Afganistan Collapse

xtsho

Well-Known Member
hand here we go...
Actually there they go. Right back to where they were 20 years ago before we spent decades, trillions of dollars, and thousands of lives over there. The Russians lost over 15,000 lives over there before they finally pulled the plug.

It's the way they've lived for centuries. We could stay there another 2 decades and as soon as we left the same thing would happen.
 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
We glorified the same people we ended up fighting against years before we sent forces into that meat grinder.

 

printer

Well-Known Member
Google locks down Afghan government accounts as Taliban looks for access: report
Google has locked down Afghan government accounts as the Taliban is attempting to access the former officials’ emails, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

An employee of the former government told Reuters the Taliban asked him in late July to save data on the ministry he formerly worked for on servers the group could access.

"If I do so, then they will get access to the data and official communications of the previous ministry leadership," the employee said, adding that he is now in hiding since he did not cooperate with the request.

Around two dozen officials, with some in the ministries of finance, industry, higher education and mines, used Google for official communications, according to Reuters, along with local governments and the office of presidential protocol.

Google said Friday it was "taking temporary actions to secure relevant accounts,” but did not admit to a complete lockdown of the accounts.

“In consultation with experts, we are continuously assessing the situation in Afghanistan. We are taking temporary actions to secure relevant accounts, as information continues to come in,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill.

The person familiar with the matter told the outlet the accounts were completely locked down as the information could be used to track down individuals the group would harm.

I am not a fan of cloud computing, but in this case...
 

printer

Well-Known Member
US military bases prepare to house up to 50,000 Afghans
More than 25,600 Afghans have arrived stateside so far and include a mix of special immigrant visa (SIV) applicants and asylum-seekers, VanHerck told reporters at the Pentagon via satellite video.

But with a current ability to only house 36,000 people across installations, “we’re working to increase capacity to at least 50,000,” he said.

He noted that it’s unlikely the military will need to use additional bases to house people.

While they wait for their visas to be processed or to be resettled, Afghans are receiving housing, food, medical care and other services at Fort Lee, Va.; Fort McCoy, Wis.; Fort Bliss, Texas; Joint Base McGuire-Dix–Lakehurst, N.J.; Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.; Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.; Fort Pickett, Va.; and Camp Atterbury, Ind.
 

Dorian2

Well-Known Member
US military bases prepare to house up to 50,000 Afghans
More than 25,600 Afghans have arrived stateside so far and include a mix of special immigrant visa (SIV) applicants and asylum-seekers, VanHerck told reporters at the Pentagon via satellite video.

But with a current ability to only house 36,000 people across installations, “we’re working to increase capacity to at least 50,000,” he said.

He noted that it’s unlikely the military will need to use additional bases to house people.

While they wait for their visas to be processed or to be resettled, Afghans are receiving housing, food, medical care and other services at Fort Lee, Va.; Fort McCoy, Wis.; Fort Bliss, Texas; Joint Base McGuire-Dix–Lakehurst, N.J.; Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.; Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.; Fort Pickett, Va.; and Camp Atterbury, Ind.
A bit related. When I was a teenager my Mom was working as a Nurse for the Vietnamese refugees being housed at the Forces base. You haven't had a proper Family dinner until your Mom starts jabbing about the Tapeworms in the refugees. Tasty times. ;)
 

Don't Bogart

Well-Known Member
i read something last week that the Afghan people felt more comfortable under Taliban, not US, rule.
I've "heard" that mentioned from time to time. Dropping western culture on them is a bit daunting to say the least.
We have this great knack of pissing people off with our kindness.
Most of the people don't know western lifestyle from a western omelet. A lot of them are held to tribal allegiances if the chief says no then it's no.
Only to have him change his mind the next morning.
This is all they know.
Quite honestly I figured, wrongly, that we go and remove this "problem" not become the problem.

We walk up to the average Afghan guy and say,"Stop growing poppies."
"But this is what I do. How do I feed my family?"
"Umm, hmm. O.k. grow saffron."
"O.k. I will grow saffron."
"Now we are going to teach you how to fight in the Afghan army."
"O.k."
"Cause the Taliban are bad people."
"O.k. I can grow saffron?"
"Sure sure.
.
.
O.k you now know how to fight. Let's go."
"Go where?"
"To fight the Taliban."
"Why?"
(A little frustrated), "THEY'RE the bad paople. Remember? 20 years ago they were chopping off peoples heads and stuff. We came and stopped that."
"I was only 10 then. But. Thank you,"
"Your welcome. Now let's go."
"O.k."

"Now a while ago we pushed back the Taliban. So you stay here and make sure they don't come back."
"But my saffron?!"
"It'll be fine. In fact if you keep the Taliban away you will be able to grow it with no problems for the rest of your life."
"They used to buy my poppies. I was hoping they would buy my saffron."
"We'll buy it."
"O.k. So I just keep the Taliban away. But What if they come back?"
"You shoot them."
"Shoot them?"
"Shoot them."
"Umm, what if they shoot back?"
"You shoot back and you keep shooting back untill they stop shooting."
"You are staying here with me?"
"For a little while."

Our soldier returns to base and reports on the progress that the Afghan army is making.
He then returns to see how things are going. Halfway he finds his Afghan soldier on the road heading back.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? You're supposed to be watching out for the Taliban."
"I did."
"And?"
"............"
"Did the Taliban return?"
"Yes"
"Did you shoot at them?"
"Yes."
"So what happened."
"They shoot back."
"You're supposed to shoot back and keep shooting till they go away."
"They wouldn't go away."
"Look, I kept shooting and I made them go away. You can to."
"What about my saffron?"
"F*CK THE SAFFRON! Get back there and stop them."
"I think I liked it better with the Taliban. I just grew poppies and didn't have to shoot anybody."
 
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