#Gammons
Well parliament is being recalled over the matter now. Not exactly sure why unless they want to go back in?! Complete and utter cluster.
Maybe an Afghan thread might be useful?
No chance of that with Sleepy Joe in the States saying he has no regrets. You arenât going to get an International Coalition that can put enough boots on the ground without them.
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On itv news saying pentagon are now weighing up sending in troops
Itâs already too late now. Some reporting from inside is suggesting however that the Taliban are allowing people to leave while they transfer power 
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All to late.
Even their âpresidentâ has abandoned ship.
Iâve said it before and will say it again
Here for the record.
Unless an enemy is prepared to fight on reasonable terms, be identified as combatants and adhere to the Geneva accords, they are nothing but inhumane.
We should never engage in traditional combat with these people as they do not follow traditional rules of war.
For we have sown the wind, and now, shall reap the whirlwind.
The problem is that there is no âNorthern Allianceâ to support this time, the heavy lifting would all have to be done by US conventional forces and that just isnât going to happen.
It would take a full blown invasion at this point, I know they keep a Brigade from the 82nd at high readiness but even that would t be nearly enough. (Maybe if they had gone in after the first cities had fallen the Taliban mightâve paused but not now).
Just because theyâve got plans doesnât mean anything.
I guarantee you, somewhere in the MoD, thereâs a plan to invade France. Doesnât mean we actually willâŚ
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Shame. I pay my income tax, which was brought in to fund war with France, I want my invasion of Calais.
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The problem is that wars these days are fought or not on the basis of appeasing the electorate, and not what is militarily effective or efficient.
2001 âyou gotta do somethingâ
2015 âdragging on a bit, weâre bloody paying for thisâ
2021 ânot our problem any more, we tried, donât worry about that, stop the dinghiesâ
2023 âwhy are there more dinghies?â
By allowing this situation to develop as it has during and after intervention and then now, governments both sides of the Atlantic have spat on the blood and sacrifice of everyone who deployed, especially those that didnât make it home, their families, and those with life changing injuries and conditions.
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âŚand Iâm not warmonger, hungry for action. But once you go somewhere you damn well need to finish the job properly.
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Iâd agree with all of that. And I imagine there is a lot more of this sort of thing yet to come home to roost.
I think the whole situation is so thoroughly depressing.
All those people trying to evacuate as they know things will be grim very quickly.
On the one hand you could just say ultimately it is a different culture, a different way of doing things⌠let them kick lumps out of each other until they irritate (again) the US or Israel⌠or you could say letâs try and keep the peace etc. But look where that got us.
The whole thing is such a mess. There are no right answers, and people like the Taliban thrive on that sort of chaos.
Very, very sad.
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Agreed we have effectively spent 20 years creating a second Somalia, another failed state.
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We havenât created it, we merely gave it a pause. Itâs been a failed since the revolution in the 70s.
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Indeed. Iâve been reading up on this a bit. Apparently the Afghan Communist government was too extreme for the Soviets, who also feared it was actually CIA front.
Either way, what a mess.
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Historically this area has been âawkwardâ and will remain the same.
The speed at which things have turned, shows how ineffective âthe Westâsâ military presence has been. Just like when the Russians pulled out.
Unless âthe Westâ puts a permanent âpolice forceâ into Afghanistan and accepts this cost to retain an uneasy peace, Afghanistan will become the Talibanâs. They have been sitting and waiting for âusâ to pull out.
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Its been like that for centuries. My great grandfather gained the India General Service Medal in the 1930s for being on the border (Khyber Pass area).
I would agree with most of that.
I would, though, argue that the Westsâ military presence was effective in the short term - look at the gains made in infrastructure, security, womenâs rights etc. during op Herrick
The Taliban have been very good at playing the long game, and using asymmetrical warfare to obtain their goals.