Posted on 07/02/2021 8:37:03 AM PDT by elpadre
US forces have left their main military base in Afghanistan - the hub for a 20-year mission against the Taliban and al Qaeda - in the clearest sign yet America's longest war is ending.
The sprawling Bagram airfield, about 40 miles north of Kabul, is being handed over to the Afghan security forces in a symbol of the US military's departure from a battlefield that's still raging, amid warnings of a looming civil war. Sponsored link
US President Joe Biden said earlier this year all of between 2,500 to 3,500 US troops in Afghanistan would leave by 11 September, the anniversary of the al Qaeda attacks on the United States in 2001 that prompted the US-led invasion in the first place.
However, it is clear the exit is happening at a much faster tempo, with expectations the majority of personnel will be out by around 4 July - this Sunday - as the US celebrates Independence Day.
A US official was quoted by the Associated Press as saying General Austin Miller, the top commander in Afghanistan, "still retains all the capabilities and authorities to protect the forces."
Washington's decision to leave by a calendar date regardless of the security conditions on the ground - which look increasingly dire - meant the end of a NATO operation also involving some 7,000 non-American forces, including 750 British service personnel.
Most have already returned home, with Germany and Italy announcing on Wednesday that their involvement had ended. More on Afghanistan (more)
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
If the Afghans have a civil war then it’s none of our business and they can sort their own problems out.
Soon to be Taliban Aloha Snackbar Airfield.
graveyard of empires
I suspect the media will be instructed to now refer to the Taliban insurgency as a civil war and not call them terrorists any longer. Watch - they are all lemmons.
Send in elite LGBT units.
Oh well. 20 years to get their act together. Let China get the fun now. Just as the USSR should have been left there to be killed longer.
60 days.
Mark my words.
Already happened. Special Forces surrender with Humvees and tanks to the Taliban.
Having spoken at length with a Marine who spent several tours there, I think it’s time to go. He said, approximatly, we trained them. We armed them. I watched from a long distance as the enemy approached. Forewarned, they came out of their houses, laid down their arms and prostrated themselves. Now some of them are decent and I’d fight beside them in a minute. But you can’t tell which is which until it’s too late. We need to get the Hell out of there and let them sort it out themselves.
There was no anger in his voice. He is 100% disabled, although he looks normal. (Trust me. He’s disabled. It took him a year to re-learn how to walk.) He has no anger at having served in Afghanistan. He has no anger over getting wounded. If he says we need to leave...I believe him.
We never should have gone there in the first place. 9/11? Ok. Drop some nukes on them and call it a day. But Jorge Busho turned that war into a career for many.
Good.
Let the Afghanis murder each other over their cesspit country.
Blow up everything we don’t take with us.
There is nothing there worth a single America life or a single (additional) taxpayer dollar.
Daddy Bush started us down this slope. 30+ years of direct military involvement. Thousands of US casualties. All for nothing.
Eff Bush, Eff Dubya, Eff Obama, Eff Bill Krystal and the rest of the degraded neo-cons at the Weekly Standard. DIAFPC.
What a shame I miss Disney avenue and the PX, plus food restaurants near my barracks.
On Sept. 12 2001, I suggested that the easiest and cheapest “anti-terror” and Homeland Security measure the USA could take would be a complete travel ban with most nations of South Asia, Mid-east and North Africa.
Our elites thought that spending 20 years, thousands of American GIs killed and $trillions occupying Muslim countries was a better idea.
Neah.
Where we went wrong was the nation building.
It should have been an extinction event.
I knew we were going to lose when when they found a convoy with bin Laden’s wives and kids and didn’t destroy it.
The vehicles and guards were legitimate targets, but they just let it go.
Nothing good comes from Afghanistan. Nothing. It has been a hellhole and will remain one so long as the ragheads occupy it.
I was going to post the exact same prediction.
Sixty days is the best case scenario.
The Afghans only have about two kandacks (battalions) worth of proven soldiers who will stand and fight with skill and tactics.
The rest cut and run at the first sign of adversity.
I’ve seen it first hand time and time again.
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