Seven Days in Kabul

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

well with the obvious exception that the Vietnamese Communist Party while not a paragon of morality didnt execute tens to hundreds of thousands of non communists when they took over despite the bull#### the CIA promoted to start the war in the '50's where as the Taliban probably will

The Vietnamese communists were more devious. They didn't want to risk the US coming back and have international sentiment suddenly go against them. Most of the world supported or were indifferent to the US withdrawl of Vietnam at the time. So the new government just quietly chucked people into Re-education camps once the media were not longer paying attention.


It was not easy to escape Saigon, the airport was continually bombed leading up to April 30. The only escape route was by helicopter and by sea.

[Nyah]

Originally Posted by Locke

They had all the time in the world to sort this out before the boots were off the ground....what were they doing with it?

People are going to die because of this.

They already are. The Taliban are advancing and literally pulling people out of their houses and executing them on the spot if they've help foreign forced or are even associated with such people. It's sick and shocking because it's playing out on Twitter, and I've never seen such violence basically being streamed like that in real time. The violence is inhuman.

[Baron von Kriterium]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

If anyone was basing their estimates on Vietnam, they were fracking insane. We saw this before with the Talliban and the Soviet Union and how fast the Taliban moved to seize power there.

Why someone didn't go into the history books and say, hey fellas, here's what happened when the Russian's drove over the bridge.

The Taliban didn't come to power until 1996, seven years after the Soviets left. They captured Kandahar in 1994.

[GirlySports]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1426710333264179214

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Nyah

They already are. The Taliban are advancing and literally pulling people out of their houses and executing them on the spot if they've help foreign forced or are even associated with such people. It's sick and shocking because it's playing out on Twitter, and I've never seen such violence basically being streamed like that in real time. The violence is inhuman.

Lots of pictures and videos are coming out now of the sheer panic by the refugees coming out now.



There is no security at the airport. People who were told to go to one place have found out that the so called plans have changed and now they're trapped.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

https://twitter.com/user/status/1426710333264179214

Once again a President ignores his own intelligence community and estimates.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

https://twitter.com/user/status/1426710333264179214

That did not age well. I was just reading that the Taliban took over the Presidential Palace and the President himself has fled.

[CaptainCrunch]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1426995675267489793

https://twitter.com/user/status/1426932958561198088

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Cheese

I read this quote on Twitter:

"I believe we should have trained the women of Afghanistan, they would have put up a better fight!"

They'd certainly be more motivated.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

https://twitter.com/user/status/1426995675267489793

https://twitter.com/user/status/1426932958561198088

If we have any morality at all we will let all and any come here and sort out the mess when they are safe, its to late now but at the very least we should have created an indefinate safe zone for them around Kabul

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

If we have any morality at all we will let all and any come here and sort out the mess when they are safe, its to late now but at the very least we should have created an indefinate safe zone for them around Kabul

Its pretty much too late, we can talk about accepting 20,000 refugees and all of that stuff, but nowhere near that number is coming out due to bad government planning, no sense of urgency by the government, and just outright stupidity from the immigration department, and at the minister level.


Even the American's are caught looking the wrong way on this.


Unless you're willing to put boots on the ground to cut a security zone and go out and rescue the people, we're going to see a lot of them die.

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

https://twitter.com/user/status/1426710333264179214

With little resistance from the Afghan army, does this mean the Taliban are now one of the most well-equipped, as well-equipped as any army in the world, with an airforce? you have to think, much of the equipment, knowledge and man-power are now in Taliban hands?
What a disaster. I'm not sure how things could have turned out worse for the Afghanistan citizens and the entire region.

[Nyah]

I'm wondering if this was rushed because of Biden's pledge to pull out by the 20th anniversary of 9/11? This is such a deep betrayal of these people.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1426979015802372100

[Manhattanboy]

Canadian soldiers who fought in Afghanistan were on the news a month ago begging, literally begging the Trudeau government to cut the red tape and get the interpreters and their families out.

And now it’s too late.

[N-E-B]

This is just so sad. Those poor people. I really hope there’s something we can do to help them.

[FlamesAddiction]

I had a regular acquaintance who immigrated to Canada. I don't believe he was fighter, he just seemed so happy all the time. He did dress 100% in traditional Afghan garb and practiced his religion pretty strictly. He owned a store and it was not uncommon to go in and see him on his prayer mat facing Mecca. People would just wait around politely until he was done, then we would go right back to work as happy as ever.

We got a little friendly after a while I asked him what it was like in Afghanistan for him there (to me, he would seem to blend in well with conservative Muslims, and he said that everything was great for him. But the moment he had a daughter, was the day he started planning an exit. He said he could never raise a girl there.

[Julio]

As opposed to South Vietnam, this reminds me more of Cuba when Castro took over, except that it is a lot tougher to get out of A'stan than getting on a boat and going 90 miles to the US.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Canadian soldiers who fought in Afghanistan were on the news a month ago begging, literally begging the Trudeau government to cut the red tape and get the interpreters and their families out.

And now it’s too late.

The Afghan veterans have been screaming at the government for longer then that, they finally started spending money of their own to get them out. They finally blew a few and went to the press, and the Liberal's dithered then created an absolutely stupid strategy that was basically an on line portal to apply and gave them a 72 hour deadline, in a country with very little in the way of computers or internet access, and people too busy trying to flee and survive to find a internet cafe.

Then the Liberals finally sent planes over and three planes (iirc) came back one half filled the rest filled but it was embassy staffers and their family, very little in the way of interpreters and others who aided the CAF.

Now the Embassy is closed, there aren't any planes heading over and the routes to the air field is being cut off and there's no embassy staff to process them.

The government through inaction, and stupidly holds the bag on this one.

Why would anyone trust the Canadian government on this stuff again.

I also doubt that the American's are going to help the Liberals bail themselves out on this one.

[cal_guy]

Originally Posted by Nyah

I'm wondering if this was rushed because of Biden's pledge to pull out by the 20th anniversary of 9/11? This is such a deep betrayal of these people.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1426979015802372100

By the time Biden assumed the Presidency the US was down to a force of 2500 soldiers. There wasn't much that such a small force could do.

[110%]

Originally Posted by cal_guy

By the time Biden assumed the Presidency the US was down to a force of 2500 soldiers. There wasn't much that such a small force could do.

Seems like they did quite a bit man