International Current Affairs (#BidenIn)

[Cynth]

14 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

See the BBC article on  this. The USA and the Afghan gov knew the Taliban were coming, it is just it happened in a few weeks rather than the 6 months they were prob expecting.

The president was supposed to remain to carry on negotiations that have already been happening regarding an inclusive government.....

Talk..freak out...run with your money.

Although the Taliban are back, there are differences to 20 years ago. But I am very sceptical that the Taliban have changed somehow.

At some point they are going to have to try talking to them again...

Yeah they knew the Taliban would walk back into power. The only surprise was the speed of takeover. Trump was negotiating with the Taliban. He would have done that knowing that ultimately they would have the power. The uproar will blow over and everyone will forget there are  people living under terrible conditions and women and girls of generations to come living under oppression and with no hope of better. 

[Smoggy]

8 minutes ago, Cynth said:

Yeah they knew the Taliban would walk back into power. The only surprise was the speed of takeover. Trump was negotiating with the Taliban. He would have done that knowing that ultimately they would have the power. The uproar will blow over and everyone will forget there are  people living under terrible conditions and women and girls of generations to come living under oppression and with no hope of better. 

This is why dangerous times call for brave decisions and to continue the talks that have started. Which i am sure they will try resurrecting...

But yes, I have minimal optimism also.

[Cynth]

Stunning Foreign Correspondent tonight by Afghani female journalist,  Yalda Hakim. And now on QandA. Return of the Taliban.

[Smoggy]

Heartbreaking scenes at Kabul airport, it is getting worse not better and is now a humanitarian disaster. Just been watching a BBC report showing the body bags stacking up. People getting crushed and dehydration. Soldiers increasingly losing control and the terrorist threat increasing. What an unmitigated **** up.

You do not withdraw your troops first and then commence the evacuation. This is what a defence expert on the Beeb was saying and I agree.

The initial withdrawal plan may have been Trump, but this crazy execution is on Biden.

Edited August 22, 2021 by Smoggy

[Unlimited]

54 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

Heartbreaking scenes at Kabul airport, it is getting worse not better and is now a humanitarian disaster. Just been watching a BBC report showing the body bags stacking up. People getting crushed and dehydration. Soldiers increasingly losing control and the terrorist threat increasing. What an unmitigated **** up.

You do not withdraw your troops first and then commence the evacuation. This is what a defence expert on the Beeb was saying and I agree.

The initial withdrawal plan may have been Trump, but this crazy execution is on Biden.

And also on everyone else part of that coalition of forces, including us, who are more than happy to blame the US for sticking to their plan to remove troops while the rest of us also evacuated forces too.

Why did no one else step up to try and fix it?

[Smoggy]

1 minute ago, Unlimited said:

And also on everyone else part of that coalition of forces, including us, who are more than happy to blame the US for sticking to their plan to remove troops while the rest of us also evacuated forces too.

Why did no one else step up to try and fix it?

Apparently the US went alone on this one. The UK for example were not at the withdrawal negotiation table, the othe allies weren't either. This was the US determined to get out and get out to their timeline.

Its not feasible for other nations to remain  if the US pull out as a reliance on them. If they go, the others have no choice.

[Unlimited]

3 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

Apparently the US went alone on this one. The UK for example were not at the withdrawal negotiation table, the othe allies weren't either. This was the US determined to get out and get out to their timeline.

Its not feasible for other nations to remain  if the US pull out as a reliance on them. If they go, the others have no choice.

Their timeline has been in place since Trump was in power. Biden even extended it a few months.

The Taliban clearly got organised in the time it took between the withdrawal announcement and the withdrawal date. It's a bit pathetic no one on our side did.

[Cynth]

8 hours ago, Bones said:

Hard to see Biden recovering from this. He's out of his depth.

Lol. 

[Cynth]

12 hours ago, Bones said:

Amused easily???

Biden will evacuate. He is successfully doing so now. The Taliban will continue their reign of terror but it will hardly make the US news in 6 months time. And the US public will be glad they are out of another war. Biden will be remembered for ending the Afghan war. The US public aren’t known for deep concern for things not directly happening in their country or to their citizens. Biden will be fine. 

[MartinTyler]

On 24/08/2021 at 2:21 PM, Bones said:

Hard to see Biden recovering from this. He's out of his depth.

Care to expand?

[Wobblies]

59 minutes ago, MartinTyler said:

Care to expand?

I will, Trump and his odious mate Pompeo had the Taliban leadership released from Prison some time ago and caved in to all their demands and Trump signed on the dotted line. Can you believe it. They played Trump like a fiddle. Just like The North Korean despot Kim Jong-Un who on two seperate occasions met and laughed at Trump. Talk about dumb. However, it's all Biden's fault.

[MartinTyler]

14 minutes ago, Ossified said:

I will, Trump and his odious mate Pompeo had the Taliban leadership released from Prison some time ago and caved in to all their demands and Trump signed on the dotted line. Can you believe it. They played Trump like a fiddle. Just like The North Korean despot Kim Jong-Un who on two seperate occasions met and laughed at Trump. Talk about dumb. However, it's all Biden's fault.

You stole my punchline !!

[MartinTyler]

1 hour ago, Bones said:

Afghanistan, it's in the news.

Cute.....

[Cynth]

1 hour ago, Bones said:

We'll see August 31 is only a few days or so away, it may present new problems for him. Up to this point he's been grossly incompetent to the point Biden supporters are even questioning what the he'll he's doing. Donating all that military equipment to the Taliban is going to cause more issues moving forward. I don't think the American voter is going to be forgiving considering the international embarrassment Biden has caused for the nation.

You credit the American voter with a longer memory than history has shown them to have. Anyway time will tell. 

[Smoggy]

6 hours ago, Cynth said:

Biden will evacuate. He is successfully doing so now. The Taliban will continue their reign of terror but it will hardly make the US news in 6 months time. And the US public will be glad they are out of another war. Biden will be remembered for ending the Afghan war. The US public aren’t known for deep concern for things not directly happening in their country or to their citizens. Biden will be fine. 

I can't help wonder what the Trump version of this post would be, but will make an attempt-

A catastrophic withdrawal that has left millions of Afghan women exposed to the terror of the Taliban for generations to come. International terror sponsored out of Afghanistan will be back on the agenda and will probably impact on the USA andits allies, no one will forget or forgive Trump and his Afghanistan withdrawal policy....

About right?

 

Edited August 26, 2021 by Smoggy

[Cynth]

1 hour ago, Smoggy said:

I can't help wonder what the Trump version of this post would be, but will make an attempt-

A catastrophic withdrawal that has left millions of Afghan women exposed to the terror of the Taliban for generations to come. International terror sponsored out of Afghanistan will be back on the agenda and will probably impact on the USA andits allies, no one will forget or forgive Trump and his Afghanistan withdrawal policy....

About right?

 

Yep about right. And then everyone would forget. I’m fact they would forget quicker because with Trump there was a new scandal or disaster almost every day. 

[Unlimited]

5 hours ago, Bones said:

We'll see August 31 is only a few days or so away, it may present new problems for him. Up to this point he's been grossly incompetent to the point Biden supporters are even questioning what the he'll he's doing. Donating all that military equipment to the Taliban is going to cause more issues moving forward. I don't think the American voter is going to be forgiving considering the international embarrassment Biden has caused for the nation.

Do they have the knowledge to repair and fix those items or replace parts? Probably not.

And the American voter mantra is "AMERICA FIRST!" (which worked under Trump) so why would they even care about something happening 3,000 miles away?

[Carns]

16 minutes ago, Unlimited said:

Do they have the knowledge to repair and fix those items or replace parts? Probably not.

Read an article on the ABC that stated one of the advantages the US had (in hindsight) when handing over all the weaponry was the vast majority of it was relatively unreliable and would break down regularly.

[Midfielder]

This is very important, critical in many ways... its BIG news.

In brief, 9 lawyers that took the case  into court about Michigan that Trump won the election.

A judge has held they knew there case was wrong and only took the case to court to destroy people faith in the US election system.

In brief the court has referred all nine lawyers back to their bar associations to have then kicked out and never allowed to practice law again.

As a side note it hugely strengthens the case of the voting machine companies and similar who lawyers and media companies who kept saying the voting machines were rigged etc.

 

 

Edited August 26, 2021 by Midfielder

[Midfielder]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

More on the above.... this is a massive case...

 

 

[Smoggy]

12 US Troops and civilians killed at Kabul airport overnight. Biden will talk to the nation soon.

This is a calamity of historic proportions and not sure it can be brushed aside as easily as Cynth would hope or like. This has much further to run.

[Wobblies]

8 hours ago, Midfielder said:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

More on the above.... this is a massive case...

 

 

And in addition: 

Seven US Capitol Police officers have sued former president Donald Trump, alleging he conspired with far-right extremist groups to provoke the deadly January 6 attack on the Congress.

[Cynth]

9 hours ago, Smoggy said:

12 US Troops and civilians killed at Kabul airport overnight. Biden will talk to the nation soon.

This is a calamity of historic proportions and not sure it can be brushed aside as easily as Cynth would hope or like. This has much further to run

 

4 hours ago, Bones said:

Sooner than you thought it would seem.

Quite. Didn’t factor in such an awful incident before evacuation was completed. 

[Smoggy]

1 hour ago, Cynth said:

 

Quite. Didn’t factor in such an awful incident before evacuation was completed. 

I did.

But then I am just right all the time.

[Carns]

41 minutes ago, Bones said:

Nek minnit, cruising in Blackhawk helicopters.

More quality work from the ABC there.

The most useful equipment to them will be the weapons, night vision goggles and armoured vehicles.

But some of the stuff won't be as useful, or won't last very long.

Quote

Current and former officials say that while they are concerned about the Taliban having access to the helicopters, the aircraft require frequent maintenance and many are complicated to fly without extensive training.

"Ironically, the fact that our equipment breaks down so often is a life-saver here," one official said.

 

Retired US Army General Joseph Votel, who oversaw US military operations in Afghanistan as head of US Central Command from 2016 to 2019, said most of the high-end hardware captured by the Taliban, including the aircraft, was not equipped with sensitive US technology.

"In some cases, some of these will be more like trophies," Mr Votel said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-20/taliban-new-us-made-war-chest-afghanistan/100393572

No doubt it is still a major **** up by the US and will be costly.

[Davo]

A lot of the more high tech stuff needs a data connection with their military network to actually work. I saw an article talking about the dangers of the Taliban getting some of the biometric identification equipment but it's basically useless unless you can log in to access the data.

Bu agree, there's plenty of relatively low tech stuff that they can do some damage with.

[Smoggy]

8 minutes ago, Davo said:

A lot of the more high tech stuff needs a data connection with their military network to actually work. I saw an article talking about the dangers of the Taliban getting some of the biometric identification equipment but it's basically useless unless you can log in to access the data.

Bu agree, there's plenty of relatively low tech stuff that they can do some damage with.

Any really high tech stuff of interest left behind you can guarantee will already be in the hands of China.

Edited September 1, 2021 by Smoggy

[mack]

They'll get small arms that they already have, trucks & other light vehicles they already have, some artillery pieces that they might not be able to produce or buy shells for that they probably need and some light aircraft that they probably don't have anyone capable of repairing or maintaining. Anything like helicopters and more high tech equipment is useless to them.

[Smoggy]

2 minutes ago, mack said:

Anything like helicopters and more high tech equipment is useless to them.

But can be sold on. 

[mack]

3 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

But can be sold on. 

They'll be scrapped. No-one will buy broken down helicopters they have to find transport for.