Afghanistan Crisis

[101]

5 minutes ago, Jacksgranda said:

Labour were in power when British troops went into Afghanistan.

Sorry yes, obviously going in was completely wrong, but it was 20 years ago the current Tory administration are making awful decisions.

In better news, some folk have really enjoyed the last 20 years

 

 

 

[Ric]

I mean, I like the whole bash the tories for this, but Labour have their hands grubby af regarding this and the war in Iraq.

[101]

4 minutes ago, Ric said:

I mean, I like the whole bash the tories for this, but Labour have their hands grubby af regarding this and the war in Iraq.

I was mearly bashing them for not taking vulnerable Afghanis out as we leave especially those we put in danger and now serve as powerful propaganda for the militants.

[Ric]

Just now, 101 said:

I was mearly bashing them...

Don't fret, you are doing good..

[Lofarl]

This’ll guarantee Trump wins the next election.

 Sleepy Joe surrendered Afghanistan to the terrorists who did 9/11.  9/11 was bad.  Only I can stop 9/11 part 2.

[Marshmallo]

1 hour ago, 101 said:

We should be taking female scholars and their families with us as you leave along with the translators who helped us and are now being murdered by the Taliban for helping us out.

Typical Tory policy reek havoc round the world and then shrug at the displacement of people.

Yes Joe Biden and Tony Blair, noted members of the Conservative party

[Marshmallo]

10 minutes ago, 101 said:

Sorry yes, obviously going in was completely wrong, but it was 20 years ago the current Tory administration are making awful decisions.

In better news, some folk have really enjoyed the last 20 years

 

 

 

Wot

Put the Google or Apple graphs up over the same time period. They profiting from the war too?

[tamthebam]

It's the reaction of the immediate neighbours that might be interesting.

Iran aren't terribly keen on the Taliban (wrong kind of Muslim), China are apparently keeping an eye on things (they have a small border with Afghanistan and Terry Taliban won't look kindly on China's treatment of the Uighurs). I can't see the People's Liberation Army marching in though, Beijing will have learned the lessons of the Soviet and US invasions.

Pakistan seems to have a fairly cosy relationship with them, the Taliban leaders having lived quite happily in exile there.

 

[Ric]

8 minutes ago, Lofarl said:

This’ll guarantee Trump wins the next election.

 Sleepy Joe surrendered Afghanistan to the terrorists who did 9/11.  9/11 was bad.  Only I can stop 9/11 part 2.

it would be interesting to see Trump trying to spin Biden being wrong on this, as it was actually Trump's policy that Biden followed through with.

That said, deplorables and the likes of Q nutters don't need any reason to hate Biden, they just make shit up and have that reinforced by racist propaganda channels like Fox and OAN.

This is the sort of people you are dealing with, this was just after the Jan 6th riots, and was filmed in (you guessed it) Texas...

https://i.imgur.com/MR7lFcp.mp4

(MP4's don't embed so you'll need to follow the link, it's Imgur though, not a shady site)

Edited August 15, 2021 by Ric

[ICTJohnboy]

Parliament to be recalled next week.

Churchill, sorry, Boris will be taking charge of this situation and will soon sort everything out.

[Ric]

[Meldrew]

1 hour ago, jamamafegan said:

 

That’s the Taliban taking over Kabul, supposedly with very little resistance, meaning they’ll have pretty much taken over Afghanistan.

 

US & UK nationals are being evacuated from the country. Biden defends the decisions to take US troops out of the country, saying that Afghanistan needs to defend itself rather than rely on Americans.

 

Wonder what the repercussions will be of all this.

 

A Republican President in 2024

[Detournement]

If the Taliban can take over the entire country in a matter of weeks they obviously have some popular support. The western media never acknowledges that foreign occupation is massively unpopular and two decades of occupation drives extremism. 

This is obviously bad news for the people who collaborated with the occupiers but it's difficult to have any sympathy with them.  

[Marshmallo]

Just to put things into perspective: here's who's profiting.

[ICTJohnboy]

3 minutes ago, Detournement said:

If the Taliban can take over the entire country in a matter of weeks they obviously have some popular support. The western media never acknowledges that foreign occupation is massively unpopular and two decades of occupation drives extremism. 

This is obviously bad news for the people who collaborated with the occupiers but it's difficult to have any sympathy with them.  

 

Another demonstration of the situations that can arise when trying to impose democracy at the point of a gun.

[Ric]

1 minute ago, Detournement said:

If the Taliban can take over the entire country in a matter of weeks they obviously have some popular support.

It's a logical conclusion, but it's just a bad correlation.

Essentially this is how it works. Afghanistan has been occupied for many decades now. The general populace who simply want a fucking easy life have to deal with the geopolitics of the region, so when the Americans are winning, they'll support the Americans, when the Taliban is winning they'll support the Taliban. It's self preservation rather than political or religious allegiance. No Afghan wants to be pulled out of their house and shot by the Taliban for being an American sympathiser, hence the issue with translators, so that's why you see pictures of kids throwing rocks at US and/or Government troops.

So, it's not popular support. They clearly have some support, after all we only need to look at America to see how religious bigotry and hatred can gain traction amongst the general populace, but it's not as blanket as the ground captures would suggest.

[Detournement]

There was a Pizza Hut at Bagram Airbase so you weren't far off Marshmallo. 

The vast majority of money spent on this war has went to American corporations and  contractors plus the CIA have obviously coined it in from Opium production.

[Detournement]

4 minutes ago, ICTJohnboy said:

 

Another demonstration of the situations that can arise when trying to impose democracy at the point of a gun.

They didn't impose democracy. At least the 2009 election was completely rigged.

[101]

14 minutes ago, Detournement said:

If the Taliban can take over the entire country in a matter of weeks they obviously have some popular support. The western media never acknowledges that foreign occupation is massively unpopular and two decades of occupation drives extremism. 

This is obviously bad news for the people who collaborated with the occupiers but it's difficult to have any sympathy with them.  

Apparently they give you $100, a gun and a motorcycle for joining up and for many young men in rural Afghanistan it's one of the only prospects for employment.

It was a really good piece by France24 but I suspect journalist will be getting pulled out soon.

[Granny Danger]

I cannot stand Dominic Raab but thought I’d Google his comments since they might give an insight to the Tory government’s thinking.  However I’m struggling to find any recent statements from the U.K. Foreign Secretary.

Maybe he’s busy with something else!