Collapse in Afghanistan

[TopHatter]

They could get the pilots and get around the expertise problem by utilizing Pakistani advisors. There is a resistance fermenting in the Panjshir valley, as well as civilian protests in Jalalabad, Kunar and other areas against the Taliban. I can see the Taliban trying to utilize the aircraft if they feel the need to blitz the Panjshir valley; especially if Pakistan decides they want the Northern Alliance eliminated.

As for the money problem.. the Taliban just got themselves a whole country with mass tax revenues. This is a much more urbanized Afghanistan they took over then the one they lost in 2001.

Yes, they could. But as the article mentions, using conventional systems like that opens them up to a bunch of probable outcomes, none of them really good.

[Tronic]

Yes, they could. But as the article mentions, using conventional systems like that opens them up to a bunch of probable outcomes, none of them really good.

Would the US care if Taliban used those aircraft against internal resistance? The way Biden pulled the plug, it doesn't appear they'd care as long as the threat didn't cross borders.

[Firestorm]

Yes, they could. But as the article mentions, using conventional systems like that opens them up to a bunch of probable outcomes, none of them really good.

Would the US care if Taliban used those aircraft against internal resistance? The way Biden pulled the plug, it doesn't appear they'd care as long as the threat didn't cross borders.

The Taliban do not really need those aircraft now. They have already captured the country. Unless the elements which switched sides in recent times restart a civil war for some reason, the Taliban's position is quite secure. Even the small remnant of the old Northern Alliance led by Ahmad Massoud and Amrullah Saleh is pretty much trapped in the Panjshir with no supply line out of the region towards Tajikistan. They can resist but won't be a threat outside the Panjshir valley. And if the Taliban do use the aircraft against them nobody will care. The US has washed its hands off the country and the NA's old ally and supplier Russia is making nice with the Taliban.

“I’m not naďve enough to not be able to envision a scenario where maybe — maybe — they could find pilots, that maybe the former Afghan air force pilots would be coerced to come over to their side,” Bowman said. “And it’s not inconceivable that foreign powers who aren’t aligned with the United States could help.”

Oh please, the foreign power most likely to help them and which has been helping them the whole time is aligned with the US.

[tbm3fan]

They don't need to. What the Chinese are interested in is their mineral wealth - copper Lithium etc. And they have very deep pockets. Just what the new Taliban regime needs. There is news of the US freezing the Afghan Central Bank reserves which are held in overseas accounts. They total about $9.5 billion. That is chickenfeed for China. I'm sure they will be happy to loan the Taliban that money at very generous rates in return for access to their mines plus protection.

The Taliban are sitting on $1 trillion worth of minerals the world desperately needs

^^The Chinese are salivating at this. The Saudis have already shown that if you are rich in natural resources the world doesn't give a shit how many women you oppress, how many journalists you kill and how much islamic radicalism you support. If the Talibanis have even an ounce of brains they can leverage this to their benefit.

I rarely, if ever agree with DE, except this time. Nothing is written on how this will turn out vis a vis China and the Taliban. China considers the Pakistan Taliban as a terrorist force. China considers the Afghan Taliban as a political force because they want to deal with them to get what they want. Frankly China would have preferred that the US forces stayed if asked off the record. Moving forward is now anybodies guess as to what will happen. One thing for sure is that one can't trust the Taliban whether in Pakistan or Afghanistan. China is going to roll the dice on hope that their money will work to moderate behavior and earn a good return. However their last bet in Venezuela didn't turn out so well.

[Versus]

What drugs have these symptoms?
https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/14...717663751?s=20

[zraver]

Check that backyard...

Bet I got the backyard right if you look at political donations to Reid by people linked to SNC. Military pork gets passed around, but the guys at the top get first dibs. Our endless wars overseas fuel corruption here at home.

[Versus]

Heh, one of many secrets has surfaced recently
https://balkaninsight.com/2021/08/18...taliban-talks/

[TopHatter]

Bet I got the backyard right if you look at political donations to Reid by people linked to SNC. Military pork gets passed around, but the guys at the top get first dibs. Our endless wars overseas fuel corruption here at home.

Whether the U.S. wins or loses, the MI Complex always comes out a winner.

[zraver]

Whether the U.S. wins or loses, the MI Complex always comes out a winner.

Yup, hell Marvel and DC both allude to this via Stark Industries (overt weapons developer) and Wayne Enterprises (secret military projects).

[Gun Grape]

Whether the U.S. wins or loses, the MI Complex always comes out a winner.

A twice Medal Of Honor awarded Marine had that figured out in 1933. MGen Smedley Butler

War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

Same shit Different day

[TopHatter]

A twice Medal Of Honor awarded Marine had that figured out in 1933. MGen Smedley Butler



Same shit Different day

I've read MGen Butler's quote several times and it gets ever more searing with each repeated reading, especially this part:

"I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism."

[Gun Grape]

OK got to recycle/update this old joke

Got Afghan Army M-4 rifles for sale. Never been fired. Only dropped once

[Gun Grape]

Can someone tell me who these 15000 Americans still in Afghanistan are? What they are/were doing in that country?

[Tronic]

10,000 Afghan military casualties per year for the past couple of years, thousands more before that. There was an outpost in Kunduz which held out the Taliban for 2 months without being resupplied and eventually running out of food and ammunition. Dozens of air-dropped Afghan commandos who fought till they ran out of bullets because the local police dissipated and they didn't know the local area to fight their way out. Biden also took away their air support. There are other videos I have seen where Afghan military convoys were ambushed and massacred, possibly due to inside information being passed on to the Taliban. How did the intelligence not pick any of this up?

I keep seeing the 300,000 number being tossed around but it's an open secret that number is a farce. Botched evacuation plan aside, someone needs to own up that this whole thing was a massive intelligence failure. It is untrue that Afghan soldiers simply threw away their weapons and ran. They were ordered to stand down by sold-out commanders and officials. There are videos where Afghan soldiers, in tears, are refusing to hand over their weapons to the Taliban but are being forced to by their commanders. This was an operation which had been going on for more than a year all across Afghanistan and no intelligence picked it up? How is that possible?

The absolute overt joy at which Pakistani officials are celebrating, their Prime Minister, Imran Khan congratulating the Taliban victory and proclaiming that the "chains of slavery have been broken" goes to show how neck deep the Pakistani state has been invested in the Taliban. This is without a doubt an ISI victory.

[Tronic]

Can someone tell me who these 15000 Americans still in Afghanistan are? What they are/were doing in that country?

Journalists, activists, NGOs, dual nationality professionals like doctors, engineers, professors, Afghans political elite (most of whom hold dual nationality) and a good portion are likely just Afghan-Americans visiting their extended family who didn't anticipate the collapse.

A large portion of Afghanistan's professional and political class are foriegn nationals who returned back to Afghanistan once the Taliban were kicked out of power in 2001. Now that the Talibs are back, all of them want to get the hell out. Afghanistan's fugitive President Ghani is also a US citizen.