling the shots.

He is just a temporary government employee.

 

[Longhorn_Fan68 33693]

12 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

The taliban blew up 12 marines today?

is this an intentional shit on the 12 service members that DID die today in an attack? if so you might be the biggest piece of shit on this site

[hobbes2702 12481]

Just now, Tailgate said:

I have faith the military has more power than Biden and they will now be calling the shots.

He is just a temporary government employee.

 

Wut? Lol

[elfenix 34000]

46 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Bagram has two fields.  More flights and faster turn around times and the runways are longer.  It allows for military support to be in play if needed.  It was there to support the ANA.  One day they had support, the next the phones were dead.  

Bagram is not surrounded by mountains that can bracket the runways.  It's already defended and set up to sustain attacks if needed.  If the Taliban start shelling Kabul, it's light out.  Full stop.  Were one artillery or rocket away from the entire exodus going to tits up.  There's also more room at Bagram to house and feed people.

These all outweigh the logistical challenges of it's remote location.  

bagram has 1 functioning runway which is all of 300' longer than kabul's.  both bagram and kabul's runways are over 11,000 feet. 

nearly everything else you said applies to bagram as well, and add to that bagram is ~30 miles or so by highway from kabul.  which i'm sure is easily defended and not readily mined with IEDs. 

Edited August 26, 2021 by elfenix

[Sawbonz 26734]

5 minutes ago, Tailgate said:

I have faith the military has more power than Biden and they will now be calling the shots.

He is just a temporary government employee.

 

[Longhorn_Fan68 33693]

3 minutes ago, elfenix said:

bagram has 1 functioning runway which is all of 300' longer than kabul's.  both bagram and kabul's runways are over 11,000 feet. 

nearly everything else you said applies to bagram as well, and add to that bagram is ~30 miles or so by highway from kabul.  which i'm sure is easily defended and not readily mined with IEDs. 

not to mention there are probably no sniper points from which people can pick off unguarded vehicles.

[TexArcher 36902]

13 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

If the Taliban wanted to fucking kill Americans- they would have started last week before ISIS rolled in.

No, dipshit.  They wouldn't do that because they're now the government of Afghanistan and that would be an act of war, meaning that they'd be risking another American (and possibly coalition) invasion.  What they would do is let ISIS do it so that they, the Taliban, could claim that they never violated the cease-fire and they also condemn this cowardly attack.

It's as if you've been sleeping through the last 30 years of how this works.

[Neonmoon 38126]

8 minutes ago, Muy Frio said:

So let me state more clearly.
 

The prevailing sentiment here is that it was always going to be something like this. Not much could’ve been done to change the outcome. 
 

So let me ask why then were we so surprised by this? Specifically POTUS. Why were these contingencies clearly not planned for if they were inevitable? 
 

Was it inevitable that we essentially hand over a target list to the Taliban of people we value?

The consensus is that Afghanistan is a shitshow. The entire region is a shitshow. 

Biden was honoring the agreement made by Trump. (You know the one where he cut the Afghan government out of the agreement) 

Obviously this fall on Biden either way. It always was going to, that’s why Trump took a big shit on the agreement, cut the troop levels, and stalled all the visas. 

Biden should be asking the military why they fucked this up. I’m sure they said it would all go smoothly. Remember they told us ISIS was defeated and the Afghans had 300K strong military. I mean we trained them right? We were paying them all these years? What the fuck happened?

But it’s easier to just blame Biden. 

[TXSG8R 3325]

4 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

You are literally making my argument for me and I’m stupid?


The taliban isn’t fucking with the American army. They know how it ended in 2001. Did it take even a week before they were out of kabul and on the run? Add 20 years of technology to that

You may want to go brush up on asymmetric warfare.  The Taliban is waiting us out because this is the easiest option for them to control the country. If it looks like we are sticking around they will definitely simultaneously melt into the population and start killing Americans at the same time. Them being on the run or not controlling population centers isn't a bug in their strategy, it’s a feature. They are smart enough to know they can’t line up and go toe to toe with the US military, so they will do all the dirty shit that makes them hard to kill without collateral damage, and/or exposing Americans to an increased risk to root them out. 
 

Our technology counts for very little when it comes down to trying fight guys that use IED, VBEDs, suicide bombers, etc and are willing to die while taking Americans with them. I say this as a guy that spent over 20 years working on that technology.  We have spent a fuck ton of money on sensor fusion, data collating, predictive AI, ECM,  etc, and none of that gives us much of an advantage over guys that hides in a crowd with a bomb strapped to their chest with a dead mans switch. The Taliban is very aware that they don’t have to win any battles, they just have to keep chipping away at the fringes and get the American public to sour on the body count and cost. 

[Longhorn_Fan68 33693]

1 minute ago, TexArcher said:

No, dipshit.  They wouldn't do that because they're now the government of Afghanistan and that would be an act of war, meaning that they'd be risking another American (and possibly coalition) invasion.  What they would do is let ISIS do it so that they, the Taliban, could claim that they never violated the cease-fire and they also condemn this cowardly attack.

It's as if you've been sleeping through the last 30 years of how this works.

or - and stay with me here - maybe he's not that bright

[TXSG8R 3325]

13 minutes ago, Tailgate said:

I have faith the military has more power than Biden and they will now be calling the shots.

He is just a temporary government employee.

 

You obviously missed the part of the presser where he said he has offered the pentagon anything they want for this mission and they have declined to increase our posture. 

[Longhorn_Fan68 33693]

Just now, TXSG8R said:

You obviously missed the part of the presser where he said he has offered the pentagon anything they want for this mission and they have declined to increase our posture. 

oh come on now, that doesn't fit the narrative. it's ALL Biden's fault!

[elfenix 34000]

but i'm sure trump and mike had this totally awesome and amazing plan that would have worked and nevermind that they didn't tell anyone what this plan was nor despite their absolute confidence in  it didn't bother to execute it

[MNLonghornFUKM 8780]

No, dipshit.  They wouldn't do that because they're now the government of Afghanistan and that would be an act of war, meaning that they'd be risking another American (and possibly coalition) invasion.  What they would do is let ISIS do it so that they, the Taliban, could claim that they never violated the cease-fire and they also condemn this cowardly attack.
It's as if you've been sleeping through the last 30 years of how this works.

Um ok. So basically what I’ve been saying. I’ve said multiple times if the Taliban attacks america, they’re getting wiped out. There’s nothing to gain in doing that and erases the last 20’years of waiting I guess. America announces they’re out and the taliban takes over against a bunch of pushovers. America doesn’t do anything about it and they keep rolling. Biden says it’s inevitable the taliban can take Kabul and 4 weeks later they do just that. And now here we are. Teaming up with the taliban to take out Isis because bidens a fuckhead. And so are you.

[Nicole44 21941]

Legit question for those who don’t already have me on ignore (thanks for all the neg rep btw…we all need a reality check): if August 31st is the deadline, even if the Taliban may be acting in their own best interests as Our President just said, are they not now a bigger target until that time? Given how many we still have on the ground? I mentioned in the DT earlier about my senior prom date that was killed over there—Staff Sgt in the Army—that this is just gut wrenching what happened today and has been happening. I don’t think any of you are bad people. I know that in my heart despite what has been said about me. 
 

I just think trusting a scorpion (Taliban) when we are the turtle/frog in this scenario (while we now have very little choice at this point) may lead to further loss of life. 

[Brisketexan 103139]

2 minutes ago, TXSG8R said:

 The Taliban is waiting us out because this is the easiest option for them to control the country.

This.  It's this simple.  That is why they are not killing us right now -- because being nice and ushering us out the door is the quickest and surest way to achieve their goal.

3 minutes ago, TXSG8R said:

If it looks like we are sticking around they will definitely simultaneously melt into the population and start killing Americans at the same time.

And also this.  That's option 2, put into play if we break the deal and stay.

In the simplest terms, our deal with the Taliban is "leave, and we won't kill you on the way out.  Stay, and we start killing you wherever we can, however we can."  Every other element of the deal is just details.

ISIS using the chaos to their advantage is just the utterly predictable cherry on top of the shit sundae we built.

[TexArcher 36902]

1 minute ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Um ok. So basically what I’ve been saying. I’ve said multiple times if the Taliban attacks america, they’re getting wiped out. There’s nothing to gain in doing that and erases the last 20’years of waiting I guess. America announces they’re out and the taliban takes over against a bunch of pushovers. America doesn’t do anything about it and they keep rolling. Biden says it’s inevitable the taliban can take Kabul and 4 weeks later they do just that. And now here we are. Teaming up with the taliban to take out Isis because bidens a fuckhead. And so are you.

Oh, bless your stupid heart.

[wildcat09 28387]

15 minutes ago, Tailgate said:

I have faith the military has more power than Biden and they will now be calling the shots.

He is just a temporary government employee.

 

There's plenty of military dictatorships left in the world, asshole. You're free to move to one.

[Js1 82350]

2 minutes ago, elfenix said:

but i'm sure trump and mike had this totally awesome and amazing plan that would have worked and nevermind that they didn't tell anyone what this plan was nor despite their absolute confidence in  it didn't bother to execute it

Just needed 2 more weeks for this beautiful plan 

[JimmyJames 12267]

1 hour ago, Muy Frio said:

It’s mostly just the most hardcore loyalists supporting this as job well done. They happen to just overwhelmingly reside in places like CR. 

This fucking guy again? You never give up do you. Just one troll aaaaand on to the next.

I mean once someone is banned shouldn’t it be an auto ban when they show up again to spout out the same bullshit they got banned for in the first place? I’m just asking the question.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8780]

Oh, bless your stupid heart.

Let’s let Isis in to kill Americans just so that can bring them right back to our country we just took back after 20 years of waiting. But blame it on Isis. Brilliant.

[Brisketexan 103139]

1 minute ago, Nicole44 said:

Legit question for those who don’t already have me on ignore (thanks for all the neg rep btw…we all need a reality check): if August 31st is the deadline, even if the Taliban may be acting in their own best interests as Our President just said, are they not now a bigger target until that time? Given how many we still have on the ground? I mentioned in the DT earlier about my senior prom date that was killed over there—Staff Sgt in the Army—that this is just gut wrenching what happened today and has been happening. I don’t think any of you are bad people. I know that in my heart despite what has been said about me. 
 

I just think trusting a scorpion (Taliban) when we are the turtle/frog in this scenario (while we now have very little choice at this point) may lead to further loss of life. 

It's Afghanistan.  Your only choice is which scorpion to deal with.  I'm dead serious, it's something we talked about in more benign terms when talking about their mercantile culture.  You never have a final "contract" with someone there.  The deal is always subject to change and renegotiation, depending on how the advantages and power structure change moment to moment.  But that doesn't make them irrational actors -- they are rational, with clear motives.  Just because they think differently than we do doesn't mean that they aren't thinking both cleverly and predictably.

Our "deal" with the Taliban is still doing what it was supposed to do -- get us out of there without the largest force on the ground (them) taking deadly action against us.  A LOVELY sideline is that the quick collapse of the ANA, and the ragtag nature of the Taliban, means that there is chaos on the ground and no great power structure.  So, bad actors can do their stuff.  Thus, ISIS suicide bombs.

[TXSG8R 3325]

3 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Legit question for those who don’t already have me on ignore (thanks for all the neg rep btw…we all need a reality check): if August 31st is the deadline, even if the Taliban may be acting in their own best interests as Our President just said, are they not now a bigger target until that time? Given how many we still have on the ground? I mentioned in the DT earlier about my senior prom date that was killed over there—Staff Sgt in the Army—that this is just gut wrenching what happened today and has been happening. I don’t think any of you are bad people. I know that in my heart despite what has been said about me. 
 

I just think trusting a scorpion (Taliban) when we are the turtle/frog in this scenario (while we now have very little choice at this point) may lead to further loss of life. 

I think anyone familiar with this kind of mission expects casualties. The difference between the casualties while doing this kneel operation versus reestablishing our military presence and pushing the taliban back is easily in the hundreds of lives, if not thousands, and that doesn’t count the monetary costs of ramping back up to wartime footing. I doubt anyone in a position of authority trusts the Taliban, but you work with what you’ve got. Up until today it had resulted in over 80k evacuations with almost no loss of life. 

[wildcat09 28387]

7 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Legit question for those who don’t already have me on ignore (thanks for all the neg rep btw…we all need a reality check): if August 31st is the deadline, even if the Taliban may be acting in their own best interests as Our President just said, are they not now a bigger target until that time? Given how many we still have on the ground? I mentioned in the DT earlier about my senior prom date that was killed over there—Staff Sgt in the Army—that this is just gut wrenching what happened today and has been happening. I don’t think any of you are bad people. I know that in my heart despite what has been said about me. 
 

I just think trusting a scorpion (Taliban) when we are the turtle/frog in this scenario (while we now have very little choice at this point) may lead to further loss of life. 

Do you think we can just wave a magic wand and get everyone out safely and we're just choosing not to for fun?

[MNLonghornFUKM 8780]

And also this.  That's option 2, put into play if we break the deal and stay.
In the simplest terms, our deal with the Taliban is "leave, and we won't kill you on the way out.  Stay, and we start killing you wherever we can, however we can."  Every other element of the deal is just details.
ISIS using the chaos to their advantage is just the utterly predictable cherry on top of the shit sundae we built.

So those Americans that are on the other side of the taliban perimeter who can’t get through. Just shit out of luck because they didn’t listen to the warnings.?