Current Affairs Afghanistan

[NilSatisOptimum]

well because when it was pointed out that these same people signed a letter claiming that the election was stolen, you said they should be listened to.

Compartmentalization time, heads will wobble.

 

[Ruairi77]

That’s because I think they should be listened to in respect of my original post and not the whataboutery posted as a diversion of the debate…..

Pete, this is not whataboutery.
These people who wrote this letter also falsely claim that the election was fraudulent.
It's a fact that shows how their opinion may not be grounded in reality.
I'd say, due to their stance on the election, they should not be listened to.

 

[Ruairi77]

Compartmentalization time, heads will wobble.

not sure I get you.

 

[peteblue]

Pete, this is not whataboutery.
These people who wrote this letter also falsely claim that the election was fraudulent.
It's a fact that shows how their opinion may not be grounded in reality.
I'd say, due to their stance on the election, they should not be listened to.

Ok, do you think any of the substance contained within the letter has merit…..

 

[roydo]

Ok, do you think any of the substance contained within the letter has merit…..

Do you think they would have written it if Trump was still President? I think thats the point.

 

[BlueTX]

I am not really interested in their view regarding an election being stolen or not. It is what it is. Their experience is in military operations. They appear to believe what most sensible people believe and that is that someone royally screwed up with this withdrawal and the early closure of Bagram Airbase...

If you believe that Biden and his team managed this really well, then fine. I think he and his team made a shambles of it…..

Pete the Strawman.

At issue is the call for resignations of 2 members of the Biden Admin by some Trump-supporting generals who retired a generation ago. It's clear their motivation and relevance/knowledge is none of your concern - because you are appealing to some form of authority that doesn't really exist any longer.

 

[peteblue]

I think the Mericans are reminding us over here that their military big wigs also hold pretty firm political views, and the ones who wrote the letter might just be trumping (sic) their military background for their political one.

The closest we get to it is angry letters to the Telegraph from retired Majors in Gloucestershire.

That is undoubtedly true, but it was a shambles to withdraw the way they did, in the order in which they did it, in allowing people to be left behind, and fully arming the Taliban with more hi tech arms than are possessed by most surrounding countries. If the figures being bandied around are in any way true, the value of the arms is about one and a half times the U.K. total yearly defence budget, and that includes everyone’s salaries as well. Armies always leave kit behind, but the sheer volume that has been gifted to the Taliban is staggering…..

 

[Ruairi77]

Ok, do you think any of the substance contained within the letter has merit…..

I wouldn't object in to a congressional hearing on the withdrawal process and from there I might form an opinion on whether military heads should resign.
But not based on this letter which pitches from an emboldened North Korea to terrorists entering the US from Mexico to the problem of PC woke-ness in the military. It's a shambles of a letter that shouldn't be taken seriously by anyone no matter where you stand on the Afghanistan war or the withdrawal.
So, no, it's political drivel aiming to score points off peoples lives and you should be able to see that.

 

[BlueTX]

That is undoubtedly true, but it was a shambles to withdraw the way they did, in the order in which they did it, in allowing people to be left behind, and fully arming the Taliban with more hi tech arms than are possessed by most surrounding countries. If the figures being bandied around are in any way true, the value of the arms is about one and a half times the U.K. total yearly defence budget, and that includes everyone’s salaries as well. Armies always leave kit behind, but they sheer volume that has been gifted to the Taliban is staggering…..

You simply refuse to discuss these matters in a manner that comports with reality, Pete. You argue emotion and strawmen.

The US did not arm the Taliban (well, we did long ago when they were useful to us fighting the Soviets). The US armed the Afghan Army/Government, which quickly fell apart. I saw a video just yesterday showing Taliban entering a hangar to inspect what were called Chinook helicopters. It had 3 million views and quite a lot of comments like yours in reply. Fact is, they weren't Chinooks. The State Department left the seven CH-46E Sea Knights behind intentionally after rendering them useless scraps of metal. Why? Because that specific helicopter is being retired throughout the government/military and it was a waste of time and resources to bring them back.

 

[peteblue]

You simply refuse to discuss these matters in a manner that comports with reality, Pete. You argue emotion and strawmen.

The US did not arm the Taliban (well, we did long ago when they were useful to us fighting the Soviets). The US armed the Afghan Army/Government, which quickly fell apart. I saw a video just yesterday showing Taliban entering a hangar to inspect what were called Chinook helicopters. It had 3 million views and quite a lot of comments like yours in reply. Fact is, they weren't Chinooks. The State Department left the seven CH-46E Sea Knights behind intentionally after rendering them useless scraps of metal. Why? Because that specific helicopter is being retired throughout the government/military and it was a waste of time and resources to bring them back.

And the other $84.5Bn worth of kit ?…..

 

[Ruairi77]

And the other $84.5Bn worth of kit ?…..

That was the total cost of arming the afghan army.
The cost of military equipment left behind is uncalculated but believed to run in the tens of millions.
A lot of this, roughly $70 million was mine sweepers
A lot was Humvees that were outdated and no longer in US military service.
Stuff like MRAPs and helicopters are very expensive to maintain and run and the taliban don't have the means to make use of them.
So the US scuttled a lot of stuff, the withdrawal prioritized people over hardware. I'm not sure what you want the US to do about arms the Taliban seized off the Afghan govt, start a war to get it back?

 

[peteblue]

That was the total cost of arming the afghan army.
The cost of military equipment left behind is uncalculated but believed to run in the tens of millions.
A lot of this, roughly $70 million was mine sweepers
A lot was Humvees that were outdated and no longer in US military service.
Stuff like MRAPs and helicopters are very expensive to maintain and run and the taliban don't have the means to make use of them.
So the US scuttled a lot of stuff, the withdrawal prioritized people over hardware. I'm not sure what you want the US to do about arms the Taliban seized off the Afghan govt, start a war to get it back?

This sounds, and no offence meant, like a Biden excuse that doesn’t really stack up with what we are being told.….

 

[roydo]

This sounds, and no offence meant, like a Biden excuse that doesn’t really stack up with what we are being told.….

It sounds, and no offence meant, like a post from someone who knows this shiz.

 

[Ruairi77]

This sounds, and no offence meant, like a Biden excuse that doesn’t really stack up with what we are being told.….

Who's 'we'?

 

[peteblue]

Who's 'we'?

The world….