Thoughts from an Afghan vet

3,091 Views | 19 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by Rabid Cougar
aalan94
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AG
I post here a lot, but almost never post on politics. I had to today. Here's the link:

https://texags.com/forums/16/topics/3217541
JABQ04
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AG
Great post sir

Out of curiosity where were you in Iraq in '07-'08? I was in Balad, Taji and then Warhorse my last 7 months
TRD-Ferguson
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AG
Thank you for posting this. It's heartbreaking.
.
Rabid Cougar
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I remember talking to my Afghan Engineers while at Abad. I asked them why are they not fighting the Taliban. Their answer? It is beneath their status as Engineers. Soldiers are the uneducated.
These Engineers are the ones hanging onto the exterior of C-17's.

When the uneducated soldiers have not been paid in months and don't see and end in site, the $150 offered by the Taliban to quit or to fight for them is huge.

All, as aalan says, financed by the Paks.

RGV AG
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AG
Thanks for that write up sir. That is sobering. I always appreciate your posts and continue to be a big fan. Sorry for the kudos on such a dire topic, but you made more sense than 10,000 tweets and God knows how much video footage and news blurbs.
Matsui
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AG
Thank you for your analysis.
DustysLineup
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I saw (I think) your pics on facebook after Jim shared the post. Very interesting. And sad.
aalan94
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Quote:

All, as aalan says, financed by the Paks.
And opium.
rgvag11
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aalan94 said:

I post here a lot, but almost never post on politics. I had to today. Here's the link:

https://texags.com/forums/16/topics/3217541

In your essay, you say, "[Biden] did nothing except speed up the timeline, and deceive the Afghans about the timetable so they got caught flat footed."

Will you expand on this opinion? How did Biden deceive the Afghan government?

The original withdrawal agreement was announced in February of 2020 with a full withdrawal scheduled for 14 months later. We appeared to have surpassed this agreed-upon timeline by 2 - 3 months. Was there another withdrawal agreement that supplanted this one that Biden sped up?

HollywoodBQ
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AG
Back on April 14th, 2021, Biden announced that we would withdraw by 9/11/2021.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-afghanistan-troops-withdrawal/

I think it's safe to assume that in most cases that would mean that we were leaving on or about 9/10/2021.
rgvag11
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I see. In early July, Biden moved up the scheduled withdrawal date, set in April, by two weeks, to August 31st.

I would be interested to know, from an experienced vet like aalan94, how the timeline, sped up by two weeks, has had such a dramatic effect on the outcome?
aalan94
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Quote:

I would be interested to know, from an experienced vet like aalan94, how the timeline, sped up by two weeks, has had such a dramatic effect on the outcome?
Huge thing: Afghanistan has a "fighting season." You fight in the Summer, you don't launch anything major in the Winter. September was a bad date anyway, but by Oct./Nov. the fighting season is over for five months or so.

By leaving in the middle of summer, they basically pitched a floater to a grand slam hitter already in mid swing.
rgvag11
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That's not what you originally said, but your reasoning makes a lot of sense. I imagine the Taliban had a lot to do with getting the past administration to agree to a summer withdrawal for the reason you describe.

On to the second point: how did the Biden deceive the Afghan government with the timeline?
JABQ04
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The fighters in Kunar must not have got the memos about a fighting season
HollywoodBQ
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rgvag11 said:

I see. In early July, Biden moved up the scheduled withdrawal date, set in April, by two weeks, to August 31st.

I would be interested to know, from an experienced vet like aalan94, how the timeline, sped up by two weeks, has had such a dramatic effect on the outcome?
August 31st hasn't happened yet.
Comeby!
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Help me understand this 'fighting season"? Why not year round? Weather, logistics? It seems to me if I'm conducting an offensive I hit them in the 'off season'.
denied
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It is weather driven, but it has an impact on logistics. The passes into the country close up late October and don't completely clear until early June. Large parts of the country are also very mountainous and the base elevation combined with latitude makes for lots of cold and snow in an undeveloped country where the infrastructure and equipment needs of supporting a fighting force during the winter months can not be sustained.
nortex97
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Comeby! said:

Help me understand this 'fighting season"? Why not year round? Weather, logistics? It seems to me if I'm conducting an offensive I hit them in the 'off season'.
They plant poppies in the spring, fight in the summer, go back to harvest in the fall, and hibernate in Pakistan largely in the winter. It's been a cycle for the taliban for decades, and while some tribal areas in northern Afghan don't follow the pattern etc., that's always been how the Taliban fought, since we armed them in the 80's anyway.

A July withdrawal of air support (our air traffic controllers basically left then, and we abandoned Kandahar Air base) meant the Afghan army now had lost it's one real advantage (it was built like a mini US army) and functionally ceased to work in the midst of fighting season. That our rump non combatant forces would be out by Aug 30 only accelerated the desertions/surrender.
aalan94
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Quote:

that's always been how the Taliban fought, since we armed them in the 80's anyway.
You are right on all of this, except us arming the Taliban. We did not. We armed the mujuhadin, but the Taliban only stood up after the US had pulled our financial resources out of Afghanistan in the late 80s.
nortex97
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aalan94 said:

Quote:

that's always been how the Taliban fought, since we armed them in the 80's anyway.
You are right on all of this, except us arming the Taliban. We did not. We armed the mujuhadin, but the Taliban only stood up after the US had pulled our financial resources out of Afghanistan in the late 80s.
I think you perceive an artificial division/timeline between the two. We also didn't simply 'pull our financial resources' after the late 80's from the country. Far from it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Taliban

Quote:

Taliban, literally meaning 'students of Islam' or 'seekers of knowledge', have been part of Kandahar's 'Quran Belt' for centuries. They were teachers, dispute mediators, and comforters of the dying. They would also study in madrasas, living off charitable givings. After their studies, they could become mullahs, the 'givers' of knowledge. This provided a form of Islamic civil service in absence of state.
Further (again per link, without too much history), our state department more than welcomed/supported them in the mid 90's as well. The movement was/is more or less an evolution of people/leaders/groups from the original one in the early 80's through to day. At various points the US has directly and indirectly provided military and financial support (as well it has of course fought them from 2001 thru to 2021, prior to just handing the country to them).


Rabid Cougar
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JABQ04 said:

The fighters in Kunar must not have got the memos about a fighting season
That and they were always conducting intra-squad scrimmages too.....
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