The withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan that started under Trump is more than half way completed. Biden has said that it will be finished by Sept. 11, 2021. It would be 20 years since the attack on our soil. What have we accomplished during that time with all the deaths and other casualties of war? Not much. There are pictures of Afghan soldiers putting down their weapons to the Taliban in various parts of the country already. It is predicted that within 6 months after the withdrawal is completed, the Taliban will take over Kabul.
Could things have been different? I think so. I think there was overwhelming support of going after bin Laden and the Taliban which had supported him. But before we finished the job, we changed direction and attacked Iraq under the false pretenses of WMD. In reality it was another attempt of the U.S. to change regime in an effort to build democracy in another country. Efforts like this have failed every time since Vietnam. We got rid of Gaddafi in Libya. But what was maybe the most vibrant country in Africa is today a big mess. We have failed the Kurds who fought for us in Iraq and Syria. Now there are countless Afghans who sided with us who will probably be killed once the Taliban take over again.
Do you think we have much credibility around the world today about building democracy in other countries? Do you think that people will follow us given what happens to the South Vietnamese, the Kurds, the Libyans, the Iraqis and the Afghans who sided with us? Do other people still think that American democracy is so great after January 6th? We need to concentrated on our own democracy, our domestic terrorism and the divides we have here before we try any more misguided foreign adventures.
The whole Afghanistan situation is so messed up. It's hard to accept that we are conceding and leaving. We probably should never had been there but I think there was some arrogance in going in and trying to prove to the Russians that things could be stabilized there. Unfortunately, things haven't changed much and while we are leaving, the country looks like it will turn for the worse.
ReplyDeleteI hear that we are considering taking some of those who helped and moving them to Guam. I suppose that if you are an Afghan who sided with us, that you have no choice but to leave your home because death is the other option.
Do you think that we would be withdrawing had Trump not started the process? I know it's been talked about for years but no one had started the process. So I'm assuming Biden looked at it and figured that there was no point in staying. We can say that we are bringing troops home, but really, aren't they just moving troops to other parts of the world?
I see Andrew Yang didn't win the primary in NYC. I had never heard of the guy who won and it seems to me that he is pretty controversial. I wonder who the Republicans will nominate to go against him.
-LBOAYM
After 9/11 we had to go to Afghanistan to try to destroy al Qaeda and the Taliban even if it maybe a big mess like the Soviets experienced before. We may not have got rid of the Taliban completely but we certainly had a better chance to do so if we didn't divert our troops and resources to Iraq. Also by going into Iraq under false pretenses, it made it easier for terrorists to recruit to fight against us.
ReplyDeleteAll those people who worked for us want to come here but we are using the pandemic as an excuse of not being able to process people who are eligible. But we have left people behind in many places when it is time for us to pack up and leave an area. This will make it less likely that people will want to work with us in the future. We have abandoned the Kurds at least twice before, you think they will believe us again?
I think Biden or anyone else would be withdrawing even if Trump did not start it. It is not totally our fault that some of these countries are unstable. You need leadership in that country even if the U.S. is fighting for you. Only South Korea has been successful and so we are there still not because South Korea can't fight North Korea on its own now but we are there trying to neutralize China. Other countries we have gone into under the name of nation building do not have local leadership to survive after we left. Afghanistan, I am afraid, will be back under the Taliban soon.
I agree that we are still deploying about the same number of troops worldwide even after we pull out. We have hundreds of bases around the world, some of which the public don't even know. That is why I say, lets take care of our own democracy first. We should not be the policemen of the world when we are so divided here.
New York's election is crazy. I don't think anyone has been declared the winner yet. With nobody getting the majority, they go to a preferential system where each voter has put names in order of 1 to 5, I believe. I don't know how they tabulate this but supposedly someone who didn't get the most first place votes can still win. I was not impressed with any of the candidates that I watched on Youtube. But I am not so sure Yang would be a good mayor either. The Republican nominee will have no chance in New York.