Ulrich said:

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Dan Scott said:

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Taliban is going to do nothing to Americans. They've waited 20 years for us to leave. They can't be stupid enough to attack us as we are leaving.

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They could have waited 30 more days and we wouldn't have been there at all. Going now means they wanted us physically present when they took over.

The question now is why. Is it because they want to "show mercy" as we get out of Dodge, or is it because they want to begin their new reign with a decisive victory over American forces and a prison full of American hostages?

We'll know in a few hours.

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PR. They want the cred for shooting at us as we tuck tail and run.

And probalby not outside the realm of possibility they were incentivized by China to do it.

Ulrich said:

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Dan Scott said:

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Taliban is going to do nothing to Americans. They've waited 20 years for us to leave. They can't be stupid enough to attack us as we are leaving.

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They could have waited 30 more days and we wouldn't have been there at all. Going now means they wanted us physically present when they took over.

The question now is why. Is it because they want to "show mercy" as we get out of Dodge, or is it because they want to begin their new reign with a decisive victory over American forces and a prison full of American hostages?

We'll know in a few hours.

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Or it is more as a show of force - them showing their people and Muslims elsewhere they were ensuring the US forces left.

PR battle as well, and they won that too

I don't think they expected the resistance to be as easy. Opportunity.

LostInLA07 said:

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black_ice said:

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Dan Scott said:

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Taliban is going to do nothing to Americans. They've waited 20 years for us to leave. They can't be stupid enough to attack us as we are leaving.

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My thoughts as well

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I suppose we have to hope they act rationally. But this is not a strategic professional military. This is a group of desperate hopeless people who are on an adrenaline high from kicking out the infidels in about 72 hours with little opposition

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I bet this is a lot more strategic and professional than we know. Pretty good chance they infiltrated the Iraqi military and picked up a lot of training from the US military. You don't take over a country in three days without a plan.

Ag In Ok said:

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China is likely stoking this and Russia, I'm not so sure they are pleased. I am stunned that no one saw this coming - now they are sending in special forces? Barksdale should have been a damn hotbed a week ago. Flights outta Bragg, some ships en route. Something. Just pray China isn't setting up another geopolitical strongpoint.

Now is the time to embrace India, militarily and economically.

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China already said they would recognize the Taliban. Afghanistan is sitting on a ton of rare earth, etc. Connect the dots.

Is Joe at the Whitehouse?

Captain Positivity said:

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The frustrating element is that these guys are riding in on mopeds and Toyotas, including menacing 4-door sedans. Little resistance from the Afghan troops that we've trained for the better part of 2 decades. I think we were expecting at least having another day or two to get out. At this point it is a matter of hours left.

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Per Fox News:

The 82nd Airborne Division's alert brigade will send 1,000 paratroopers to Kabul next week to reach the White House's goal of 5,000 troops in the city to protect the evacuation of U.S. personnel, Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson reports.

There were already 1,000 U.S. service members on the ground, according to defense officials. Another 3,000 Marines and soldiers will be in place by the end of the week.

The remaining two battalions of the 82nd Airborne Brigade Combat Team will stage in Kuwait as a ready reserve.

Ulrich said:

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LostInLA07 said:

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black_ice said:

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Dan Scott said:

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Taliban is going to do nothing to Americans. They've waited 20 years for us to leave. They can't be stupid enough to attack us as we are leaving.

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My thoughts as well

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I suppose we have to hope they act rationally. But this is not a strategic professional military. This is a group of desperate hopeless people who are on an adrenaline high from kicking out the infidels in about 72 hours with little opposition

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I bet this is a lot more strategic and professional than we know. Pretty good chance they infiltrated the Iraqi military and picked up a lot of training from the US military. You don't take over a country in three days without a plan.

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They had 20 years to prepare. They knew we'd leave sooner or later. If we had stayed there another 20 years, they would have just quietly waited us out.

Next week?????

Horn_in_Aggieland said:

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Captain Positivity said:

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The frustrating element is that these guys are riding in on mopeds and Toyotas, including menacing 4-door sedans. Little resistance from the Afghan troops that we've trained for the better part of 2 decades. I think we were expecting at least having another day or two to get out. At this point it is a matter of hours left.

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Per Fox News:

The 82nd Airborne Division's alert brigade will send 1,000 paratroopers to Kabul next week to reach the White House's goal of 5,000 troops in the city to protect the evacuation of U.S. personnel, Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson reports.

There were already 1,000 U.S. service members on the ground, according to defense officials. Another 3,000 Marines and soldiers will be in place by the end of the week.

The remaining two battalions of the 82nd Airborne Brigade Combat Team will stage in Kuwait as a ready reserve.

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Next week? I need the cry/laugh. Unless Biden plans on invading Afghanistan again, there is no next week.

Next week......so what are we going to do ask the Taliban if we can bring 1000 US troops into their country?????

What a cluster f#UK

Next week. Jesus Christ. Biden needs to be removed from office ASAP.

He clearly can't handle anything. The few non-communist Democrats even have to be cringing at this point.

Eliminatus said:

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Seabreeze said:

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I have a feeling many American lives will be lost tonight. I'm out guys, I can't post anymore. My blood is boiling and I feel sick. Say a prayer .

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It's very possible.

I see four five real possibilities here. Feel free anyone to counter or add.

In order of chaos:

• Taliban holds back and lets us leave
• Taliban closes with and skirmishes with our forces. Shoot a lot but never really pushes. We kill a lot of them and they kill a few of us. Normal status quo of the past 20 years.
• Taliban pushes but our blocking forces hold off indefinitely. Thinking like a Khe Sanh event. Hairy at times but we hold.
• Taliban pushes hard and fast and gets in and among our guys. Street level fighting a la Mogadishu circa '93. This type of fighting sucks and will lose a lot. Also chance of elements being overrun.
• Taliban pushes hard and fast and we collapse. Fall of Saigon Part 2. A lot of people die.
  

The biggest wildcard I think is two fold. How serious is the Taliban in trying to kill us and what our air situation looks like. It is no secret that our forces rely on air power to control our situation. If our air force is truly caught out of position and can't provide constant coverage at a tactical level.....odds trend downward for us very fast.

This sucks.

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Another option is that the Taliban negotiate handover of the airport and guarantee safe passage of our embassy staff, NGOs, and military to exit under Taliban 'protection'. Humiliating our disarmed troops as they are forced to board civilian airliners.

82nd is skipping Kuwait and going straight there. Should be there today (Afghan time).

Eliminatus said:

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Seabreeze said:

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Don’t know if it matters anymore to keeping up with this.
Either tonight or tomorrow morning, #Kabul will fall.

— Soleyman Mohammad (@paxsoleymana) August 14, 2021

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From the timeline we have seen to date....undoubtedly.

From a pure objective viewpoint as a very amateur military history nut, it is rather fascinating as to how incredibly fast this thing completely collapsed.

This is what total and decisive victory looks like. Gonna go ahead and say it. This is Desert Storm level of coordination and speed. Crazy to think it was a terrorist organization that would be perpetuating it though.

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It's a simplistic example, but it might make sense if we look at it through our own lens. I imagine it being like if north Texas were being occupied by UN/Liberals. Once the main fighting force (UN) left, how long do you think it would take for Amarillo, Lubbock, Wichita Falls, Gainesville, Sanger to "fall"? Then you have the liberals who are all holed up in DFW sweating it out as they understand that just under 50% of the metro area are sympathizers in some form or fashion.

The thing about these people is that the "non-metro" folk in Afghanistan accept the Takiban more than western ideals. Just cause you have a few "metros" running things in the biggest rural cities doesn't mean crap if they were propped up. To root out the taliban means to root out the population in general. We were truly an occupying a barbaric land, we had no business staying there. Should have just wrecked it after 9/11 and left.

lb3 said:

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Eliminatus said:

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Seabreeze said:

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I have a feeling many American lives will be lost tonight. I'm out guys, I can't post anymore. My blood is boiling and I feel sick. Say a prayer .

---

It's very possible.

I see four five real possibilities here. Feel free anyone to counter or add.

In order of chaos:

• Taliban holds back and lets us leave
• Taliban closes with and skirmishes with our forces. Shoot a lot but never really pushes. We kill a lot of them and they kill a few of us. Normal status quo of the past 20 years.
• Taliban pushes but our blocking forces hold off indefinitely. Thinking like a Khe Sanh event. Hairy at times but we hold.
• Taliban pushes hard and fast and gets in and among our guys. Street level fighting a la Mogadishu circa '93. This type of fighting sucks and will lose a lot. Also chance of elements being overrun.
• Taliban pushes hard and fast and we collapse. Fall of Saigon Part 2. A lot of people die.
  

The biggest wildcard I think is two fold. How serious is the Taliban in trying to kill us and what our air situation looks like. It is no secret that our forces rely on air power to control our situation. If our air force is truly caught out of position and can't provide constant coverage at a tactical level.....odds trend downward for us very fast.

This sucks.

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Another option is that the Taliban negotiate handover of the airport and guarantee safe passage of our embassy staff, NGOs, and military to exit under Taliban 'protection'. Humiliating our disarmed troops as they are forced to board civilian airliners.

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If Taliban is smart that's how they doing it. Basically they beat the most powerful country in the world without firing a bullet. That will make for better propaganda

C@LAg said:

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Next week?????

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This is like my house being engulfed in flames and the 911 dispatcher saying "don't worry, we'll send some fire trucks in a few hours".

Translation : Of course, the Taliban are afraid of Biden

أكيد بتخاف طالبان من بايدن 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/5fQR3kWQBn

— 00969 eng saleh omer alkhulaqi (@saleh69816700) August 14, 2021

Taliban troops entering Kabul......

You are witnessing an unbelievable history in the making...
It seems that hundreds of US Embassy personal will be captured alive...... Or killed.... pic.twitter.com/b0P9GBIS5n

— Zaid Hamid (@ZaidZamanHamid) August 14, 2021

That whole Benghazi thing is about to get second tiered. Obama and Hillary just opened up the good Chardonnay.

If I'm not mistaken that's a propaganda account.

The airport should be secure. There's already American troops there and a contingent of Brits just arrived today. All westerners need to get out tonight.

TChaney said:

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Translation : Of course, the Taliban are afraid of Biden

أكيد بتخاف طالبان من بايدن 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/5fQR3kWQBn

— 00969 eng saleh omer alkhulaqi (@saleh69816700) August 14, 2021

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I bet he just wants Biden to sniff his hair.

Good summary from tweet above, even if from a propoganda account as noted above:

1.
Lets do a battlefield assessment of the battle for Kabul.
It is an extremely deadly situation for the Americans particularly & their embassy staff. They know the war has been lost & now they only need a day to evacuate their staff & troops....but do they have that ONE day?
5:03 PM Aug 14, 2021Twitter Web App

2. The advance guards of the Taliban have entered the city. They are lightly armed fighting patrols & are only making probing attacks. They have released the prisoners from the Pul Charkhi prison, meaning that they are really inside the city.
Tip
Zaid Hamid
@ZaidZamanHamid

5m
3.
The main forces of Taliban are trying to enter the city from multiple prongs & have blocked all the exits/entrances of the city. This is where the US bombers are now attacking, a desperate attempt at slowing down the main advancing force of the Taliban.
Tip
Zaid Hamid
@ZaidZamanHamid

3m
4.
The Kabul regime is already in tatters...it has crumbled....most troops have changed uniforms and melted into the civilian population. Most of the government leadership have escaped to Central Asian states via land or helicopters. Morale in the Govt is rock bottom. Its over.
Tip
Zaid Hamid
@ZaidZamanHamid

1m
5.
Taliban have two prized targets....Airport & the embassy...& they plan to head straight towards them.
There is NO agreement between Taliban & US at the moment about the safe exit/evacuation of the US embassy staff & troops.
CIA failed again..it never expected such collapse!

There are still civilian flights from Turkey and Dubai on their way to Kabul. Nothing is going to happen. If there was fighting at the airport these flights would be diverted

Captain Positivity said:

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If I'm not mistaken that's a propaganda account.

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Yep, he's being paid by the White House to be a social media influencer for COVID vaccine hesitancy within minority communities.

Captain Positivity said:

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If I'm not mistaken that's a propaganda account.

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I have been searching keywords in Arabic to possibly find other sources not posted in English.

So yes anything reposted in Arabic is likely going to skew in favor of the Taliban.
(There are a ton of Tweets with deep concern for the people in Afghanistan and against the Taliban as well)

EDIT - FYI I know that particular tweet was in English - the referencing retweet was in Arabic.

Que Te Gusta Mas said:

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Captain Positivity said:

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If I'm not mistaken that's a propaganda account.

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Yep, he's being paid by the White House to be a social media influencer for COVID vaccine hesitancy within minority communities.

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Minorities look to gay white men as mentors?

That decision actually makes sense in hindsight after watching this disaster in Afghanistan unfold.

FriscoKid said:

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The Trump/Biden calamity unfolding in Afghanistan began with the Trump administration negotiating with terrorists and pretending they were partners for peace, and is ending with American surrender as Biden abandons the country to our terrorist enemies. https://t.co/PQ1i5W6zZt

— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) August 14, 2021

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That coming from a Cheney is hilarious. Let's not forget who/how we got into the ME in the first place.

about 30 minutes until sunrise in Kabul

#BREAKING: #USAF's B-52H heavy bombers have headed toward Mazar-i-Sharif. It is highly possible that they bomb the second largest air base of #Afghanistan National Air Force now in hands of #Taliban. They don't want A-29B & AC-208B attack aircraft remain in hands of Taliban https://t.co/GJC7Maw3V9 pic.twitter.com/qaowQrWhrX

— Babak Taghvaee - Μπάπακ Τακβαίε - بابک تقوایی (@BabakTaghvaee) August 14, 2021