| Afghanistan ...what say ye? 12:28 - Aug 22 with 1387 views | MrHappy2 |
Tony Blair has surfaced to say the yanks have blundered by pulling out
If 350,000 local trained forces couldn’t defeat 70,000 Taliban - and fell within 3 weeks - was it all a waste of time anyway
Our soldiers feel it was ..
Wot a mess ..
Could anything else have been done ?
Is Biden as clueless as Trump or were they both right to say ‘time to withdraw’
Wot say ye? |  |
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| Afghanistan ...what say ye? on 12:36 - Aug 22 with 1376 views | burnsieespana |
Firstly it is a massive tragedy on so many levels which is unfolding and will only get worse is my big fear.
I feel so desperately sorry, for example, for the woman who in the last 20 years have gained freedom and now all, will, I suspect be lost.
It is a lesson I hope, for the west, not to try and impose its values by force on others, even if we wholeheartedly disagree with the way of life being followed.
The west needs to lead by example and investment rather than military power.
The reduction in the UK's aid budget, to me, sends all the wrong signals. |  | | |
| Afghanistan ...what say ye? on 17:07 - Aug 22 with 1344 views | bwildered |
Too little , too late. |  |
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| Afghanistan ...what say ye? on 19:18 - Aug 22 with 1329 views | wessex_exile |
Unfortunately, 20 years ago the US should have been considering the direct correlation between their foreign policy and 9/11 and work on the cause behind why terrorists chose to fly planes into buildings, murdering 1,000s. Instead, in typical global superpower fashion, they decided to invade Afghanistan. It was dubbed a war on terror, but what has it achieved - tens, possibly even hundreds of thousands dead, vast numbers of those innocent men, women and children - and very little actually achieved. Sure, some directly involved with the planning of 9/11 have been found and executed, but ironically, rather than 'defeating' terrorism, the last 20 years of occupation has probably done more to radicalise a whole new generation against the West.
From Day One onwards, there was never going to be an easy extraction from Afghanistan, so the debacle we are currently witnessing comes as no surprise to me unfortunately. But Trump and then Biden were right (albeit against the backdrop of wildly different political agendas), it has to be done, however utterly chaotic it is, and leave the Afghani's to get back on with governing themselves. Sadly, because we created the power vacuum in the first place, that will be in the hands of the Taliban. They say they've changed, but whether they have or not, we've got no choice but to leave them with the keys and come home.
Maybe now, rather than regime change through the bullet and the bomb, we can work harder at diplomacy, reconciliation and reason to try and fix what was behind 9/11, and in doing so perhaps make the world a safer place for humanity. |  |
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| Afghanistan ...what say ye? on 21:47 - Aug 22 with 1305 views | oxfcolu |
I served there on 4 separate occasions .The last in 2015. As much as it saddens me to see the chaos it was inevitable. If you serve your country we go where we are sent. I retired from the military after 38 years a couple of years ago and prefer to talk about football on a football forum. Great win this weekend. |  | | |
| Afghanistan ...what say ye? on 23:00 - Aug 22 with 1297 views | wessex_exile |
| Afghanistan ...what say ye? on 21:47 - Aug 22 by oxfcolu |
I served there on 4 separate occasions .The last in 2015. As much as it saddens me to see the chaos it was inevitable. If you serve your country we go where we are sent. I retired from the military after 38 years a couple of years ago and prefer to talk about football on a football forum. Great win this weekend. |
Thank you for your service Oxfcolu, simple as that. I’ll say no more on this subject. | |
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| Afghanistan ...what say ye? on 01:00 - Aug 23 with 1292 views | MrHappy2 |
| Afghanistan ...what say ye? on 21:47 - Aug 22 by oxfcolu |
I served there on 4 separate occasions .The last in 2015. As much as it saddens me to see the chaos it was inevitable. If you serve your country we go where we are sent. I retired from the military after 38 years a couple of years ago and prefer to talk about football on a football forum. Great win this weekend. |
Wow
Thank you
Thank you for everyone’s response
â¤ï¸ [Post edited 23 Aug 2021 1:00]
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| Afghanistan ...what say ye? on 06:51 - Aug 23 with 1274 views | noah4x4 |
I suspect only followers of Islam can ever decide the ultimate fate of Afghanistan. The population must either rise up against fundamentalism or accept it. Civil war seems inevitable and United Nations peacekeeping the only viable intervention. All we can really do is protect our own homeland security.
Maybe sufficient moslems do now want western ideals or will it simply become a radical clone of Iran? Do we not remember the violent Arab Spring? This isn't our holy war. Until majority of Moslems reject radicalism, and accept others have different beliefs, things will never change. But disasters were forecast at the end of the Vietnam War when the US pulled out. . Instead that country has prospered and the Communist extremists failed because the population would not let them. I say we should not further interfere and see where the promised democratic process that the Taliban has promised actually leads. Christian countries should cease trying to force our ideology on them (and vice versa). |  | | |
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