Good article here on why Afghanistan fell so quickly
Quote:
Low morale, no support and poor politics explain why Afghan army folded
Former western military officials and independent academics say the collapse of the Afghan armed forces reflects widespread public disillusionment with President Ashraf Ghani’s government, chronic corruption and mismanagement within the armed forces, and a sheer lack of confidence among the troops that they could win against the Taliban without US military and intelligence support.
“The problem with the army was not lack of training or weapons. The most important thing in war is politics,” said Mike Martin, a former British army officer and author of a book about Afghanistan’s decades-long conflict, An Intimate War...
“The Taliban political franchise was able to peel off bits of the government because the government did not tend to its constituents enough — the tribes, clans, militias and ethnicities. That is the fundamental issue,” Martin said. “The army commanders just surrendered in return for amnesty, which the Taliban granted them and let them go home.”
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https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...es&ocid=UCPNC2
---------- Post added at 23:10 ---------- Previous post was at 21:23 ----------
Biden's words did not age well. Neither have Johnson's. Strange that these politicians failed to see what everyone else did.
Quote:
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I would just say to the Taliban that they have made the commitment that I read out to the House, in their negotiations with General* Khalilzad. They must abide by that commitment. I am sure that they will be aware that there is no military path to victory for the Taliban. There must be a political and negotiated settlement for the political crisis in Afghanistan, and the UK will continue to work to ensure that that takes place. I believe that can happen - I do not believe that the Taliban are guaranteed the kind of victory that we sometimes read about.
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Boris Johnson, House of Commons, 8 July 2021.
* Not a General,
he's a diplomat, but that's the least of the issues with this statement.