Wars & Rumours of Wars

[HAL9000]

As they say, hindsight is always 20/20...or in England 6/6.

Not even hindsight. It was so obvious months ago that the Taliban were gaining ground out in the sticks.

In cold countries people know the ice and snow is coming and start getting in fuel and supplies long before the snow arrives.

All the locals who helped us should have been quietly helped out of the country starting last year.

Too late now.

 

[HAL9000]

The only blessing here is that the Taliban (apparently) do not like ISIS or Al Qaeda very much. Whether they will allow them to proliferate there is anyone's guess.

 

[nivek]

Bloodied by the Taliban: Australian citizen is beaten while trying to reach evacuation flight as Islamists ignore Biden's demand to let civilians get to Kabul airport - with just hours left to flee

A man claiming to be an Australian citizen filmed himself at a Taliban checkpoint in Kabul today as blood ran down his face and dripped on his shirt, saying he was blocked from reaching the airport. Footage shows the man speaking in accented English in front of guards, who then cock and fire an AK47 over his head. It comes after the Taliban vowed to stop any more Afghans reaching the airport in defiance of Joe Biden's demand that evacuation flights are allowed to continue unimpeded. There are now just hours left to get civilians out of the country before planes ferrying them to safety are diverted to help evacuate thousands of troops protecting the airfield.

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[nivek]

We've lost credibility with our allies and with everyone in the world whom Americans may be affiliated with on any level...It's embarrassing and disgraceful on an international scale that we are even in this situation and at this point...Now its a race against time, bowing to the barbarians with a president who cannot step up and lead, instead we're bumbling around and failing...

...

 

[Dejan Corovic]

here is a war rummor to ponder.

Right now Chinese GDP is about 50% of US GDP. By projecting US and China anual growth rates into a future one can approximately calculate that in about 20-30 years Chinese GDP will match US GDP. By then, China will probably have 6-8 aircraft cariers.

Will that be the time when China and US will start WW3?

 

[Dejan Corovic]

We've lost credibility with our allies and with everyone in the world whom Americans may be affiliated with on any level...It's embarrassing and disgraceful on an international scale that we are even in this situation and at this point...Now its a race against time, bowing to the barbarians with a president who cannot step up and lead, instead we're bumbling around and failing...

...

its not all bad. at least it will nudge europe towards taking care of it's own security, instead of scrounging off US taxpayer's money.

 

[dr wu]

All the locals who helped us should have been quietly helped out of the country starting last year.

Too late now.

Yes..when the orange man was still in office....and it was supposed to be over on May 21 this year....so both admins effed up.

 

[AD1184]

Afghanistan's economy in crisis after Taliban take-over

The Taliban is not competent to run the country that it has just re-conquered. It lacks the educated and experienced people required to run a country such as Afghanistan has become in the 20 years since it was deposed from power. More than 40% of its GDP was from foreign aid that is now frozen. The country faces an imminent economic collapse that could arise in as little as a few weeks. The Taliban will find it more difficult to keep control than it was to take control, and its grip on power may falter. That is not to say that what comes next will not be even worse, it could well be.

 

[HAL9000]

here is a war rummor to ponder.

Right now Chinese GDP is about 50% of US GDP. By projecting US and China anual growth rates into a future one can approximately calculate that in about 20-30 years Chinese GDP will match US GDP. By then, China will probably have 6-8 aircraft cariers.

Will that be the time when China and US will start WW3?

Dejan,

The USA has NO money. It is all debt. They owe China Trillions of Dollars.
The 'richest nation in the world' talk is all bunk.

If there was to be a war between America and China, it all becomes irrelevant, you will fry with the rest of us.

Even the mafia know it isn't a good idea to kill the people who owe you money because if they are dead they can't pay.

It isn't going to happen.

 

[HAL9000]

Afghanistan's economy in crisis after Taliban take-over

The Taliban is not competent to run the country that it has just re-conquered. It lacks the educated and experienced people required to run a country such as Afghanistan has become in the 20 years since it was deposed from power. More than 40% of its GDP was from foreign aid that is now frozen. The country faces an imminent economic collapse that could arise in as little as a few weeks. The Taliban will find it more difficult to keep control than it was to take control, and its grip on power may falter. That is not to say that what comes next will not be even worse, it could well be.

You forget that the Taliban wishes to turn the nation back to a 19th Century state. Maybe even a medieval one.

And that the West is likely to be paying for it anyway.
You can only grow so much opium .

 

[Sheltie]

Afghanistan's economy in crisis after Taliban take-over

The Taliban is not competent to run the country that it has just re-conquered. It lacks the educated and experienced people required to run a country such as Afghanistan has become in the 20 years since it was deposed from power. More than 40% of its GDP was from foreign aid that is now frozen. The country faces an imminent economic collapse that could arise in as little as a few weeks. The Taliban will find it more difficult to keep control than it was to take control, and its grip on power may falter. That is not to say that what comes next will not be even worse, it could well be.

The Taliban is just a loose-knit collection of tribes and factions, many of which have hated each other for generations. The country is going to unravel soon and it will come to resemble Beirut in the 1980s. It will be a tragic bloody mess.

 

[nivek]

The USA has NO money. It is all debt. They owe China Trillions of Dollars.

Incorrect, China holds only $1.07 trillion of US debt...Foreign entities hold only about 25% of the total debt liabilities issued by the U.S. government...

...

 

[HAL9000]

Incorrect, China holds only $1.07 trillion of US debt...Foreign entities hold only about 25% of the total debt liabilities issued by the U.S. government...

...

Peanuts really

 

[AD1184]

Peanuts really

The Americans spaffed twice that much on Afghanistan these past twenty years.

 

[nivek]

its not all bad. at least it will nudge europe towards taking care of it's own security, instead of scrounging off US taxpayer's money.

Has Europe created a unified military force or are they still relying on member nations to give when needed?...

Are member nations allowed to control and move their respective military forces at will or do they need permission from Brussels first?...

...

 

[nivek]

Blinken is an idiot..


Up to 1.5K Americans including 23 California students are STRANDED in Afghanistan: Blinken BLAMES American citizens for not leaving earlier as CIA start helicopter rescue missions

There are 1,500 Americans still desperate to leave Afghanistan, the State Department announced after numerous critics demanded the Biden administration make the number public. It comes after House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy said the image of Joe Biden turning his back without answering questions on Tuesday would 'define' his presidency and accused him of abandoning Americans and allies in Afghanistan. Fellow Republican lawmakers have said Biden is allowing the Taliban to dictate terms of the evacuation. Thousands of people are still converging on the airport in the Afghan capital hoping to escape the Taliban and amid fears of an attack from the Islamic State offshoot ISIS-K. Biden said he would only pull troops by August 31 if Taliban fighters allow safe passage, but the Taliban has ignored the president's threats and are beating up people trying to leave, according to reports, and both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have said there isn't enough time to get everyone out. The US military also launched a nighttime mission to recover people from outside the airport to bring them inside the NATO-held facility for evacuation, the Pentagon revealed Wednesday.

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[nivek]

Why is there a K when ISIS is discussed in the media?...

ISIS-K

...

 

[wwkirk]

Why is there a K when ISIS is discussed in the media?...

ISIS-K

...

"The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province is a self-proclaimed branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant active in South Asia and Central Asia though ISIL denies any connection." (article)

 

[nivek]

Afghanistan's chilling new face of terror: 'ISIS-K' slaughter patients in their hospital beds, bomb girls schools... and see the Taliban as far too liberal. Their latest victory? Joe Biden is running scared of them, writes GUY ADAMS

Founded in 2015, its followers aim to establish an Islamic caliphate across Khorasan (hence the initial 'K') - a historic region covering Pakistan and Afghanistan along with parts of Central Asia, writes GUY ADAMS. The terror group is now such a threat that fear of an attack by Isis-K is being used to justify the US's refusal to delay its withdrawal from Kabul Airport after the August 31 deadline set by Joe Biden. In a statement released on Tuesday night, the US President claimed: 'Every day we're on the ground is another day we know that ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport and attack both US and allied forces and innocent civilians.' The White House seems to believe ISIS-K (who regard the Taliban as dangerous liberals) is about to organise a wave of attacks in an effort to destabilise its efforts to form a government.

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[nivek]

'We're leaving in 72 HOURS - it doesn't matter who's left on the ground.' Ex-CIA officer says he's been told the deadline to evacuate Americans from Kabul is far shorter than August 31 cutoff

American civilians and Afghan allies have just 72 hours before evacuations from Kabul end, a former CIA officer and terrorism expert has claimed. Sam Faddis, who served as the head of the Counter Terrorism Center's Weapons of Mass Destruction unit, said sources in the Pentagon, military officers in Kabul and other former intelligence agency officers have told him that flights for civilians out of the Afghan capital will actually end in the next three days. The alleged deadline has not been officially announced or verified, but raises fears that American citizens could be left behind in the Taliban-occupied city.

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