US President Joe Biden

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Hom3r

Sadly, the only way to defeat ISIS is a squadron of B52s and carpet bomb them off the planet, but this would kill thousands of innocent people.

They can just hide in caves in the mountains.

Originally Posted by Damien

The Taliban must be getting support from countries in the region that are not big fans of the U.S.A as well.

Just as their grandparents in the Mujahideen got support from US and UK special forces during the Soviet occupation. Sadly what goes around comes around.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Hom3r

Sadly, the only way to defeat ISIS is a squadron of B52s and carpet bomb them off the planet, but this would kill thousands of innocent people.

Possibly the very best recruiting Sargent they could ever wish for

Originally Posted by Carth

Yeah 'cos that worked in Vietnam didn't it . . . something the USA should have learnt from.

You can't beat them on their own ground, you can push them back and 'contain' them, but that takes an awful lot of resources & manpower . . and again costs innocent lives.

You can beat them and I believe we would have done so without the Iraq distraction fiasco

Originally Posted by Damien

The Taliban must be getting support from countries in the region that are not big fans of the U.S.A as well.

Or from one country that claims to be their biggest ally in the Arab world in Saudi Arabia, I doubt they get any support from anywhere else except Pakistan

Originally Posted by Chris

Just as their grandparents in the Mujahideen got support from US and UK special forces during the Soviet occupation. Sadly what goes around comes around.

Indeed, we left some incredibly well trained, dangerous individuals there to pass their skills on

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

Or from one country that claims to be their biggest ally in the Arab world in Saudi Arabia, I doubt they get any support from anywhere else except Pakistan

One great side benefit of renewable energy is that it reduces funding to some of these undemocratic regimes that fund hostile regimes.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

One great side benefit of renewable energy is that it reduces funding to some of these undemocratic regimes that fund hostile regimes.

It's of no benefit if the money from non renewable energy has been invested by the undemocratic regimes via sovereign wealth funds in buying up huge swathes of our capital city, brands and assets, still once there is no more need for oil hopefully we'll put them on the state sponsors of terrorism list and freeze their assets

[1andrew1]

Whilst global attention focuses on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, at home there was better news for the President with job vacancies soaring to 10m vacancies - the highest ever since records began over 20 years ago and ahead of predictions.
I suspect in the short term, US public will ignore the mess in Afghanistan and lap up the success in the economy. But the situation in Afghanistan could end up biting Biden through terrorist training in Afghanistan. Perhaps his advisers will caution against a second term?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58154046

Mmmm - weren’t we, the British, really proud of what we achieved at Dunkirk?

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Mmmm - weren’t we, the British, really proud of what we achieved at Dunkirk?

We lost.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Mmmm - weren’t we, the British, really proud of what we achieved at Dunkirk?

I wasn't alive at the time, I think we were proud and thankful that we managed to rescue the British Army. but the British operation in France (not the rescue) was a failure.

Originally Posted by papa smurf

We lost.

The Dunkirk evacuation was mostly successful (350,000 troops got home), the preceding conflicts not so much.

That’s why we say "the Dunkirk Spirit" not "the German Blitzkreig, followed by the collapse of the French & British Armies, then Dunkirk Spirit"…

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Hugh

The Dunkirk evacuation was mostly successful (350,000 troops got home), the preceding conflicts not so much.

That’s why we say "the Dunkirk Spirit" not "the German Blitzkreig, followed by the collapse of the French & British Armies, then Dunkirk Spirit"…

It's a very, very strange post. It's an unusual comparison and it's also so poorly worded that you need to read it a few times to make sense of it! It would be easier if it read "This - Afghanistan - could be another Dunkirk situation" or just removed "This - ".

[Sephiroth]

Not as close Dunkirk than some might think - the "enemy" (Taliban) seem to be cooperating.

[heero_yuy]

Quote from Mail onLine:

President Biden has been slammed for the 'bald-faced lie' that chaos in Kabul during the final stages of the US withdrawal was inevitable after saying for months it was not.

The President's performance was blasted from all arenas with Republicans and Democrats branding Biden 'shameful' and calling for him to 'take responsibility' for the the scenes of violence and disorder in recent days as thousands attempted to flee while the Taliban advanced.

Biden was criticized for having 'no urgency' in tackling the crisis, while others said the President was 'impotent' and 'dishonest' after his interview with ABC News on Wednesday.

In the interview with George Stephanopoulos Biden expressed disbelief there was 'a way to have gotten out with chaos' and said he did not think the withdrawal could have been handled without mistakes. He said: 'The idea that somehow, there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don't know how that happens'.

However, just six weeks ago at a White House briefing on July 8, Biden said the drawdown was 'proceeding in a secure and orderly way' and that it was not inevitable that the Taliban would take over.

At the time he also said he trusted the Afghan military because they were 'more competent in terms of conducting war' than the Taliban and at the same time denied claims the intelligence community expected the Afghan government to collapse.

'I want to make clear that we won't just walk away and not sustain their ability to maintain a force', he added on July 8.

However in last night's ABC interview Biden appeared pleasantly surprised the Taliban were letting the US evacuate Americans from Afghanistan without issue, but said his administration was having 'more difficulty' evacuating Afghanis who helped the US military and now have Taliban targets on their backs.

Biden snapped back at Stephanopoulos when he was questioned about footage of two Afghans falling to their deaths after clinging to the wheels of a US evacuation flight from Kabul on Monday, brushing off the harrowing images because they were 'four days ago, five days ago'.

Car crash interview.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

Car crash interview.

To be fair it's very unlikely he can remember what he said in July.

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

Car crash interview.

Only seen the highlights of it courtesy of Sky News but agreed, car crash, and he came over as an aggressive fool.