Afghan war news and discussion

[weatheriscool]

Looking at our record of the past 40 years we better never get into a war with China. China would fucking destroy the united states and land on our shores and take it over. Our military is a joke.

[caltrek]

How is the Taliban Gaining So Fast in Afghanistan?
by Jen Kirby Interviewing Andrew Watkins
August 11, 2021

https://www.vox.com/22618215/afghanista ... an-advance

Extract:

(Vox) To understand the pace of the Taliban’s advance and what it means for Afghanistan’s future, I spoke to Andrew Watkins, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Afghanistan. He explained how the Taliban took these provincial capitals, and what missteps by both the US and Afghan governments did — and didn’t — contribute to the Taliban’s advance.
…
Andrew Watkins: For the longest time, the Afghan government has pointed to this district center map as a means of demonstrating their authority, when in reality, their only presence or assertion of authority might be a district center where they have a couple buildings that are protected by a small military or police force, or sometimes just a militia that’s outfitted and paid by the government. And that’s it. That is the only government that exists in that entire district, for miles around in any direction.

The Taliban has swept across the country through these districts. But it’s not accurate to say the Taliban now controls all of the districts they’ve captured, because in many places they haven’t set up a shadow government. They haven’t left a garrison of their fighters to control the area. In some places, they cause the Afghan troops or police to run away, to surrender, to retreat, to simply go home.
…
Finally, you have a lot of political division across Afghanistan among people who oppose the Taliban, but do not agree when it comes to the level of support for President Ashraf Ghani’s government. Especially since 2014, there’s been a history of political struggles and infighting among people who are on the side of the Afghan government, but can’t get along and cooperate with one another.

In every instance of infighting, you’ve seen the Taliban capitalize on the uncertainty and the confusion and the divisions that have cropped up. You see the Taliban moving into places where the central government in Kabul has a disagreement with people who sit in a provincial capital, or local communities who don’t want someone assigned to them as an official because they’re being sent from Kabul and they’re not local to the area.

[weatheriscool]

Taliban take 10th Afghan provincial capital, squeezing Kabul
Source: AP

By TAMEEM AKHGAR, RAHIM FAIEZ and JON GAMBRELL

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban captured a strategic provincial capital near Kabul on Thursday, the 10th the insurgents have taken in a weeklong sweep across Afghanistan just weeks before the end of the American military mission there.

Seizing Ghazni cuts off a crucial highway linking the Afghan capital with the country’s southern provinces, which similarly find themselves under assault as part of an insurgent push some 20 years after the foreign troops arrived to oust the Taliban government.

While Kabul itself isn’t directly under threat, the loss of Ghazni tightens the grip of a resurgent Taliban estimated to now hold some two-thirds of the nation, and thousands of people have fled their homes.

The latest U.S. military intelligence assessment suggests Kabul could come under insurgent pressure within 30 days and that, if current trends hold, the Taliban could gain full control of the country within a few months. The Afghan government may eventually be forced to pull back to defend the capital and just a few other cities.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/middle-east- ... cbc38f239a

[weatheriscool]

U.S. troops sent to evacuate personnel at Kabul embassy

As the Taliban move rapidly through the country, U.S. troops are being sent to the Kabul airport.

With security in Afghanistan deteriorating rapidly, U.S. troops were dispatched Thursday to evacuate personnel from the embassy in Kabul, according to a U.S. official.

U.S. troops are being sent to the Kabul airport where they will provide air and ground support to help process Americans hastily exiting the country.

The move comes alongside news that the Taliban have seized the country's third largest city of Heart, a strategic provincial capital near Kabul.

https://justthenews.com/world/middle-ea ... ul-embassy

[weatheriscool]

Jack Posobiec
@JackPosobiec
The Pentagon spent $88 billion dollars training the Afghan Army for 20 years

It collapsed in 1 month

[weatheriscool]

US sending 3K troops for partial Afghan embassy evacuation
Source: AP

By ROBERT BURNS, MATTHEW LEE and ELLEN KNICKMEYER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just weeks before the U.S. is scheduled to end its war in Afghanistan, the Biden administration is rushing 3,000 fresh troops to the Kabul airport to help with a partial evacuation of the U.S. Embassy. The move highlights the stunning speed of a Taliban takeover of much of the country, including their capture on Thursday of Kandahar, the second-largest city and the birthplace of the Taliban movement.

The State Department said the embassy will continue functioning, but Thursday’s dramatic decision to bring in thousands of additional U.S. troops is a sign of waning confidence in the Afghan government’s ability to hold off the Taliban surge. The announcement came just hours after the Taliban captured the western city of Herat as well as Ghazni, a strategic provincial capital south of Kabul. The advance, and the partial U.S. Embassy evacuation, increasingly isolate the nation’s capital, home to millions of Afghans.

“This is not abandonment. This is not an evacuation. This is not a wholesale withdrawal,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said. “What this is is a reduction in the size of our civilian footprint.”

Price rejected the idea that Thursday’s moves sent encouraging signals to an already emboldened Taliban, or demoralizing ones to frightened Afghan civilians. “The message we are sending to the people of Afghanistan is one of enduring partnership,” Price insisted.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan- ... 9e99c3dabf

[wjfox]

[Yuli Ban]

Looking at our record of the past 40 years we better never get into a war with China. China would fucking destroy the united states and land on our shores and take it over. Our military is a joke.

I doubt it. We've not committed to a proper war since arguably Korea, though to be fair China did hold us off there when they were a MUCH weaker nation.

We've only been fighting "police actions" for the past 50 years, stomping on far weaker nations and dealing with insurgencies that wear us down. Against a major power on roughly equal footing, if we can win within the first six months, we'd be effective. But China's the kind of nation that, if they hold out longer than six months, they'll likely increase productivity and industrialization enough to make the war completely unwinnable. As for landing on our shores? Maybe outlying territories, but nothing further than that. It's mushroom clouds if either we or they land on the other's mainland.

[wjfox]

Boris Johnson calls emergency Cobra meeting on Afghanistan

1 hour ago

Boris Johnson is to convene an emergency Cobra meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss the situation in Afghanistan Downing Street has announced.

The Prime Minister’s decision to bring together a top-level Government meeting comes amid growing concern over the Taliban’s lightning offensive that is gradually encircling the capital Kabul only weeks before the full withdrawal of Allied armed forces.

Britain and the US have agreed to send in additional troops, with 600 UK personnel due to help with efforts to get citizens out of the country and support the relocation of former Afghan staff.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said he feared multinational terror network al Qaida, the group behind atrocities such as the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, would “probably come back” as Afghanistan destabilises once again.

Taliban insurgents are now estimated to hold more than two-thirds of Afghanistan and continue to press their offensive, having taken the country’s second and third largest cities, Kandahar and Herat, as part of a week-long blitz.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/afgh ... 50569.html

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

Taliban approach Kabul's outskirts, attack north Afghan city
Source: AP

By AHMAD SEIR, RAHIM FAIEZ and JOSEPH KRAUSS

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban seized two more provinces on Saturday and approached the outskirts of Afghanistan’s capital while also launching a multi-pronged assault on a major northern city defended by former warlords, Afghan officials said.

The insurgents have captured much of northern, western and southern Afghanistan in a breakneck offensive less than three weeks before the United States is set to withdraw its last troops, raising fears of a full militant takeover or another Afghan civil war.

The Taliban captured all of Logar province, just south of the capital, Kabul, and detained local officials, said Hoda Ahmadi, a lawmaker from the province. She said the Taliban have reached the Char Asyab district, just 11 kilometers (7 miles) south of Kabul.

The insurgents also captured the capital of Paktika, bordering Pakistan, according to Khalid Asad, a lawmaker from the province. He said fighting broke out in Sharana early Saturday but ended after local elders intervened to negotiate a pullout. He said the governor and other officials surrendered and were on their way to Kabul.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-bu ... d176987b19

[weatheriscool]

U.S. Embassy In Kabul Tells Staff To Destroy Sensitive Material And Evacuate
Source: NPR

A memo obtained by NPR lays out the emergency preparations being made by American diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul — including the destruction of sensitive documents and computers — as most of them prepare to leave the country.

The memo was written for staff at the embassy and shared with NPR on condition of anonymity.

Most will be evacuated by 3,000 U.S. troops on their way to Kabul to ensure a safe and orderly departure. The embassy will be evacuated and a very small consular staff will work in Kabul, the memo noted.

The embassy staffers were instructed to destroy sensitive documents and desktop computers before they leave, according to the document.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/13/10273905 ... evacuation

[andmar74]

This is a catastrophe for millions of people trapped in Afghanistan. What happened to the government military forces??

[Xyls]

Breaking: Reports that the Taliban are now at the gates of Kabul.

American air forces are dropping bombs immediately outside of the city. Fall of the city is likely within hours...

[weatheriscool]

@ZaidZamanHamid

Taliban troops entering Kabul......

You are witnessing an unbelievable history in the making... It seems that hundreds of US Embassy personal will be captured alive...... Or killed....

[Yuli Ban]

Afghan women forced from banking jobs as Taliban take control

In early July, as Taliban insurgents were seizing territory from government forces across Afghanistan, fighters from the group walked into the offices of Azizi Bank in the southern city of Kandahar and ordered nine women working there to leave.

The gunmen escorted them to their homes and told them not to return to their jobs. Instead, they explained that male relatives could take their place, according to three of the women involved and the bank's manager.

"It's really strange to not be allowed to get to work, but now this is what it is," Noor Khatera, a 43-year-old woman who had worked in the accounts department of the bank told Reuters.

"I taught myself English and even learned how to operate a computer, but now I will have to look for a place where I can just work with more women around."

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

Shit's really going down now

Heavy fighting ongoing on the outskirts of Kabul as of early Aug. 15; a total blackout reported in the city

Heavy fighting, as well as a city-wide blackout, are being reported in Kabul as of early Aug. 15. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the Taliban may have begun their assault on the capital city.

This is a developing situation; additional information will be issued as warranted.

[Yuli Ban]

Biden announces he's authorized 5,000 troops to Afghanistan to ensure "orderly and safe drawdown"

President Biden announced a total of 5,000 troops to be in Afghanistan, “to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops during our mission and those at special risk from the Taliban advance,” he said in a statement Saturday.

His announcement includes troops already on the ground in country, according to a defense official.

On Saturday the President approved the additional direct deployment of a battalion of 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne division directly in Kabul, instead of their original standby position in Kuwait.

That decision by Biden will now bring the total number of US troops in Kabul up to 5,000. The Pentagon had previously announced 3,000 troops were on their way, and approximately 1,000 troops had already been in Kabul for some time, the defense official said.

The 82nd Airborne troops redirected to Kabul were originally going to be part of up to 4,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne going to Kuwait on standby, to be used if needed.

The bulk of troops are expected in Kabul by the end of the weekend.

[wjfox]

BBC reporting that the Taliban are entering Kabul and "meeting little resistance".