Wars & Rumours of Wars

nivek

As Above So Below
Biden warns US troops could be attacked by ISIS at Kabul airport and turns his back when asked about it: Says August 31 deadline could be extended - if Taliban allow it - and expands airport perimeter

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The president was filmed turning his back and exiting a press conference when asked a serious question about the increased threat to Americans from ISIS after his Afghan withdrawal. Moments before, Biden had said 'thank you' to assembled journalists in an apparent signal that the question and answer session had concluded. But some viewers and commentators felt that the question he ignored was of sufficient gravitas and urgency to merit an answer from the president.

The incident came moments after Biden insisted his administration was 'working hard' and as 'fast as we can' to get Americans and U.S. allies out of Afghanistan, noting that 33,000 people have been evacuated from the country since July. Sunday's press conference also saw 78 year-old Biden struggle with the name of FEMA director Deanne Criswell, who he had reportedly spoken to moments before taking the lectern. And the president laughed when asked about a new poll showing that a majority of Americans had lost faith in his ability to govern.


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nivek

As Above So Below
How Biden almost got British SAS squad KILLED: President's disastrous withdrawal left elite soldiers stranded hundreds of miles from safety... until a dramatic desert rescue in the dead of night saved them from Taliban

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Around 20 elite SAS troops were left stranded in Kandahar province hundreds of miles from friendly forces when the militants took over. As enemy fighters closed in they sent an SOS request to Special Forces bosses back in Britain calling for immediate extraction. But they could not use Kandahar airfield - once home to 26,000 international troops at the height of the military campaign - because it had already been overrun by Taliban. So the SAS soldiers fought their way to a secret desert location where they went into hiding. The coordinates of the location were then relayed back to Special Forces headquarters in a series of coded messages.

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nivek

As Above So Below

AD1184

Celestial
There is a lot of revisionism going on at the moment. In addition to the case of General Buldoc above, many who wanted a prompt withdrawal from Afghanistan are now saying that it is a mistake (not just in the particulars of how it unfolded, but in the objective of withdrawal itself). Last year, when Trump signed his surrender document with the Taliban, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said of it "I welcome this small but important step towards the chance for Afghans to live in peace, free from terrorism... We remain absolutely committed to building an Afghanistan that is a strong partner for decades to come"

Afghan conflict: US and Taliban sign deal to end 18-year war

Now he is warning of the grave consequences of leaving, and claiming that the situation is all the fault of the deal that Trump signed last year:

Wallace said the withdrawal agreement negotiated in Doha, Qatar, by the Trump administration was a “rotten deal” which the UK tried to resist.

He said the UK had no choice but to pull troops out, because the international community had to act together. “When the United States as the framework nation took that decision, the way we were all configured meant that we had to leave,” Wallace said.

Asked how big a mistake it was to withdraw troops, Wallace said: “At the time of the Trump deal with, obviously the Taliban, I felt that was a mistake to have done it that way. We will all, in the international community probably pay the consequences of that.”

He added: “I’ve been pretty blunt about it publicly and that’s quite a rare thing when it comes to United States decisions, but strategically it causes a lot of problems and as an international community, it’s very difficult for what we’re seeing today.”

US withdrawal from Afghanistan a mistake, says UK defence secretary

He has also accused the leader of the opposition of supporting the deal at the time (he didn't), while claiming that he was against (his public remarks indicate otherwise). These people seem to either forget what they have said and thought previously, or they do not understand that others can easily find out what they have said thanks to the internet. Wallace is either a fickle moron, or he bases everything he says on not causing the serving US president offence. He praised Trump's deal when Trump was in power, then put all the blame for the Afghan situation on Trump's deal when Biden inherited the issue.
 
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pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
he bases everything he says on not causing the serving US president offence

A yes man. I'd rather have a nasty prick with a real opinion. I also wouldn't doubt any did express their real concerns and were overruled or ignored.

Again, I don't think there was any public sentiment here in the US for staying and plenty for getting out.

If Joe Biden wanted out I wouldn't have argued with him. He's been on the job since January 20 and has had plenty of time and authority and sworn a public mandate to do whatever he saw fit in this regard to uphold and defend the interests of the United States - which as it turned out was absolutely nothing.

When it comes to military force it is evident that the US was holding those cards at least in the short term and that is the answer to that agreement and deadline. The bear will leave the camp when it's done - if it wants to leave and looks like its doing so then bothering it wouldn't be the best idea. There has been plenty of time to notify our allies, notify our citizens abroad and conduct a withdrawal. I would expect no lack of tragedy and heartache in any version of that no matter who was conducting it or how carefully it was done. He just pulled the plug and blamed Trump for it - a tactic that works domestically but fell flat in the real world on a global stage.

To call this a debacle and imbecilic as our allies have is completely accurate. Biden ceded the initiative and any semblance of control, we react rather than cause them to. We get 'press events' in which he takes a few packaged questions and even at that is still capable of stumbling and bumbling and laughing at shit nobody else is. And now VP Harris is on a flesh crawling giggling tour of southeast Asia. This is an embarrassment and for all the bullshit impeachment talk this one actually rises to the level.

Obama said to never underestimate Joe Biden's ability to fuck things up and he was right. He was too busty having a big birthday bash to get too concerned over this I imagine.
 
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dr wu

Noble
The NY Post is a tabloid rag... but this admin sure didn't think this through well. They knew Trump had agreed to a May 21st pull out with the Taliban and should have been planning an exit since March imho. They needed at least 3-4 months to slowly do it right. If Trump had effed up the Dems and the media would have been all over him as well.
 

AD1184

Celestial
I think the chaos might have been reduced if the withdrawal had been complete by April, or commenced in October, due to the aforementioned seasonal nature of Taliban offensive activity. Beginning in the month of May was just stupid.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
When Afghanistan was a land of peace and plenty: Explorer's fascinating images from 1955 Land Rover expedition show a nation unchanged since the time of Marco Polo



British photographer Christopher Balfour went on an epic journey through rural Afghanistan in 1955 with a team of explorers from Cambridge and has shared his photos in a fascinating new book. The team travelled through eleven countries in a veteran Land Rover and explored the little-visited region of Afghanistan. The 120-page book also features excerpts from the diaries which were kept at the time and reveal a side of the now war-torn country that was at the time untouched by modern life and unrest.

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nivek

As Above So Below
White House refuses to address Taliban's deadline AGAIN: National Security Advisor says it's 'up to Biden' as Psaki snaps at reporter for calling Americans in Kabul 'stranded' - even though she has no idea how many are still in Afghanistan



The Taliban's spokesman issued the sternest threat yet to Biden on Monday morning, saying there will be 'consequences' if US troops - who are holed up at the airport in Kabul evacuating tens of thousands of people - don't leave in the next eight days. Biden and his administration have no idea how many Americans remain trapped in Afghanistan, unable to get to the airport to get on an evacuation flight out. With no numbers on how many Americans remain in the country, much less where those Americans are, it's growing increasingly unlikely that they will be able to fulfil their promise of getting everyone out in eight days and the longer the US citizens remain behind enemy lines in Kabul, the more perilous their situation becomes. But the President is refusing to address the increasingly dangerous situation and his team of advisors are not offering any solid information on how they're going to address it either.

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HAL9000

Honorable
Perhaps he should just fly in another thirty thousand troops overnight and say to the Taliban 'what's that again you were saying about consequences ?'
 

nivek

As Above So Below


 

Standingstones

Celestial
Nothing like letting your enemy capture all your weapons and then dictate the terms of your leaving the country. Do we have anyone in this country who knows what to do in this disaster??
 

JahaRa

Noble
DT was a major dick ,but he's not to blame for us being there in the first place....that would be George H Bush.
Unless one decisively wins a war the exits are always messy ,but I suppose this admin could have done better...maybe no one could have . Everyone who thinks they know better.....are all armchair experts.
We have had troops in Afghanistan since the 70's at the behest of the British. There has been factions fighting for control since the British "gave" them back their country, but they never left, they have been involved the whole and they got us involved.
 

Toroid

Founding Member
Putin launches construction of new warships amid tensions
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday launched the construction of new nuclear submarines and other warships, part of a sweeping military modernization effort amid tensions with the West.

Speaking in a video call, Putin gave orders for two nuclear submarines armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles along with two diesel-powered submarines and two corvettes at shipyards in Severodvinsk, St. Petersburg and Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

“We will continue to boost the potential of the Russian navy, develop its bases and infrastructure, arm it with state-of-the-art weapons,” Putin said. “A strong and sovereign Russia needs a powerful and well-balanced navy.”

The Kremlin has made military modernization a top priority as relations with the West have plunged to post-Cold War lows after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea. Moscow has sought to reestablish a regular naval presence in parts of the world that the Soviet Union had during the Cold War.

The Russian navy already has a major presence in the Mediterranean Sea, with a naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus. It has expanded and modified the Tartus base, the only such facility that Russia currently has outside the former Soviet Union.

“We will continue to show the Russian flag in strategically important ocean areas,” Putin said.

Monday’s ceremony for the new ships was part of the Army-2021 show intended to showcase military might and attract foreign customers for Russia’s arms industries. The weeklong show features aircraft, tanks, missiles and other weapons.

“Many of our weapons have the capabilities that have no analogues in the world, and some will remain unrivaled for a long time to come,” Putin said.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Adam Schiff warns it's 'unlikely' Biden will rescue all Americans and Afghan allies before his August 31 deadline after classified briefing as US military tells president to decide on extension by TUESDAY or risk leaving troops behind

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Evacuations from Afghanistan of US citizens and their allies will likely not be complete by Joe Biden's August 31 deadline, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee said on Monday night. Military officials have warned Biden he must decide whether to keep US troops in Afghanistan by Tuesday - otherwise they will miss the deadline to leave.

CNN reported that the withdrawal decision must come within hours, to give them time to remove all 5,800 US service personnel currently on the ground in Kabul, as well as their equipment and weaponry. Yet Schiff said he thought that was unlikely.


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wwkirk

Divine
Adam Schiff warns it's 'unlikely' Biden will rescue all Americans and Afghan allies before his August 31 deadline after classified briefing as US military tells president to decide on extension by TUESDAY or risk leaving troops behind

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Evacuations from Afghanistan of US citizens and their allies will likely not be complete by Joe Biden's August 31 deadline, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee said on Monday night. Military officials have warned Biden he must decide whether to keep US troops in Afghanistan by Tuesday - otherwise they will miss the deadline to leave.

CNN reported that the withdrawal decision must come within hours, to give them time to remove all 5,800 US service personnel currently on the ground in Kabul, as well as their equipment and weaponry. Yet Schiff said he thought that was unlikely.


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This is getting scary. I hope Biden still has it together enough not to make things worse.
Unfortunately, even if he starts making better decisions going forward, things will still not go so well.
 
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