Posted on 05/06/2021 3:06:24 PM PDT by RandFan
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday predicted that the Taliban could overrun the Afghan government by the end of the year as U.S. troops withdraw.
“I think there's a high likelihood that the Taliban will be back in control of the country, maybe as early as the end of the year,” McConnell told reporters in Kentucky.
McConnell has previously bashed President Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan as a “grave mistake” that will “leave coalition partners and vulnerable Afghans high and dry,” but his comments Thursday put a specific marker on the dire predictions.
Some lawmakers and military officials, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, have laid out worst-case scenarios for Afghanistan after the withdrawal where the Taliban overruns the Afghan government, allowing al Qaeda to thrive anew and rolling back the rights of Afghan women and minorities.
But Milley has also said he does not think the worst-case scenario is a “foregone conclusion.”
In announcing the withdrawal, Biden declared that it was “time to end the forever war.”
On Thursday, McConnell pushed back on that, saying he doesn’t “think you can call this an endless war.”
“We haven't been in raging combat the entire period,” McConnell said, citing the fact that no U.S. troops have been killed in combat in more than a year.
But the lack of U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan over the last year came as the Taliban largely held back in attacking U.S. and coalition forces after signing a withdrawal agreement with the Trump administration.
The Taliban has threatened to resume those attacks now that the May 1 deadline for a full U.S. withdrawal that was in last year’s agreement has passed.
McConnell also cited criticism of the withdrawal from former secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice.
On CNN on Sunday, Clinton warned of “huge consequences" from the withdrawal.
“It’s not just me saying that,” McConnell said Thursday. “I believe it is a mistake to completely pull out. I think some presence there for counterterrorism and training purposes is an American's best interest.”
McConnell is doing the bidding of his donors here and the military industrial complex to keep the US involved and put troops at risk and he makes no apology for it even siding with and quoting Hillary Clinton.
It's disgraceful.
Contract it out to retired Gurkas.
We are leaving so the Chinese can come in to exploit the mineral wealth there.
Of course Biden is helping his masters.
I doubt it .
The Afghans want to be free of occupied forces whether they’re Russian, Chinese, British or American
History shows you that.
Let them get on with it
““I think there’s a high likelihood that the Taliban will be back in control of the country, maybe as early as the end of the year,” McConnell told reporters in Kentucky. “
I think that’s the certain outcome.
And I don’t think it has anything to do with US interests, none of which are in Afghanistan.
“We are leaving so the Chinese can come in to exploit the mineral wealth there.”
The dumb bastards that they are.
I encourage them to try.
Indeed. This is their choice.
They want to be ruled like this.
Also I’d suggest the “Taliban” are not a monolithic organization.
It’s going to be a collection of tribal elders, warlords,
respected families etc. that take over.
It’s very complicated and not understood by the likes of McConnell, western media & even ourselves.
With that kind of thinking we could be forced to keep wars going in 100 other countries. The Arms Industry would looooove that.
That’s not saying much for the lives, time, money and effort spent over in that Sh@# hole! Enough is enough! Nuke it next time! The Turtle needs to freakin resign!!!!
Hay Mr. Taliban tally me bananas. They will gain control of a real prize. If the Chinese move in they will suffer the same fate as Russia and the U.S.
Its not like we ever really fought to win there. Let all of those primitive goat lovers have that god-forsaken land so they can kill each other with glee in accordance with their awful “religion”. I hope the Chinese do come in. The fewer Taliban and Chicoms in the world, the better.
The Chicoms will crush any resistance to get their minerals and no one will say a Damn thing about because they’ll all be in on it.
I'm sure I don't give a damn.
The Afghans have had 20 years to get their military up to recognizable capability.
We should have just flattened the place and not spent years and years building them a new country.
Get your gun Mitch and you go guard that ****hole.
We will NEVER leave the Billions of Dollars in the Opium and Meth trade in Afghanistan, it is $10-$15 Billion a year. That’s Our Money, It’s Our Opium, we showed them how to make meth from Ephedra Plants that also grows Wild there, We still get Our Cut!. WE WILL NEVER LEAVE, You can’t have a War on Drugs without Drugs, see Mexico/US Border.
And I don’t think it has anything to do with US interests, none of which are in Afghanistan.But, but...think of all the money the CIA will lose from their opium trade.
If we pull out and the whole of the country explodes, I do not give a damn.
Afghanistan is not worth our youth getting killed over.
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